PUTTING THE LITTLE GUY TO WORK

We've been up to our eyeballs in basement progress (just kidding...more like dust) but I think we are approaching the home stretch and can start to envision what having the extra space might look like.  The phase we are at now is quite possibly the worst, however - sanding drywall mud.  It isn't really a difficult task, but I guess it is just more...unpleasant.  If any of you have ever done it yourselves, then you know how messy it is.  All three of us were down sanding one night and man, it was literally like walking in a cloud of chalk.  Thank goodness for masks that make the job tolerable.

So we keep carving out chunks of time to make progress, and steadily trudge toward completion.  But as I mentioned, we are all getting in on the action.  Byron manned the sanding block, Mason manned the vacuum, and I manned the camera (when I wasn't sanding, of course).  Be prepared to see one of the cutest helpers you have ever laid your eyes on!

PINNING

Pin dreams...like pipe dreams. With our basement work crawling along, I can't help but imagine us at the end of the process and to the place where I finally get to decorate the space.  In the meantime, I pin. I pin images that I want to emulate. Sometimes it is the color scheme, or sometimes it is the feel of the room in general, and sometimes it is a particular item. But with my pins lately, I am beginning to notice a pattern - light walls, rustic wood and furnishings, lots of greenery, a touch of black, and pops of color or pattern.  Do you see it?

***I very much did my best to link back to the original sources of these pins.  These images are not mine and I am in no way intending to take credit.  I just really admire them all!

OUR LITTLE SECRET

It is time to admit something on this little old blog of mine. It is something that I haven't really mentioned for over a year now, but it is a significant reason why I haven't had much of a chance to do many projects myself. Are you ready to hear what my secret is? I won't hold you off - we are finishing our basement!

And we are pretty much doing it all ourselves. Well, Byron is doing it mostly himself. It has meant that many of our Saturdays and Sundays involve me taking the boy and Byron making progress on our future expanded living area. I think I got the fun job. 
Because we already have a year's (plus) worth of work put into this project, I'm not going to go into a play by play of any part of what we've accomplished so far. Instead, I think I'll give you a bulleted list of what's done and another of what is left to come, as well as let the pictures do the talking. 

• Frame the exterior walls and the remaining interior walls 
• Design a half wall to split the two main rooms 
• Install a service panel dedicated to the basement 
• Hookup electrical connections (light and power) 
• Prep rooms for cable hookups 
• Move the drain in the bathroom to accommodate a tub instead of a shower 
• Insulate 

I may have missed a few steps, but judging by the amount of time as well as thought that Byron (and maybe a little bit me) have put into this, I know everything has been done with an extremely high level of quality. That man doesn't miss anything. Insulating is what Byron is just wrapping up now. And in my opinion, this step is what has really shown me what it will be like when the space is finished. Our list of things left to tackle is not short, however. 

• Install drywall
• Mud, tape, and sand drywall 
• Tile the bathroom floor 
• Tile the bathroom shower area 
• Install bathroom toilet and vanity and run water lines 
• Install carpet (this will most likely NOT be a DIY) 
• Install a bank of cabinetry for storage 
• Paint 
• Furnish 
• Decorate (!!!)

And again, there may be a few things that I didn't list that we'll tackle, but you get the picture. Those last few items on the list are what I have been waiting patiently for. Like seriously, I can't wait to decorate! I am eager to share a few of my visions for the space. Warning, a few of my ideas are a little out there. I am really hoping that we can finish things, at least to the point that it is usable, within one more year. I don't care if every last thing is in its place, but it will be nice to let Mason play down there without worrying about the tools that are sitting out (right now the basement is permanently blocked off with a gate). 
So there it is - the secret I haven't talked about. Even in the short time since I started writing this post, we are already almost finished with hanging the drywall, and I think I am going to convince Byron that we might want to hire someone to do the finishing for us.  So who knows...in another couple of weeks we could have a few more items checked off our list!