Finishing Basement - JESSIKA REED

My dad, Kari and In-laws are awesome. They told us they wanted to finish our basement for us before the baby arrives. This is something we have been planning on doing for quite some time but it is so nice of them to help us with this. It keeps going to the back burner but will really be so nice for more space and playroom for the family and the new little one!

Our basement is pretty small about 500 square feet but it is still 500 square feet that are unused. Stephen and I first lived in a basement apartment of a house and that was about the same amount of space so to have that unused space just seems like a waste!

The builders had plans showing a finished basement that included 2 bedrooms. We considered their plan and thought to use an extra bedroom and an open office area outside of the room like the option below.

We realized how small the room would be and really for what we want to use the room for we would just finish the full bath a closet and have the rest of the space open for a large family room. We will move the office down to the basement along with our elliptical and all of our living room furniture.

The only walls built were around the stairs, the storage/utility area, the closet and the back bathroom wall. They had pluming hookups but not enough room on the electrical panel and many walls to be built which means lots of work ahead.

My dad came down from Idaho last week to start with Stephen and I. I took off some time thinking I could help but they didn’t need me much. I stayed in charge of shopping, picking out things and some meals. I was around to make decisions so that was good, plus it was good to visit with my dad. They got all of the pluming, electrical, walls framed and insulated.

Bottom of the stairs – this is where the desk and elliptical will go behind the couches.

Great big windows – 1 of 2

Back wall where the TV will go (closet and bathroom on the left)

Door to utility / under stair storage and open door to bathroom. We couldn’t find the exact doors we have through the house but these match the same style they just have the added bead board design – which I love anyway!

Closet area and pluming to shower.

Shower & Tub – whenever I came downstairs and saw that ladder a song by Carrie Underwood popped into my head, about taking a louisville slugger to both headlights. Is that weird?

Vanity hook ups

The builders had 2 lights hooked up, one in the living area and one in the bathroom and they were both on the same switch. My dad moved the light from the bathroom into the living area so there would be two lights and then we will install lighting above the vanity. We also wanted the bath light to be on a different switch than the original so he installed the lighting and fan in the bathroom. Seems logical but I could have probably never had done that without an electrician so we are very happy about that!

Speaking of electrical, we have always known our builders were cheap, things look nice on the surface but they were not well built, things start popping, squeaking and just are poorly and quickly slapped together. They advertised our house with an unfinished basement and encouraged us to finish it later. They maxed out the electrical panel so when we went to finish the basement and hooked up outlets and new lights there was no way to add them to the panel. We were surprised by this finding, they went the cheap route and if we used what was there our house wouldn’t pass inspection when we got to sell down the road – again good thing my dad was around to understand that. Oh well, now we have a nice subpanel and about 20 empty areas for any expansion in the future.

Fan that is fully functional and the only new electrical I can really see at this point. We have outlets ready to go but that would require plugging something into them when I can just flip the switch and see the results of the fan immediately!

One awesome thing about this project is that we get to see it from start to finish. And with that we get to pick the finishes and colors I want. We were restricted in layout but I was excited to pick the prettier things I like. The rest of the house has brushed nickel finishes on many things but the bathroom features are all chrome. I don’t get it – why not go one way or the other and go all the way? Pretty stupid for me to be obsessed with but that is how my mind works. This bathroom will have brushed nickel shower faucet, sink faucet, lighting, etc. They will all match and that gives me great pleasure! I am sure I could switch out the rest in the house but being known for starting projects before finishing others, I better focus on finishing all of this up first :).

Unfortunately my dad had to return earlier than planned for a work meeting so we didn’t finish up all we planned. We met with some contractors in the days since to help get some of the other work finished. We found one and they start work on Friday. We have a list of things to do after the contractors are done and plenty more before we finish up. I love the feeling of knowing you did something with your own hands. I am excited to have the work done and a nice place for the new family. I will post pictures throughout the process!

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