The Basement Reveal!

We finished!  We finally finished!!  It took a lot longer than I expected, but the end result was worth the pain.  I am so happy with it!  Sure, there are some things left to do.  We really do want to finish the ceiling, but the white paint has brightened it up nicely for now. What I want is not cheap, so I'll be saving up.  Dean will be hanging a chandelier for me this weekend and we may even install a gas fireplace in the near future.  But, for right now, it's a place we really like to be! 

Remember what it looked like before?  NOT a place you'd want to hang out....

More on the before here and here.

Drum roll..... I LOVE it now!!

It's so bright and cheery.  I went with a farmhouse/retro feel because I incorporated some special items from Dean's family.

This door was salvaged from his great grandparents' old farmhouse.  Yes...that's original chippy paint!  The painting is by Sidney E. King, who was a nationally known artist and local resident.  He painted this one of the Old Sparta Mill, near where Dean and his mother both grew up.

The screen door grill above the TV was from my mother-in-law's house.

His aunt's vintage stereo/turntable has finally found its perfect home - and adding some pieces of my vintage paint-by-numbers really brightened it up!

This one was painted by Dean when he was young.  There's another one somewhere that I am determined to find!

A happy place for me to work out on the treadmill.  Now I just need to use it. :)

The French doors got a new coat of paint and dressed up a bit.

It didn't seem like we had a very long or difficult list initially, but boy, it was a lot of work.  I painted the ceiling with a paint sprayer - which I will never do again.  Very, very messy.  The concrete walls were left as is because I honestly love the texture and just painted them a nice khaki color with white trim.  We installed a carpet remnant which covered most of the floor.  It worked out perfect because we had already planned to tile in front of the door down to the stereo corner and also the back part of the room where the treadmill is. 

Here is our supply list breakdown:

Wall Paint - Valspar "Swoosh".   Free for this project - leftover from the construction of the addition.

Ceiling White Paint - McCormick White.  Free - also leftover from the addition.

Trim Paint -  Valspar "Bright White".  $12.50 qt

Carpet - Remnant piece from Lowe's - $104.00 (SCORE!)

Carpet Padding - $40.00

Tile - Two boxes -  Lowe's - $32.00 box of 30 x 2 = 64.00

Wood projects (Shelf on half wall, trim around door, corner molding and shoe molding) = $78.00
The chandelier and gas fireplace are both things we had already.

My hubby's skills and dedication = PRICELESS! 

TOTAL - $298.50

It's amazing how much warmer the basement is now, so hopefully it will save us a little on the heating bill.  I know Tiger is enjoying it!

It was a lot of work and patience...but we did it!  The best part was both of our grandsons and daughter absolutely loved it!  Jordan, the youngest, has already transferred his Army men down there. :)

Is it perfect?  No.  But it is so much nicer and an extra space in the house.  It was worth every penny and we do plan to invest a little more down there...but for now....it's a nice place to hang with the family.

I'll be linking up at

Thanks for stopping by!