basement project - drywall

I realize I've been neglecting my blog, but with a basement remodel, new exchange student, Girls Who Code club, and Christmas - something had to give.  I'm especially geeked that we made some visual progress on the basement, so I'm taking the time out to write about it.

Mudding has definitely been the hardest thing about doing the basement.

With so many nooks and crannies - it was very time consuming to do the area properly.

See what I mean? This is the area under the stairs and will be the coolest treadmill space. Sooo many nooks and crannies in there.

My new sewing room area. I plan on making my own custom table space to house my 3 sewing machines.

A better picture of the furnace room (where the door is). I can't believe how quieter the furnace is now.

I love the pocket doors. It nearly cost me my marriage - but they are beautiful and now even Burke likes them. My new photography studio lies behind those doors.

I lined the windows with some 1/4 inch plywood. Lowes ripped the pieces for me and I cut them to length to fit the windows. These windows will end up holding my spring garden - making use of the deep wells.

The other egress window. Still needs lots of work.

So these pictures show the drywall all mudded and sanded. We ran out of primer and there is still a couple rough areas that need sanding. The great thing about the drywall primer is that you can sand it down.

I went through 6 five gallon buckets and it look me nearly 2 months to complete. If I was to ever do the much square footage - I would invest in some professional tools.

The finishing coat of paint is next and the floor is already downstairs getting acclimated to the new environment. I really excited to move forward. Stay tuned for new blog posts of the custom areas in my new "lair". 

basement project - part 2

I've taken a break with my blog and this is the reason. We started the project back in August and with only weekends to work, this is our progress. I'm really bummed .... I took pictures after the framing was done and now .... I can't find them. Dang it!

As you come down the stairs. The first door is to our new bathroom and is only framed in at this point. The other door is a small closet for kitchen overflow.

At the bottom of the stairs .... it's the little closet on the right again. Burke really loves those pot lights. We was down here measuring for the floors.

This is directly across from the kitchen closet. The space is under the stairs. We took out some of the extra framing and really opened it up. Burke put in some outlets for my treadmill and a monitor for watching stuff. This will be my treadmill's home.

This space is filled with construction materials at the time of the picture, but it will eventually be the sewing area. The window is wired for a window garden.

Standing in the sewing area, overlooking the family room. In the back where the door is will be a giant storage closet. The dog crate is Nova's (Jackie's dog).

A better picture of the storage room and Nova's cage (who hangs out there when Jackie is working). You can see the kitchen closet there too. 

We're back in the sewing area and looking at the new furnace room.

Looking at the new pocket doors with the french doors. They close off my new photography area. Right now filled with construction materials - some of which is ready for the recycle place.

My treadmill is in the corner while the stairway is being drywalled. But that corner will house my new electric fireplace and TV.

And my big giant closet. Burke wired it up with 2 pot lights. Still so much mudding to do. I think we have a week or two left to continue drywalling and mudding and then on to the floor. We picked out a really cool laminate floor. I'm still trying to figure out what color to paint it. Still moving forward!