Basement Remodel: Week #5 + 1 Day

   Hi everyone! We had a very productive and busy week this last week! No one was here on Monday because of the holiday, but the rest of the week was busy with a guy doing tile in the bathroom shower surround and two woodworking guys doing the cabinet and trim installation!

   These guys are fast! When I got home Friday afternoon, after volunteering at the local scrapbooking sale, the shower tile was all done and grouted, the vanity and linen closet in the bathroom were installed, the bar cabinets were installed, the theater cabinets were installed, doors and frames were put in, and trim pieces were starting to be installed down the stairs and in the guest bedroom! These guys got a lot done in a short week, and it was super exciting to see some of our selections filling the space! I am in love with the way things are turning out, and am excited to get to share the progress with all of you!

   I didn't get my pictures taken over the weekend like I was hoping, so I took them tonight (Monday the 1st) after the guys were done! So there's a lot more trim up in the rooms, the handrail is done, and the spindles and rail are done on the half wall! They also finished trimming out doors through the whole basement! Here are the pictures from this last week's and today's construction:

Another numbered blueprint for your reference!

1.) A view from the top of the stairs showing the railing and baseboard trim.

2.) The view down the rest of the stairs

3.) Looking up the stairs from the bottom.

4.) Guest Bedroom closet doors and trim done

5.) A view of the other side of the bedroom with the door and baseboards installed

6.) The double vanity is installed in the bathroom

7.) The custom linen closet is installed in the bathroom niche (but the trim work isn't complete yet).

8.) Accent tile done in the shower niches.

9.) Shower floor is completely tiled with the hexagon tiles we chose.

10.) The shower surround tile is completely done! I love this tile! You can't even tell how tall the shower is because I couldn't fit it all in the frame of the camera!

11.) A view in the hallway of the half wall, spindles, and railing that was installed today (Monday the 1st)!

12.) The bar cabinets are installed. The color isn't showing up quite right because of the flash. Crown molding will be installed later to finish off the cabinet look.

13.) The custom storage cabinets under the theater screen were installed. Molding will be installed later around this to give it a finished edge.

14.) A view of the storage room door with the trim installed.

15.) The living/bar/theater space shown in one frame (as best I could).

   The other big thing that happened this week was that I got a new car! Ian and I started looking and talking about cars a month or two back, and went to look at cars a couple weeks ago. I really wanted an SUV type vehicle with adequate seating, lots of hauling space (of course of scrapbooking supplies), and something that we could grow into as our family grows these next few years!

    However, I didn't want to get something overly big either! I was so use to having the Saturn for the last 10 years, and didn't want to feel like I was upgrading to a tank. So after a lot of looking, research, and a couple test drives, I decided to get a Buick Enclave! I LOVE it so far! We picked it up Saturday and went out to dinner to celebrate! It is such a nice, smooth ride, and I love all the fancy features that it has!

   The little blue Saturn was a great car and it will be missed, but we definitely needed something a little easier for baby and I. Plus now was a good time to buy with the Memorial Day sales and incentives going on! So that's what we did! Woohooo for officially having a "mom" car!

My new car!!! This was taken after we had just gotten home from the dealership, and yes...I am feeling very pregnant these days!!

 
   That was our last week of May! I can't believe that June is already here! Yikes! It's going to be a busy month with construction finishing up, baby showers starting, and our birthing and parenting classes every week! Before we know it, our little bumpkin is going to be here!

   I hope you all had a great weekend, and I will keep you up-to-speed this weekend on more of the progress being made on the house!

Basement Remodel: Week #4

   Happy Memorial Day weekend to you all! I hope you're enjoying some family time and relaxation this weekend while remembering those that served and protected our country. I have a lot of service members in my family, and am thankful every day for the sacrifices they all made for our freedoms. I take it for granted all the amazing things I get to do each day because of the freedoms we are allowed in this country. It really can be humbling when you think about it.

   It is officially the end of week #4 of our basement remodel, and all of the main "bones" of the project are done! Toward the beginning of the week the drywall guys put the 3rd coat of mud up on the walls, and sanded everything down to prep it for paint. We also had the ceilings textured in between dry times to prep for paint as well!

   After the 3rd coat of mud, though, we decided to cover the vents in the house and run the heat to help speed up drying time. This was really hard for me. It was cool up here on Monday (only a high of 43), but to have the heat on, too, made the house really stuffy! We had to run the heat for 48 hours, and I was so glad to be able to shut it off by Thursday (when it was a high of 73)! At least it kept our drywall guys on time, and kept the schedule running smoothly, too!

   We also had tile, cabinets, trim, doors, and paint all delivered in the middle of the week! It was exciting to see all of this come in now, too, because that means we're that much closer to seeing our selections in the space! I especially love the tile! I can't wait to see this as the shower surround!

Main shower tile that we selected! This tile is 12"x 24", and will go vertically in the shower stall.

Delivery of tile, cabinet doors, and a random bag of dog food (thanks, Amazon)!

The trim had to go in the garage because the one delivery guy couldn't get it down the stairs by himself.

Our interior doors and another look at the trim in the background!

Cabinetry was delivered and placed in the back storage room of the basement.

Lots of cabinetry, and they still got it all to fit in one room!

   On Friday, the painter came and started priming and painting the walls and ceilings! I am loving how fast this is all coming together! We have a little more than a month left until everything is in place and ready for final walk through! I am so excited that we have been able to keep everything on schedule, and that the project is running smoothly so far!


   The lighting doesn't do the colors justice, but I know many of you are excited to see the pictures! So here are they are from this week's progress:

Here's the numbered blueprint for this week so you can reference the pictures that I'm taking below!

1.) Main living room/back bar/theater area. The ceilings are textured as knockdown ceilings, and the space was painted with Sherwin Williams Sea Salt (SW 6204) in a Satin finish.

2.) A closer view at the theater area with the tray ceiling and painted walls.

3.) Back bar area with knockdown ceilings/soffits. This area was also painted with SW Sea Salt (6204) in a Satin finish.

4.) Hallway and gallery wall at the base of the stairs. This was painted with SW Sea Salt in a Satin finish as well.

5.) Here's a small view of the bathroom with the knockdown ceiling and SW Magnetic Gray in an Eggshell finish (SW 7058). It looks darker in this picture than it really is, but I love it! I can't wait to see what it looks like with our tile!

6.) The bedroom closet and sitting niche. The closet is painted flat white like the ceilings, but the bedroom walls are the Magnetic Gray from the bathroom (SW 7058) in a Satin finish!

7.) The other side of the bedroom showing the shoffit, ceilings, and wall color (SW 7058).

8.) A picture of the staircase coming down. The stairwell was painted in the SW Sea Salt in a Satin finish (SW 6204), and the ceilings textured as well!

   I am loving all the progress so far! Next week there are a lot of little things happening all at once! We should start to see tile installed, trim pieces up, paint and stain on the doors and trim, cabinetry installed, and maybe even the delivery of some more of our selections! I'll make sure and keep you all up to date as things progress! Have a great Memorial Weekend!

Basement Remodel: Week #3

   It's the end of week #3 on our basement project! This week was a messy one, though! Construction is messy in general, but drywall installation, taping, and mudding all occurred this week. The dust that quickly goes through the whole house from this is amazing! We definitely find ourselves dusting and vacuuming a couple times through the week just to keep things as tidy as we can on the main levels!

   I love this part of the construction phase, though, because you can really see how the space is going to take shape and how each room will be mapped out. Having walls officially up makes it that much more real, too!

   We had a little bit of delay this week with dry time, though. The cold, rainy weather up here in Minnesota this last week didn't help the mud dry too quickly. So the drywall guys couldn't get a 3rd coat up on the walls until next week. That's okay, though! It doesn't put us behind schedule at all, and might actually be best to have the weekend to let everything settle.

   Here are the pictures from this week's work (I actually took these after they put the 3rd coat of mudding up on Monday May 18th because I didn't have a chance to take pictures over the weekend):

Numbered blueprints for reference of the pictures below.

1.) Bedroom closet and sitting area

2.) View of bedroom doorway and other side of the room

3.) Stairwell view

4.) Gallery wall view at the bottom of the stairs

5.) Hallway view with half wall for stairs

6.) Bathroom view from the shower

7.) Under the stairs storage closet and AV components

8.) Back bar and arcade game area

9.) Living room/theater room space with tray ceiling

10.) Unfinished back room where storage and exercise equipment will go. We had one wall finished for electrical to be put in, though. Wrapped up in the middle of the room is the treadmill and arcade game.

11.) View from the back storage room of the entire bar/living/theater space

  
   It's coming together so nice, and we're still on track to be wrapping things up toward the end of June/beginning of July! There might not be as many big changes next week since they will be finishing up drywall, sanding, and prepping the walls for paint, trim, and texture. I'll keep you updated, though! Have a great week!  

Basement Remodel: Week #2

   Holy cow!! We are already done with the second week of construction on the basement, and boy have these guys been busy! We had the rest of framing completed, and plumbing, electrical, and AV all installed. Plus we finished the week with framing and electrical inspections, sound proofing and insulating the bedroom wall, and the delivery of all the drywall!

   It's been noisy around here, but really exciting to see how everything is shaping up! Ian's parents and brother were here the first part of this week, too, and they were excited to get to see the progress each day after the workers wrapped up! Then my mom came on Friday, and we got to show her all the progress up to this point as well! It's fun to be able to show our parents the beginning stages because they will all get to see it soon after the project is completed, too!

   Here are the pictures of this week's progress before insulation was done:

Numbered blueprints for your reference of the pictures below

1.) Back storage room (unfinished space)

2.) Bar area main soffit with can lighting

3.) Back bar wall with soffit work done

4.) Continued soffit work into theater area and hallway area with can lighting installed

5.) Under the stair storage closet roughed in

6.) AV box re-wired and networked for the whole house

7.) Theater area soffit for tray ceiling with can lighting, 4 ceiling speakers, and LED strip lighting in the tray.

8.) Theater screen wall with built-in speakers and cabinetry

9.) Doorway into the theater/living/bar areas with the arched door frame

10.) Hallway area with open section to the stairwell

11.) Entrance to the unfinished utility room

12.) Entrance into the bathroom

13.) Another view from inside the bathroom where plumbing for the double vanity, electrical, and switches were installed

14.) View from the shower showing the tall bath ceiling with one corner soffit

15.) Gallery wall at the bottom of the stairs with the arched detail finish and bench

16.) Bedroom view from the entrance. Closet on the right and sitting niche on the left.

17.) A view from the sitting niche of the bedroom entrance and soffit

18.) Framed out egress window in the bedroom

    That's it! That was week #2! Aren't they fast! Electrical and AV came back in after I took these pictures to finish up a couple things, and then the bedroom wall separating the bedroom from the theater area was insulated after these pictures were taken, too! So there was a lot going on in just a few short days!

   Next week we're on to drywall installation! I can't wait to show you more progress! Have a great weekend!