Basement Remodel - Part 3

Up next....BEDROOM!

 

As I mentioned before, our basement has a bedroom in it. This has primarily been used for our guests (and I used it as an office for a few months in 2020).

Again, it was a decent space that just needed a little "love". 

 

Nik, Rusty, Diane and I set out to remodel this space in one weekend. 

I think we almost did it. Maybe it was done by the following Monday....hard to remember now.

 

The paneling was taken out and ship-lap / sheet-rock were added to the space.

A new light fixture, vent covers and blinds were hung.

Everything (including trim and doors) received a fresh coat of paint.

New flooring was put down.

And even our outside faucet that was leaking was fixed (through a hole in the closet).

 

Take a look....

The space looks great!!!

Well, don't look too close in some areas :)

We did the best we could with what we had to work with (old patch jobs, crooked walls...etc).

 

The bedroom now has furniture in it...but I took these pics quickly before the furniture was all moved back in!

Basement Remodel - Part 2

 First up on the blog posts about our Basement Remodel is the BATHROOM!

We had a 1/2 bath downstairs.

I tried to find "before" shots of this space. But I don't think I have any! Below is the best I found (mid-construction). To sum it up - it was yellow. And dark. It had a toilet, sink and mirror.

And now...

 

The toilet stayed in the same spot. Mostly cosmetic changes were made to this area: new flooring, new baseboards, new exhaust fan, paint and upper cabinets for storage.

To the left (where the old sink sat) is a different story!

Full construction happened here - everything was pulled out (including walls and floor) and a corner shower was installed with a small sink to the side of it. 

Doesn't it look great?!

 

 I have to say...this was a lot of work. 

It took time and thought to figure out what it would take to convert this space from a 1/2 bath to a full bath. I am so thankful we have experienced friends who figured this space out! It also took a plumber and electrician. Nik, Rusty and Diane are super experienced and great and did a ton of work themselves, but there are just some things that a "professional" has to do. 

I also have to say, I maybe contributed to 1% of the work in this bathroom - haha! It is a small space and really only allows one person to work in at a time.

 It's a wonderful space and a great addition to downstairs!

Can't wait to show you the rest! 

Basement Remodel - Part 1

When we purchased our house a few years back we were excited about our basement and possibilities of it! It had a large living area, 1 bedroom and a 1/2 bath. 

 

When we moved it, we did not do anything to the basement area except put in furniture. 

Through the last two years this space has been utilized in different ways. 

Overall, the space was fine. And functional. It was pretty dark....and cold. But it was usable.

Nik and I saw potential for the space - a few different ways - but we were not completely sure how to make it a reality or when the right time was to make changes. 

As you know, we are still completing some projects upstairs and have plans for more :)

Well, 2021 was the right time!

For the past few months Nik and I noticed some new cracks and felt like the house was shifting some. After talking to a few neighbors with the same problems, we decided to have it looked at. We had a foundation company take a look (yes, the house had shifted) and give us a quote to place piers in our basement to stabilize the house.

In order for the company to place the piers, we had to do a a little demo. The flooring had to come up (carpet) and the bottom of the walls had to come down (paneling).

  

Our wonderful friends, Rusty and Diane, were here to walk with us through this project. By "walk with us" I really mean - help think through what would work, and actually do (a ton) of work alongside (and even without) Nik and I. Pretty great, huh? 

We all had our "normal jobs" we had to do, plus parent and make sure our two kiddos were fed (for the record: we only forgot to feed them once!) and this was a pretty big undertaking. But we all did what we could, when we could. There were some bumps and changes along the way...but we are a great team and we taught/learned from each other along the way. And laughed. And made messes (have you seen Diane and I paint?!)

All that to say, we now we have a beautiful, bright, functional "apartment" in our basement! It is one bedroom, 1 bath with a living and office space. 

Currently, Rusty and Diane are residing in the new "apartment". (For those of you who do not know, they are missionaries and will be eventually headed back overseas, since getting stuck here during the pandemic). We love having them as "housemates" for the time being though!

 Over the next few blog posts I will show you the space - stay tuned!

New Lights Upstairs

We recently had new lights installed in two areas upstairs - the hallway and kitchen.

Let's take a look at what the lighting situation was in our hallway....

One light, at the end of the hallway. And yes, two smoke detectors next to each other.

Here is the current situation - 2 new lights!!!! (And only one smoke detector). Lovely, right?!

The next change is huge. Our kitchen. 

Below is a picture of what lights were in our kitchen when we bought the house (and what we have been living with since).

And now...

So much brighter!

Three can lights were added and then also a light fixture above where the (future) island will be.

It (honestly) took me a little bit to adjust, because it was so different, but I love it now!

And I'm ready to start ripping out and replacing cabinets and adding an island, and painting.... all the things. 

In due time, though :)

Car Show

Nik and Rusty found a great car show last Sunday. They left Zane's birthday party a bit early with Jaxen and Brooks and enjoyed "the best car show ever". Their words. 

First of all, it was FREE.

Secondly, there were some really cool cars there.

Thirdly, they showed up at the tail end and got to hear and see some cars take off.

Here are some pics!

Funnies

Here are some little funnies for your Friday...

Zane is 5!

Zane turned 5 this past Sunday!

He was so excited. He has been asking about his Birthday since Christmas.

In a way, I'm glad it's come and gone :)

One of the things he missed out on last year was taking goodies to school to share with friends and being sung "Happy Birthday" by his classmates. Due to COVID I could not attend and bring homemade goodies (like in the past) but I did talk with his teacher and we picked the Thursday before his birthday to do that. 

I took him to Wal-Mart and let him pick out anything he wanted to take (had to be store-bought and un-opened). He chose thumbprint cookies. He said they were really good and his friends liked them!

His teacher sent the pic below.

Another thing he missed out on last year was having a "friend" party. So this year, we let him have that. All he wanted to do was play with friends, so we invited them to the park to play.

 

I asked what dessert he wanted and he said "chocolate cupcakes with chocolate and m&m's". Done.

 

The party was supposed to be Saturday but due to rain all day, we moved it to Sunday (his actual birthday). And all he could talk about was opening gifts (from the minute he woke up). We did buy him a cool dinosaur t-shirt to wear on his birthday (see below) and then he actually got to to open another gift early (new shoes) because all his current shoes were hurting his feet that day and he was having a melt down. 

 

Well, after those 2 presents he wanted to open more (because he did not get a dinosaur!). We finally made it to church and then after church, in a parking lot, waiting on a restaurant to open we gave him his gift from his Bebe (which we knew he would love) - a dinosaur!


 

He loved it! Of course.

We enjoyed lunch out at Mod Pizza (his choice) before heading home to play a bit before his party. 

(We were joined all day by neighbor and BFF, Brooks).


The time finally came for his friend party and he had 7 friends show up! They played at the playground for awhile, but 10 minutes into it Zane was at my side and wanted to open up gifts so bad. So I let him.

 

He opened his gifts (all great!) and then we sang "Happy Birthday" and ate cupcakes. Well, not Zane. He (thankfully) had one the night before but could care less about the cupcake at that time.

 

All he wanted to do was play with his new toys. We put them in the van and reminded him that he was there to play with friends and toys would come later. Let me tell you - it was hard work engaging him in playing with his friends! 

 

I think he had a good time though - the weather was great and all his friends were so sweet to him! 

Here are some pics!