Sep 14, 2012

5 years in the making...a basement update (and a mistake)

This is what our basement wall looked like exactly 5 years ago (pictures taken September 16, 2007):
Elliott was so tiny and just played in his bouncer while we measured and planned out the basement renovation.
Fast forward about 6 months and this was the progress: (the fireplace stone was on and the structure was coming together.
Fast forward again to September 12, 2009. Two years after we started planning the project, the drywall was all done, fireplace mantle on, and the cabinet building began. Most of those two years were spent moving a doorway upstairs, and then cutting a hole in our family room floor for the new staircase to the basement. (see this post for more pics of that area)
Elliott and Emma loved 'helping' Daddy build the cabinets while Mommy was in the hospital after Isa was born! (It's hard to believe Isa will be 3 next week!)
With a few days off work to welcome home our new little bundle of joy...lots got done in the basement. :) The cabinets were pretty much done and were painted near the end of 2009.
They looked beautiful. Michael thought of every detail, like heavy-duty hinges that won't close on tiny fingers, accent lights, TONS of storage spaces, and removable bottoms in the lower cabinets so we can dry out the floor in case the basement ever gets water in it. (thankfully, the finished part of the basement has been dry all these years!)
THEN the water damage happened in the rest of the house in January of 2010 (!!!). The time for making progress in the basement abruptly ended so we could deal with gutting the rest of the house.
Remember 2011 when Michael was living in the house fixing it up while the rest of us lived with my parents? Well, this is what the basement looked like then. It was a campout/storage area. Ugh!
One year later and we're caught up to today...the rest of the house is coming along nicely and we've been thinking about the basement again. The cabinet area has seemed really bare and the hubs keeps asking for color somewhere in the neutral basement. I decided a cushion was needed on the bench and finally got around to buying some foam and figuring out some upholstery techniques.
I used a combination of white canvas and a gray chevron, made my own piping for the first time, added a zipper so the whole slipcover could be washed (cuz...you know...kids are messy!), and made the cushion reversible in case we'd ever get sick of the chevron.
Voila! a finished cushion. BUT WAIT...what color is that on the wall? I decided to try a fiery orange-red. It's AWFUL! As soon as I figure out what color to paint it, this color will be a distant memory. But I was excited to finally get to hang the silhouettes I did of the kids about 6 months ago. Hey, progress is slow...but it's still progress, right?
 Here's a shot in black and white (ahhhh, that's better).
 Now we need a better color, some pretty pillows, and CARPET. We're still living with the subfloor (it has plastic grooves underneath it to let water run under it if needed). We also need to finish off the exercise room so I don't have to look at this view everyday.
Baby steps. It might take forever (like 5 years!) but at least we can clearly see progress in the right direction!

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