With basement demo completely out of our way, we’ve spent the remainder of holiday break cleaning and rebuilding.  None of the exterior walls had insulation, so we’ve added a layer of 2 inch rigid foam, then built new 2 by 4 walls to run wiring through.  Before sheet rock, we’ll add fiberglass batting.

Along with new exterior walls, we’ve made a few changes to the floor plan.  To give an idea of where everything was, as well as our plans, here’s a set of handy-dandy floor plans.  Let’s start with the before:

And here are the changes we’ve started and are planning to tackle.

Some things are staying the same/very similar, while we’re making some other major changes, so how about a rundown of plans?  Okay, here we go:

1.  The door to the garage (which is to the right of these plans) is at the base of the stairs, which can make things crowded at times.  More often than not, we enter and exit through the garage, so getting organization and order in this space is crucial.  Having a door to the under stair storage open into the hallway wasn’t the best use of space and further clogged a main artery.  Instead of accessing the under stair area from the hall, we’re creating what I’m calling a ‘mud nook.’  It’ll have a bench with shoe storage below and hooks above for a great drop zone that will keep the mess of life tucked aside.  Here’s the current view with my back to the garage door; mud nook on the left (where the bins of junk are) and the soon to be bedroom door straight ahead.

Again, a shot of the future storage space, with a glimpse of the stairs to the left.  The opening of the nook is just under six and a half feet wide by 18 inches deep, so it’s a generous size for backpacks, winter gear, and shoe storage.  I measured over and over, considering taking it back a little deeper, but because this is tucked partly under the stairs, the deeper the bench, the shorter the ceilings get.  This seemed to be the sweet spot, and we just may have room for a shelf at the top, but we’ll see how everything feels when we get sheet rock up.

2.  We’re dividing the large front room into two different spaces.  The smaller will become a bedroom, possibly for one of the boys when they’re old enough to want separate rooms.  Until then, we’ll use it as another guest space.  After debating the pros and cons of door placement, we agreed to keep the door at the end of the shorter hall, but pivot it to make a 90 degree corner.  Rotating it around to enter from the other hall stretch would have given a little more privacy, but wasn’t worth the effort to make it work in the load bearing wall.

3.  Along the stair wall, we’ve added a deep closet with access to the under stair storage through the back.  Under the stairs, the plan is to finish it off with walls, carpet, and lights to create a cozy little play area that we can use for storage when the boys are too big/old to care about it.

4.  In smaller changes, we’re shifting the laundry door over about 18 inches and eliminating the door swing by putting in a pocket door.

Before, the door was 24 inches from the left, where the deeper washer/dryer sit, while the shallower cabinet side had 54 inches between the wall and door.  With the machines toward the back of the room, the units never stuck out per se, but it always felt off centered.  Basically, we’re swapping the proportions by moving the door and centering the door on the space open space between the appliances and cabinetry for better flow.  Here’s the start of the process, with the wider door framed and ready for pocket door install:

It’s a heck of a lot easier to move the door than the plumbing and electrical.  Stacking the washer and dryer will make space for our bulk storage in the upright freezer, which will sit where our dryer once did.  I know, it’s an unconventional placement, but there really isn’t a better place for it, upstairs or down.  And if we ever decide to do away with the freezer, we can unstack the washer and dryer with room to spare.  We’ll still have a wall of cabinets on the other side, but the cabinets will be counter height for a folding station as well as an open ‘desk’ spot for Ben to work on his reloading.

While tearing apart the laundry room, we found something interesting.  At some point, there was a small fire in here.  Everything has been fixed, including two replaced joists.

That cleared up our questions about why one joist bay in the future bedroom was darker, it’s smoke discoloration.

5.  With the freezer relocated to the laundry room, we’ll have space to install heavy-duty shelves in the unfinished utility/mechanical room for tools/paint cans/messy storage items.

6.  We’ve already opened up the end of the hall to create a door to enter the theater room.  Due to the lowered ceilings, we’re still trying to figure out if we can put a pocket door in here as well. It might shorten the opening too much, but we’re hoping to make it work.  Oh, and the box on the left is my test for sconce placement thanks to a lack of overhead lighting options where the duct runs.

7.  Once we’ve finished, the theater room can technically be considered a fifth bedroom because we’re adding an oversized closet at the back.  Directly left of the window (this was the end of the house before the pool house addition) is the start of our closet wall.  The window leads into an unfinished crawl space, so we do need to keep access to that, but it’ll be hidden inside the closet.

8.  Another fun demo discovery!  The shower drain isn’t actually a to code shower drain, just a floor drain.  Luckily, we planned to widen the shower, which required moving the drain, so replacing it isn’t an added task.

The remaining fixtures will stay where they were.

So that’s the basic overview of what we’ve done and where we’re headed with this basement.  As usual, the renovation saga will continue and I’ll share more details as we make progress, including the exciting parts that come after sheet rock has been finished.

We have two big projects remaining on the to do list: gut and remodel the basement and pool house.  With all of our big construction materials currently stored in the warehou-I mean-pool house, we’ve decided to start work on the basement, saving the pool house for last.

Here are pictures from closing day:

Along the front, there’s a long room that makes an L shape around the corner:

Looking back toward the entry from that same point, there’s a set of four-foot wide French doors.  The painted door on the left side went into a 2 foot by three-foot closet that was added after the basement was finished.

The bathroom boasts a lovely mustard yellow suite of fixtures, and previously had carpeted floors.  Literally right after getting the keys, we drove here and ripped out the pet stained carpet and have lived with Flor tiles to cover since then.  It’s been gross.

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have of the hall, but the door on the right goes into the laundry room, with the bathroom the next door down.  The same carpet extended from the bathroom through the hall and laundry room, hence the glue on concrete floors.  Did I mention gross?

Oh, please note the mirror at the end of the hall, too.  Rather than finishing the walls to the small closet they added, the previous owner ‘patched’ the wall with a large mirror.  Basically, the perfect way to scare the crap out of people who don’t know there’s a mirror there.

Over the weekend, we decided to get going on the project, starting with demo!  Demo day is always exciting, because it’s the first step of a renovation.  Ben took the first whack, pulling the double layer of sheet rock off the concrete foundation wall.

I know basements are typically colder, and that’s expected when this is all that finishes the walls.  No insulation = cold!

At least the upper section of the outer wall had fiberglass batting.

After tearing apart the concrete wall coverings, we moved on to the small closet at the end of the hall.

With low ceilings (thanks to duct work above) and no windows (or the option of adding any down the road), this hall was always suuuper dark.  That lone sconce didn’t help much, but punching a hole at the end lets in so much natural light and will also be the entrance to the future theater space.

Ripping out sheet rock is messy, but fun because it’s easy to break through and gives plenty of opportunities for ‘Heeeere’s Johnny!’ moments.  Cleaning up, not as fun.  We hauled big pieces directly to the truck and loaded up garbage cans with smaller pieces as we went.  You know what they say, “Keep your friends close and your garbage cans closer” or something like that.

However, a wall full of dead mice puts a slight damper on the fun.  The wall seen above and below is load bearing, but I’ve dubbed it the mouse wall because there were no fewer than 20 in that space alone.  As Ron White would say, “Things that make you go bleeahhh.”  Here’s to hoping the little varmint won’t be able to get in once we’re done.

It was right around this point that we started making up lyrics for demolition songs.  To the tune of For the First Time in Forever from Frozen, here’s our winner:

That wall is now open, so’s that door!  We don’t have sheet rock in here anymore.  So now we have a thousand nails to puuuuull.

(Brief intermission: speaking of pulling nails, here’s a quick tip.  Use a long-handled pry bar to remove sheet rock nails from the ceiling without shuffling a ladder around.  Okay, continue singing.)

For years I’ve hated these ugly halls. Who wants a basement with cold, dark walls?  Finally we’re heating up this plaaaace.

We’ve found actual real dead mouse bones.  Which isn’t totally strange.  At least that’s an easy thing to chaaange.

‘Cause for the first time in forever,  We’ll have bedrooms, we’ll have floors.  For the first time in forever, We won’t freeze our feet anymooore.

Don’t know if I’m exhausted or hungry, But I’m somewhere in that zone.  ‘Cause for the first time in forever, This basement will feel like home.

I can’t wait to get everything done! (gasp!)  What happens…when we get it all done?

Today imagine a finished hall, Complete with slate floors and finished walls.  The perfect spruce up for this tiny space.

Ooh! A functional mud nook over there, With a wall of hooks for all our gear.  A way to organize this side entry plaaaace.

But we’ll clean and scrape all evening.  Until it’s all packed in the car.  After more of the same we’ve done so faaarrr.

For the first time in forever, There’ll be movies, there’ll be sun.  For the first time in forever, We’ll use the basement for some fuuun.

And I know it’s totally crazy, To dream of hanging pants.  But for the first time in forever, At least we’ll have the chance.

I’m sure that Weird Al-esque ditty will be a chart topper in no time.  In the picture below, my back is to the garage entrance, the door on the left goes into the unfinished under stair storage.

Did you catch the mud nook reference in my song?  Well, we’re going to do a little reconfiguring, stealing 18 inches or so of space from the stair storage to create a recessed area complete with a bench, shoe storage and hooks.

I’m absolutely giddy over this addition because as it is, the stairs come down right next to the garage door.  When we come in, shoes (and backpacks, jackets, snow pants, and other junk) get piled up, creating an obstacle course just to get in and out or down to do a load of laundry.

I’ll draw up a legit plan, until then, to get a better idea of the layout, feast your eyes on my scrap trim mock-up.

Along the long stair section, we’ll create a bedroom closet with access to the under stair section through it.

This is another little thing that I’m stupidly excited about, because we’re going to finish the walls, add carpet, and a few lights.  Do you see where I’m headed with this?  While our boys are still young, I think they’ll love that area as a hidden play space.  Once they’re older, we can use it for storage again.

Now that the ceiling and walls are open, we also have access to the upstairs railing posts that are bolted in place to joists.

Before we put sheet rock back in, we’ll be able to replace the orange oak spindles and railing.

Even though the basement is looking even worse, we’re both excited to start putting everything back together.

Of course, no remodel is complete without small challenges to deal with, like ducts running over the hall, making overhead lights impossible to add.

Soon, we’ll demo the bathroom and laundry, too.  Until then, I’m measuring, drawing up plans, and searching for finishes.  At least we know how we’ll spend our holiday vacation, much the same way we did last year while we gutted the kitchen.  Consider us the captains of the cool kids.  Enjoy your holidays and have a safe and happy New Year!