Floors, Cabinets, and Counters ... Oh My!

We are slowly but surely getting there in the basement.

The concrete is stained and the carpet installed.

The pads are down in the workout room.

Concrete before

Concrete after

The barn door was built and hung,

however, due to the twisted lumber,

wouldn't hang straight. 

So Mr. Wonderful has currently de-constructed it 

and has plans to re-work it once baseball season is over.

This was a last ditch effort to straighten the boards before disassembly.

Alas, this and even a steel piece on top and bottom didn't work!

The kitchen cabinets are in and the countertops are on and stained.

Loved having Bo's dad help out.

I know it looks like Bo's doing nothing here,

but I can assure you he worked!

Dropping in the farmhouse sink.

Thank you, Ikea, for making a sink that I both love and could afford!

Installed!

I must admit, I was very nervous about staining the counters.

(which, by the way, were from Ikea as well.)

But after reading several diy blogs on how to do it,

I finally just jumped in.

All I needed was my sander, my stain, a rag & the poly.

And SHA-ZAM!! 

Stained!

Totally in love with the stain next to the sink.

I'm seriously considering moving in down here ... :)

This sweet little piece got its final coat of poly

and was moved into the vanity area of the bedroom ...

I seriously love this area.

SO. MUCH.

From the planked wall, to the family piece,

to the vessel sink, to the fixture coming out of the wall,

to the galvanized light fixture ...

it makes me so happy to see it almost complete!

Now to get those darn drawers done!

And this stenciling monstrosity ...

not sure why I'm so determined that this wall in the bedroom much be stenciled,

but it must!

Thanks to Jones Design Company,

I got the pattern free,

cut it out of a pizza box (no, seriously!),

and traced and traced and traced and traced it.

Did I measure?  Nope.

Did I level?  Nope.

Did it turn out all caddy-whompus?

Amazingly, nope!!

And here's the start of the painting.

It's a really forgiving pattern.

And oddly therapeutic.

And the best part?

It actually looks as good as I pictured it in my head!!

(which rarely, if ever, happens!)

Late nights with this guy have been kinda fun.

It's work, but at least we're doing it together!

Next up:  appliances, furniture, and painting those screen doors behind us in the picture.

Basement paint

Fun times in the basement ... paint!

I was determined to keep it simple down there -

one basic color and then trim.

((which is totally what I'd do upstairs if I had it to do again.))

I also wanted to go a little gray down there,

but the first color I picked was a bit too ... well ... cementish.

Bo was so sweet to take a piece of sheetrock and paint it for me.

That's when we realized that we really didn't want to go as gray as we thought.

Thanks to Pinterest, I found several 'greige' colors that were popular.

Greige = beige + gray

((interpreted:  it looks gray & it looks beige))

I went with Perfect Greige from Sherwin Williams.

And we are very happy!!

Looking across the den into the breakfast area ...

Looking across the den to the kitchen area ...

The beadboard looks even better painted!

And the planked wall??!!!

Couldn't be happier!

Basement trim!

We are moving right along in the basement.

Trim is now up and I love it!

It's super simple, just like upstairs.

 Looking thru the den towards the breakfast area

and guest room ...

 Looking thru the den towards to kitchen area ...

 Looking from the breakfast area back towards the den ...

 The workout room and into the storage room ...

 The beadboard that will run behind the open shelving in the kitchen ...

LOVE!

The planked wall in the vanity area of the guest room.

Probably most excited about this feature!!

Basement Progress ... sheetrock!

Sheetrock is now up, mudded, sanded, and finished.

Messy?  Yes.

But Mr. Wonderful did a great job covering the doors with plastic & tape 

so that the dust coming up the stairs would be minimal.

And the guys doing the work are 2 of the neatest/cleanest workers I've ever seen.

They sweep and tidy up every day before they leave.

Hallelujah!

So here's the view as you walk thru the door into the den area.

Amazing how different it looks with walls up!

Looking straight across, thru that other doorway, is the bedroom.

Another angle of the den area, looking into the kitchen area.

And this is the kitchen area.

On that wall will be (from left to right):

the frig, the stove, and then past the corner, the sink.

We aren't doing upper cabinets, just open shelves,

which I'm totally stoked about.

Not something I would do in my main kitchen,

but perfect for a basement space.

Isn't that the beauty of having a finished basement?

Getting to do the things you didn't think to do upstairs,

or things you wouldn't necessary want in your primary living space.

Creative juices have been flowing!

Here I'm standing in the workout room looking into the storage room.

Notice on the right hand wall the outlet up high.

That would be 1 of 2 fans that will be put up for maximum cooling during workouts!

My hubby thinks of everything!!

(can't have ceiling fans - don't want to lose fingers when jumping around with P90X or Insanity!)

And this is in the storage room looking back into the workout room.

You can see the outlets on the left wall for the TV.

And if you look hard on the ceiling, you'll see where Bo has already mounted

brackets to hold his pull-up bar. 

The dreadtreadmill will go in the right corner and 

one day we hope to have a recumbant bike in the other.

Planning to max this room out usage wise once its complete.

40's not going to whip us!!!  ;)

Next up, trim!