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When we moved into this little house last October, I said it was better than Christmas morning.
This time, if I could put anything at a close second, it would be finally finishing this basement.
Because 1.5 years after taking possession of this house, this year on actual Christmas morning, said basement is where we will be. It only took us that long {because codes – if you’re tuning in for the first time, we’re not that slow on our own} to transform this space:
To this.
We haven’t even put our finishing touches on it, and I love it so.
I feel like that little lady from Poltergeist. I can walk through the basement now, and proclaim “This house is clean”. Seriously. There’s something about a full on renovation that can get rid of some {clown in the crawlspace/tripe homicide} bad vibes.
Every time we venture down the stairs, we really can’t believe this is the same space.
I mean what?
Once upon a time, we would flip coins over whose turn it was to descend the stairs into the spidery abyss, because ew.
For an entire summer, we kept a fridge down here while the renovation took place upstairs, while we used the pool. And at night when it was time to close up after having friends over, we would literally flip a coin on who had to go down into the dark {remember, there was no lighting at the time} scary basement.
I can honestly say, I just may love this redo the most.
I’m in love with this little space which will be my new office. My big gold desk will slide in between these two towers, and I can’t wait to show you what we have planned for all things details.
Once upon a time, this was just a crusty old H-vac and a moldy crawlspace. If you remember this fall, we had the entire space encapsulated and trenched out to prevent further problems, along with properly treating the house itself. Since codes {WHEEEE again} requires us to keep this door, I have a plan up my sleeves once the final inspections are finito. Thus the reason this shelf isn’t quite complete yet.
Touch up painting was finished yesterday, so that’s why we have little pieces of tape everywhere.
But we can’t wait to get samples, supplies and so much more organized down here, and we plan to let the kids spread out a little on the top floor. Even though their space is my favorite… It’s going to be hard to break the three amigos up, so we’re in no rush.
Across from the new office space {I’ll still call it my little studio} the laundry can be found.
We were thrilled to go with a tankless water heater, and make space for a stackable washer and dryer. We have more plans for this little laundry space, but for now, we’re just thrilled to not take a tumble down the stairs whenever we need to do the laundry.
We also have to refinish the stairs. I had a special formula to match the flooring on our main level, and I’ll be doing the same thing, here. We had a local welder make a custom handrail, which we adore.
A few people questioned what the heck we were thinking when we put an offer down on this house.
But I guess you could say, we had a vision. And we’re just glad it doesn’t look like the before anymore.
We’ve loved transforming every single bit of this house, so far.
It’s all been pretty drastic. But I think the most rewarding one has been this basement.
The gorgeous lights are Kichler, and these can all be found on their site. Of course we’ll be sharing more in detail, along with all the fun design elements, soon. We can’t wait to polish this space up!
And we loved the solution for our ceiling… the HVAC was so intrusive, this was the only way to do it, and we knew we didn’t want a drop down ceiling in the basement. We also needed to be able to access pipes, should a problem ever arise. Also also? We wanted to maximize height in the room. So while we planked the upstairs portion of our house, we wanted to tie that feel in to the basement, too.
We used beadboard and sections of wood, so that if something ever happens, it won’t be hard to remove one section, and repair it later. It’s at different heights, but we love the way it turned out.
I’m thrilled about a hall tree with ample storage space, and we’ve really missed our fridge! Bless it. He waited so patiently in storage until he could have his glory moment again!
We found an awesome industrial desk at the Nashville Flea Market a few months ago, that we plan to use as a snack bar area here, for the kids {and adults}. Again, we can’t wait to show you all the elements we have planned!
The fabulous tile is oakwood lily by Jeffrey Court. It actually wasn’t my first choice, as I thought I wanted something different. But when we spied this sample, we knew this was it. I am so glad we went with this one – Jamin says I have him to thank for that.
We hope you enjoyed our little preliminary tour today. It’s really fun to show the before and afters {if only from the renovation front} side by side. Stay tuned for the design elements we can’t wait to share in bringing it to life!
If you’ve been following us from the beginning on this journey, well, bless you.
We have so many fun things coming in 2018. We hope you’ll check back in!
Have an inspired day!
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The basement looks awesome but I knew it would! Can’t believe it was ever a basement garage! I was curious about the bead board ceiling. We have a basement with low ceilings because our house is ancient (1966 lol) and it has a horrid drop ceiling that the previous owners put in. Can the bead board sag over time or did you do something or use a certain kind that won’t sag.
Hey April! We have it framed out above the ceiling so its just nailed into place – no sagging. If you look at a few posts back when it comes to the basement, you can see what it looked like before hand. If there were ever a problem, we would just remove that portion. ;} I hope that helps!
It is SO PRETTY!!
Thank you so much, Suzy! We’re thrilled! ;}
Awesome job! I’m so glad to see that you guys used bead board on the ceiling!! We just moved in to a new house and are planning to finish our basement too. Everyone tells me I need to have a drop ceiling to access pipes and HVAC … I say boo. Now I can show them your beautiful finished ceiling as proof. It looks so great.
Wow! What a transformation… I love it! Love the colors, the tile, the railing, all of it!!!
WOW! Such an amazing change! Beautiful and useful!
Absolutely amazing!! Great job you guys! Loved seeing your ceiling solution!
i seriously can NOT believe this is the same basement. it’s absolutely remarkable!!!! well done!!!!
You guys are magicians! This is an outstanding transformation,give yourselves a pat on the back. Merry Christmas to you and your kin. Looking forward to seeing the decorating in the basement.
That room is just beautiful and full of new possibilities. I love the planked ceilings, light fixtures, and the color of blue!! I know you all will enjoy having more space. I’m truly happy for you!
Scrolling through the post was like, “Cringe”, “Oooo, aaaahhhh!”, “Ew”, “Sublime!!!!!” and so forth. Truly amazing work. So inspiring for what is possible… with anything! (I.e. inspiring for all kinds of things in life that might need a transformation.)
How has the tile held up? I purchased a carton to see in person and it just feels very breakable. In fact 3 tiles came damaged from home depot. I love the look and hope to use in my kitchen but am leery of it’s durability should something heavy come down on it.
Hey! I can absolutely tell you without a doubt that our tile has held up wonderfully. With two 70lb dogs and three growing, active children, this is one of our heaviest traffic areas. Our only regret is that we didn’t put it throughout our entire home. We plan to install it in our back addition that is in progress now, and have it all ready to go. We’re also in the process of installing it on the inside of an entire pool house for one of our clients because we couldn’t recommend it more. Absolutely no regrets on this product. I think something random must have happened to that box because we’re both really passionate about the durability of this tile. I hope that helps! ;} Happy planning with your kitchen.