Basement progress!

I just started following yet another blog, Young House Love, but this one is dedicated to home renovation. The couple, Sherry and John, moved to Virginia from New York and bought a fixer upper house that was majorly out-dated (seriously, go look at all the before and after pics - you won't believe it). Their house looks amazing now, and it was featured on The Nest, and they even write a column in Better Homes & Gardens DIY magazine. I love their style and their decorating ideas! Seriously, check it out if you are doing any type of home renovation/remodeling.

This brings me to my next topic. Our basement is getting there. Its coming along nicely, and even though we don't have as much done as I would like to have done, I can't complain about the progress. Thus far, the HVAC and electrical are done, all the sheetrock is hung, we will be done with all the sanding and mudding in the next week, and on Nov. 16 we are having the drop ceiling installed! I CANNOT WAIT! I was wanting to have the flooring ready to install during Thanksgiving, but time and money wise we can't. I will just have to wait until after the new year, but the advantage in doing that is that we have plenty of time to get all the walls painted the color we want them without having to worry about the floor.

This past Saturday, we also got the electric fireplace that will go in the main living area. I love it, and I wish I could share a picture right now, but I can't for the life of me find a picture of it online. We got it at Sam's, it is solid wood construction, and it has a space for all the cable/gaming components. It also has doors on the side that swing out and have TONS of space for storing all those DVDs and video games. Another huge plus was that is was a little less expensive that the ones sold at Home Depot or Lowe's, and it was much bigger too. Sadly, it will be staying in the box until the floors are put in.

Alright, I want to share some before and after pics, and there will be more once the walls are painted and the ceiling is hung. I can't guarantee there won't be a ton, so consider yourself warned ;-)

View of the main living area
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Living area after sheetrock
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Office - hanging insulation. Notice the solid concrete wall behind the studs. We Drylocked every square inch on concrete in that basement, floors included. The September flood was no match for the the Drylock!
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Office after sheetrock! You can see a glimpse of our awesome storage area (hint: See the red body bag? Don't worry, its the Christmas tree.)
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Our awesome storage area! I'm rather partial to the two-toned insulated look.
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Almost done with sheetrock in the storage room. Just for reference (and to brag), our storage area is 7' x 20'. Lots of room to further our pack-rat habits.
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Don't have an after shot of this, but just wanted to share the view from the landing into the living area. My dad helped us widen the door so it wouldn't feel so closed in at the bottom of the stairs.
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Proof that I do contribute ;-)
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We have done lots more since these after pictures. The bedroom is done and primed, the storage room is primed, the office and living area is ready for the last sanding and then priming, and the gym is ready for the second coat of mud. The only thing I am concerned about right now is the landing. We still have to build the headers on two doors for the utility closets, and mud and sand the landing. One closet has the HVAC system, the other has the hot water heater and eventually a deep freezer. Both of these closets will have bi-bold louvered doors. I know, I'm not a fan of that style either, but a solid louvered door is $250 vs. $60 for a bi-fold. I'll deal with it for that cost difference.