Basement Renovation: Finished!

Finally!! The Final Basement Post!

Although the basement has officially been done for a couple months now, I'm just now getting to posting the final pictures. We have just been so busy with baby things, I haven't had time to get around to it. So without further ado....

The Hall and Stairs

The Playroom

The TV Room

The Bathroom

The Bar

Final Costs

Carpet - $1,600

Misc - $90

Electrical - $50

Counter top stuff - $85

Door knobs - $32

This weeks total - $1,857

Project total - $13,832

We are so glad that it is done! We have been down there a lot already taking advantage of the extra space. We've had 2 parties already and recently bought a couch for the TV area! We love to go down there at night at watch TV on the couch with the fireplace on! =)

Big thank you to everyone that came and helped us, especially my amazing DAD!

Basement Renovation: Counter top & Backsplash

We have been very busy at the Blackburn household getting this basement finished up! 

Chad finished painting the doors!! FINALLY!! AMEN! The plastic needs cut off of them, that's why it looks like there is paint all over the glass! 

My dad finished the bar counter top and the back splash! I cannot get over how amazing it looks! We are so glad we decided to go with the tile counter tops and save money, plus we think it looks great! 

The sink is sitting on the counter in the picture above. I guess I could have moved it, but I'm lazy!

The outlets were installed that will hook up to the bar shelves. 

The corbels were stained and installed! =) 

The fan in the playroom was put up! 

The cover over the plumbing fixture and the closet light were both installed.

The stairs are completely finished, caulked and painted! 

The bar shelves are finished and just waiting to be hung and the lights to be installed in them!

My in-laws came down and we touched up all the paint and did a massive cleaning! It looks so much better clean! 

The carpet gets installed on Wednesday and the rest of this checklist should pretty much be done by Saturday! Just in time for my baby shower on Sunday! Woohoo! 

What's next? 

Hang bi-pass doors

 Paint doors

 Bar counter top, sink, faucet

Finish stairs: caulking & paint

Finish electrical & lighting: bookshelves, face plates, outlets..etc

 Touch up paint

 Carpet install

 CLEAN!!!

 Back splash

 Bar shelves

Crown molding above bar

 Covers for the holes in the wall for the water shut off and circuit breaker. 

 Fan in playroom. 

 Glass shelves for wine cabinet

Pulls and knobs on cabinets

Door knobs

Paint vent

This Weeks Costs

LED lights for bookshelves - $65

Plumbing - $16

Electrical - $ 17

4 Glass shelves - $65

Grout - $24

Returns - $154

This weeks total - $33

Project total - $11,975

I am not a professional and all my advice and tips are purely from my own experiences. 

Basement Renovations: Fireplace & Doors

A lot more progress this week on the basement! 

My dad came over and knocked out the fireplace wall in about 5 minutes, like it was no big deal! I LOVE it! The mantle still needs another coat of stain and a coat of clear, that's why it's a bit lighter than the shelves. Eventually, Chad wants to paint the vent to blend in more. 

We got all the doors primed and 1 coat of paint on them! Just one more coat to go!

The bookshelves and wine cabinets have their final coats and are looking fabulous. The glass shelves for the wine cabinets have been ordered and should be in next week. 

The stair railing got finalized and it looks great!

The carpet has been ordered. As soon as we have word it's been delivered to the warehouse we can set up installation.

I installed a couple door knobs and the closet light is in.

Dad built the shelves for the bar and he's working on staining those.

Chad hung the mirror and the towel/toilet paper roll bars hung in the bathroom! Bathroom is done! =)

My dad got started on the counter top. He built the frame and put the wonder board down. This is what the tile will go on.  He also got a little bit of the tile started =)

We did two MAJOR Lowe's trips this week but I'm pretty sure we have purchased nearly everything we need to finish this basement off. (I'm sure there will be small things here and there we will need) But for the the most part I think the large expenses are done! I'm not sure if we should do a dance or cry....

What's next? 

Hang bi-pass doors

 Paint trim and doors

 Finish stair railing.

 Bar counter top, sink, faucet

Finish stairs: backs, trim, caulking & paint

 Hang mirror

Finish electrical & lighting: fireplace, bookshelves, face plates, closet light, outlets..etc

 Finish fireplace wall: stone and mantle

 Touch up paint

 Carpet install

 CLEAN!!!

 Back splash

 Bar shelves

 Covers for the holes in the wall for the water shut off and circuit breaker. 

 Fan in playroom. 

 Bar shelves

 Glass shelves for wine cabinet

Pulls and knobs on cabinets

Door knobs

Paint vent

This Weeks Costs

Door knobs & cabinet pulls - $200

Paint/Stain - $25

Lighting & Electrical - $115

Counter top - $425

Back splash - $450

Misc - $60

Wood for Shelves & Mantle - $55

Bathroom Mirror- $35

Towel Ring/Toilet paper holder - $13

Bar Faucet & Sink - $162

Fan - $85

Fireplace tile & air duct - $35

Returns - $67

This weeks total - $1,592

Project total - $11,942

I am not a professional and all my advice and tips are purely from my own experiences. 

Basement Renovation: Stairs & odds and ends

It was a productive week at the Blackburn house. 

Chad spent most of the week painting trim and doors. He got all the trim hung, caulked and puttied, it just needs painted!! He still is working on the doors but it's a big job. 

This weekend my dad was able to work on the stairs which is a HUGE job. They look amazing. He hand routed all the decorative edges and then stained everything himself to match the rest of the stain in the basement. All the backs are on the stairs and the risers got painted.

We also trimmed out the bookshelves, which look awesome. The "secret" door is fully functional.  Don't mind the layer of dust! Chad also organized the storage room back there.

Some more work on the electrical was done, it's not finished yet though. The fireplace and TV are wired now. I put up a couple of the face plates that were missing. 

We laid out a pattern and plan for the counter tops, which we have decided to do in this awesome tile we found. Tile will be MUCH cheaper than granite or even laminate because we have so much surface area to cover and so many custom angles and edges.

We installed the can light covers (which I left off the to-do list).  Also, the closet light has been installed in the playroom and the bi-pass doors are half way hung!

We picked up some carpet samples and made some preliminary decisions. Hopefully we can get a final quote this week and set up an installation date!

Then we did a massive clean up since there was an inch thick layer of saw dust from the stair construction. 

Overall, it was a really productive week and I'm super excited that it's moving right along. Less than 4 weeks until D-day and it's looking do-able!

What's next? 

1) Hang bi-pass doors

2) Paint trim and doors

3) Finish stair railing.

4) Bar counter top, sink, faucet

5) Finish stairs: backs, trim, caulking & paint

6) Hang mirror

7) Finish electrical & lighting: fireplace, bookshelves, face plates, closet light, outlets..etc

8) Finish fireplace wall: stone and mantle

9) Touch up paint

10) Carpet install

11) Organize storage room

12) CLEAN!!!

13) Back splash

14) Bar shelves

15) Covers for the holes in the wall for the water shut off and circuit breaker. 

16) Fan in playroom. 

17) Can light covers (yes I added this just so I can cross it off, I'm crazy!)

18) Bar shelves

19) Glass shelves for wine cabinet

This Weeks Costs

Stairs - $450

Bi-pass doors treads - $27

Paint/Stain - $49 

Lighting & Electrical - $194

Fireplace stone & adhesive - $175

Counter top - $90

Back splash tile sample - $12

Misc - $14

Plumbing - $14

This weeks total - $1,025

Project total - $10,350

I am not a professional and all my advice and tips are purely from my own experiences. 

Basement Renovation: Trim, Cabinets, Bathroom & Shelving

It has been so long (4 MONTHS!) since a basement post that I don't even know where I left off! After a LONG hiatus, we are back at it and hauling ass to get it finished in the next month or so before the holidays and baby shower. 

Let's see what was on the To-do list back in June when I last posted. 

1) Finish trim

2) Hang bi-fold doors

3) Caulk nail holes & trim

4) Paint & hang quarter round

5) Paint trim and doors

6) Set Cabinets

7) Install Vanity, Mirror and Toilet in bathroom.

8) Finish and install window boxes and frame windows

9) Build and install shelving units 

10) Install stair railing.

11) Build and install the bookshelves

12) Install fireplace

13) Counter top

Okay - well that is quiet the list! Where to begin... I guess #1!

1) Finish the trim - Check! We have "finished the trim" and I use the quotes because all the trim is hung that can be hung at this time. We will still have to put up trim around the stairs once those are finished (I guess I should add that to the to-do list....)

2) Hang bi-fold doors - Not so much, still waiting to be hung... 

3) Caulk nail holes and trim - Check! Again, this is "finished" until more trim goes up around the stairs! 

4) Paint & hang quarter round - Check! This is actually really finished not just "kinda" finished! 

5) Paint trim & doors - Another fail, but this is on the MUST DO THIS WEEK list! The trim is half painted and the doors are half painted. We just have to finish it up. In my next post, which I promise won't be 4 months from now, this will have a big fat check next to it! And we will be doing a major happy dance because this trim has been the devil's advocate this summer and I fully blame it for our 4 month break! (until we have more to do on the stairs.... AHH!)

6) Set cabinets - Check! And they look amazing! 

7) Install Vanity, Mirror and Toilet in bathroom - Check, kind of! The bathroom is officially done except the mirror still needs hung and framed!

8) Finish and install window boxes and frame windows - Check! These also look awesome! I am really glad that we went with the glass block windows! I think that it looks really nice! 

9) Build and install shelving units - Check! These are my absolute favorite! My dad made these from scratch and stained them himself with a special stain that he had matched to our bar cabinets. They look absolutely amazing and with glass shelves and the lights shinning down on them it's going to be stunning! 

10) Install stair railing & finish stairs - Not done yet, it's on the needs to be done soon list though, but isn't everything at this point?!

11) Build and install the bookshelves - Check! These are super cool! not only do they look awesome but the hide-away door is sweet! Again my dad built the top portion of the bookshelves from scratch and matched the stain to the cabinets. He's awesome... 

12) Install fireplace - Check! =)

13) Counter top - Not done yet! =(

So after reviewing this list, we have gotten more accomplished this summer than I thought! There still seems to be sooo much more to do still though! As you can tell, everything is really, really dusty but I'm not even thinking about cleaning anything at this point because it will end up dirty again exactly 4.6 seconds after I clean it! We also need to spray for bugs before carpet goes down, there are SO many spiders! Yuck I don't even wanna think about it!! 

Here is the new to-do list with the deadline of November 17th! Once all this is done, I THINK we will be finished with the construction and just need to furnish, which is far down the road, once the finances replenish themselves! 

What's next? 

1) Hang bi-fold doors

2) Paint trim and doors

3) Install stair railing.

4) Bar counter top, sink, faucet

5) Finish stairs: backs, trim, caulking & paint

6) Hang mirror, frame: caulk & paint frame

7) Finish electrical & lighting: fireplace, bookshelves, face plates, outlets..etc

8) Finish fireplace wall: stone and mantle

9) Touch up paint

10) Carpet install

11) Organize storage room

12) CLEAN!!!

These next ones don't necessarily have to be done by November 17th but it would be nice! 

13) Back splash

14) Bar shelves

15) Find/install covers for the holes in the wall for the water shut off, plumping access and circuit breaker. 

16) Buy and install fan in playroom. 

This Weeks  Summers Costs

Misc. Bar Cabinetry things - $370

Bathroom Vanity - $170 

Bathroom Sink - $120

Faucet - $70

Caulking things - $19

More trim - $26

Misc things (I'm sure I've lost a couple receipts over the last 4 months)- $100

Electrical & lighting - $85

Built-in cabinetry - $490

Free Things that were we already had

Labor

Nail gun

Nails
Saw
Much, much more!

This weeks total - $1,450

Project total - $9,325

Things I learned this week summer:  I JUST WANT IT TO BE FINISHED ALREADY!!! 

I am not a professional and all my advice and tips are purely from my own experiences. 

Basement Renovation: Trim, Doors & Cabinets

So we have been SLOWLY working on the basement in between our other summer adventures. 

We have been doing odds and ends and it's awesome to see it all coming together. 

We hung the doors and leveled them. Then we had to frame them with the trim we painted. 

This is the HVAC room that was framed out and the bi-fold doors still need hung. 

We put all of our face plates on the outlets and switches, as you can see in this picture above. 

Sneak peak at the cabinets! =)

Cabinets are in and they look awesome! I am super excited about how great they look with the paint and tile. 

All of our lighting is in now with the addition of our bathroom light! The bathroom is almost done, just needs toilet and vanity/mirror. 

Chad is currently working on hanging all the trim. The parts of the basement that he has done look so good! It starting to look more like a finished basement and less like a construction site. 

This Weeks Costs

Bi-fold Door Frame - $17

Lumber to frame windows and doors - $64

Outlets - $10

Switch & Outlet Plates - $9

3 Dimmer switches - $38

Bathroom light - $84

Bar Track Light - $120

Cabinets - $1,319

Free Things that were we already had

Labor

Nail gun

Nails
Saw

This weeks total - $1,661

Project total - $7,875

Things I learned this week:  Finishing a basement is tedious, especially in the summer when there are so many other things going on! 

What's next? 

1) Finish trim

2) Hang bi-fold doors

3) Caulk nail holes & trim

4) Paint & hang quarter round

4) Paint trim and doors

5) Set Cabinets

6) Install Vanity, Mirror and Toilet in bathroom.

7) Finish and install window boxes and frame windows

8) Build and install shelving units 

9) Install stair railing.

10) Build and install the bookshelves

11) Install fireplace

12) Countertop

I am not a professional and all my advice and tips are purely from my own experiences.