Dun Da Da Daaaahhhh! Basement: FINISHED.

Here's a series of Before and After pictures to take you through the journey of our giant project. We bought our house with an unfinished basement, aside from 1 finished bedroom. I didn't mind it all that much, because it was a giant space to store stuff. But our upstairs was pretty limited in space, so we decided that this year would be the time to finsh it. I was surprised that Jake was so gung ho, and threw himself into the project of framing, wiring, insulating, tiling, installing, and paintnig. He started around May, and it was finished in November. Not bad, considering there was a lot of waiting time in between for certain things like drywall and carpet. Jake did an AWESOME job, and it has made such a difference to have a finished living room, bathroom, playroom and another bedroom. The basement is my favorite place in the house now!

The stairway used to be a U shape when we moved in. It made it almost impossible to get any furniture down to the basement. So after much deliberation and careful planning, Jake made them into an L shape by cutting out a wall and moving the stairs with the help of his dad. It was a pretty brilliant move. Here are the stairs as an L before and afer being finished:
We will add a bannister eventually, that can be removed when big furniture needs to go down. Cami's doing great without one yet though. And as you can see, the carpet is kinda shaggy, tan speckled and oh so soft. The walls are textured, which we weren't sure about but really liked the outcome.

The bedroom area before:

Bedroom After. Although it would have been nice to leave it open as an extended part of the living room, we figured it would be more beneficial to have another bedroom especially when it comes to selling the house one day. And this will probably be Cami's room in a couple years.

Bedroom walk in closet before:

After.

Under the stairs playroom before:

After. Don't you love the sunshine yellow? It's a good place to keep the mess of Cami's toys, even if she doesn't actually play in there yet! (she prefers to transfer the toys to the living room)

The playroom, in between the bedroom and the stairs. That lovely chair is from Jake's parents and will probably go upstairs.

Bathroom before:

With the addition of robust orange paint (which we were very weary about as soon as we started painting)

And after. I love the orange now...it's bright and happy, and Target supplied me with a cute matching shower curtain. Notice the missing mirror...that will come soon, along with cute colorful art for the wall.

Jake and Ike tiled the floor and shower, and did a fabulous job!

The fireplace before, with the two storage rooms on either side:

During...

After. I'm SO glad we got this puppy installed- it has saved me this winter! Jake was the one who really wanted it, and I wasn't so sure.....but bless him. He designed this area himself- good job! And p.s. I LOVE our new TV.

The living room before, with lots of building supplies and junk:

Here's a video of the mess after the dry wallers.

During:

In the painting process:

AFTER.

Yaaaayyyyyyy success! It's liveable! We got the couch from RC Willey, and the pictures are my old artwork that Jake framed for Christmas. It'll be fun to add little pops of color over time to the room. We're loving it, and the transformation still amazes me!