You've waited long enough! The basement reveal post is here! We started this the last week in August and the bulk of the work was completed end of October if I remember correctly... maybe beginning of November. There are still things we need to finish as you will see, but it's livable and usable right now. So let's take a tour!
This is me opening the basement door to go down. I love the molding. I couldn't get the light right so it looks dark, but it's really not.
One of the things we need to finish is the stairs. We have the wood, but its a big process that we will have to tackle after April.
I knew that having painted walls and some flooring wouldn't be enough for a finished look. I wanted the wainscoting, crown molding and wrought iron finishes for a wow look. We turned the steps from our original basement layout and I love how they look coming into the room.
I love these little nooks we created. They will be used for toys and storage, but they are like little scene setters and stations to me.
The door you saw above leads into the half bathroom. I'm just keeping it real, I didn't dust the mirror as you can see. I also haven't finished this space. I will be wall papering this room some day. Our contractor doesn't wallpaper or it would have been up. This is a project David and I will do one day. The mirror is just temporary so people can wash hands and see themselves. Don't worry, my mom cleaned it :) There is another door in the bathroom that goes to David's workshop, our storage area and the back craft/bedroom.
Back to the main room. When you walk down the stairs this is your view! We have dreams to make little storage seats to go under the windows.
This is the ceiling right above the main room. I love all the recessed light and curves. The molding really adds a nice touch.
I knew I wanted hardwood floors down there and not carpet. Easier to clean and just a more elegant finish.
In saying that I didn't want carpet, I knew I had to get a big area rug for the kiddos. With one about to start crawling and crazy boys/girls running all over. Safety first! I didn't want to have a primary colored bright rug like a lot of playrooms. I wanted something that was still fun, but more everyday. I will source everything below, but I just happened to walk into home decorators (they have online catalog, but 1 store by work that just closed actually) and I saw this and knew I had to have it. So I ordered it and still love it. I can't even tell you exactly the color it is, but I think it works nice.
I think this is my favorite picture of the space. I am standing in the middle area before the kitchen space. The door you see in the back is my moms bedroom!
This is the space on the way to the kitchen where the door leads to the back deck.
There is the door.
This is the area where the AC unit is kept and the water heater. We need to get a nice picture to put over that lovely electrical box.
Let's open up mom's bedroom door shall we!
She also has a fun octagonal ceiling with molding. We put some rope light up there for a nice effect.
Her chaise lounge reading/tv nook.
Her extra large windows with her nature view.
Her walk in closet complete with shelving, a chandelier and a washer/dryer.
Yep, I said washer/dryer. It's not hooked up yet as we need 1 part for it I think, but they sure do look nice!
Her chandelier which is perfect for the space.
She has a door in her room to access the bathroom where she is a gorgeous walk-in shower.
I love how this came out. The grays work so well together and it's just as impressive in person as it is in the pictures.
The pebble stones make a great touch on the ground.
She requested a bench and she got her bench!
A nice little commode area with the half wall next to the shower. I love the floor tiles also.
Max was relaxing on the nice fluffy bath mat.
The vanity and mirror area.
That is the door to her room. On the opposite wall is the door to the craft room/bedroom.
Right now it's pretty plain, but its a great space. We converted it to a bedroom when Chris and Marla came to visit. It's pretty impressive that we filled up our little hotel. All 7 bedrooms of it (each kid has their own room).
We added in that fantastic window during construction. There wasn't a window in this room and there was room where we could cut into the siding to add one. Best decision ever. The light it brings to the room is perfect. We continued the hardwoods in all the rooms downstairs.
The door on the left is to the storage/David's workshop. Then out the half bath into the playroom. The middle door is my moms bathroom and the door on the right is the closet. Have yourself some doors!
I guess I should have moved these pics earlier, but I took them last so
let's make our way back out to the main room and over to the last
section. We have our little nook by the back door and then we move on
into the kitchen space. Those barstools were ones that our neighbor had
by the curb to throw out. The cushions were moldy and I thought we could
fix them up. Well they sat in our basement and when we started
renovations we had to get rid of them.
We gave them to Darrin and Stacey who surprised us for Christmas and
fixed them all up! He knew I would like them if he could finish them
nice and he was right!
The view from the living room/playroom. Most of you heard the story of the kitchen but I'll tell it quick again. We were planning on just leaving this kitchen area blank until we saved up more money to put in an IKEA kitchen or something like that (think around $8,000). In the summer as we started renovations we looked on his parent's HOA website in their classifieds and saw that someone was redoing their kitchen and wanted to sell their cabinets. Well we really didn't know what to expect or how much they'd want. We went over and realized they were almost the exact same great quality cabinets as we have in our upstairs kitchen. I didn't really want that color cabinet, but after you hear the price you would have taken them also. They gave us a sink, all the cabinets, stove top, oven, microwave, dishwasher and island WITH granite counters for ONLY $350! I mean can you even believe that? They just didn't want them to go to waste and were hoping someone could use them... umm yes please we can! Their kitchen layout looked nothing like this and David had to work hours to figure out our new configuration with our space. It's not perfect and we did have to have some granite cut to fit in certain areas but It was worth it.
Eventually we want to make a big island more in the middle of this area that's more high top with the 2 layers.
We got the refrigerator a while back from David's parents after it didn't work and we fixed it up with a few parts if I remember correctly.
We ran gas down here to have the gas cook top. Don't ask about the tiny gas leak we had... it's all fixed now :)
I love the windows. We have so many great windows in the basement. I know it's a daylight basement so that's why, but it just makes this space not feel like a basement at all.
You can see what I mean by we had to make some things fit. We have a little blank space back there that we are going to put our wine fridge in once we have time to fix it up and tuck it back in there. We also were able to switch our upstairs microwave/oven with this one. Theirs was convection and really nice. It honestly looked like they never cooked in it... I mean it fit like a glove. They must have used the same builder or manufacturer.
My mom got a nice couch for the playroom area that I never took a picture of so I'll have to get a nice one for a later tour.
Since we don't have our storage figured out down there and we are out of money, this is what it looks like on most days. Well who am I kidding, toys are usually everywhere. This is neat! I wanted to throw out a total just so I can remember back on what we spent on the basement. I'm going to round up a little I think and make it a solid $40,000. Our budget was $26,000 I think... That's funny isn't it. Well, I wasn't that comfortable in spending more, but looking at these pictures It really is A LOT of work for the money we spent. It's impressive looking if I do say so myself. We hired a lot of it out, but also had a ton of help doing things ourselves. I can easily see how people spend close to $100,000 finishing their basements. I'll have to do a before and after post sometime, but don't hold your breath as this one took me a long time! Hope you enjoyed. If you'd like to make a reservation at Hotel W please talk to our concierge. We do have some platinum members already so they can give you a review.
Sources-
Wall paint color- Porter Paints Stonehenge Greige
Ceiling color- Porter Paint Moth Gray
Trim Color- Porter Paint Linen Ruffle
Wood Floor- Build Direct:
Jasper Engineered Hardwood- Harbors Hickory Multi Width Collection
Area Rug-
Home Decorators Shimmering Area Rug
Mom's bathroom vanity-
Lowes
Chandelier for her closet- I think she got it on wayfair? I'll check on that
White Drum Shade Crystal Chandelier Pendant light for craft room-
From amazon
