In a Land Down Under….

Ahhhh…the basement….

A place where any unknown problem can creep up and meet you unawares….

Suffice it to say, after many years on this planet, I just assumed we would have problems with the basement. I mean, why should this house be any different than any other home we’ve lived in or owned?

This is why I insisted on putting tile throughout the basement. I knew we would have water issues at some point and wanted to utilize the best option available. And being my prophetic self, we had water enter the house before the tile was completely installed and my decision saved the day as we had no issues with the new floor. Whew!

The water leak was caused by the window not being sealed properly, something we remedied immediately. What we didn’t do before was painting because painting a window frame is awful. So… the basement windows stayed unpainted until very recently (you can still smell the paint).

I think Jeff was hoping to outwait me on the painting….

He won….

We ended up painting them together. He had to paint the high bits as I can’t climb ladders at this juncture.

All of this may suggest we didn’t use the basement much. Au contraire, the basement is where we lived for the first 6 months of reno.

There was originally a built-in bar that disintegrated when moved so the tile could be installed. I liked the aesthetic of it, but it was moldy, so it needed to go. Instead of installing another bar, I designed that area as a kitchenette, which was very useful while we lived down there. We found a full-sized fridge in a gunmetal finish and a matching dishwasher.

The space where the sink plumbing was located had a curved wall which made getting any kind of standard countertop impossible. I had the bright idea of getting a kitchen island slab of wooden butcher block (Ikea) which could be cut down to size and Richard (our contractor) made it work perfectly.

I also found a black, tub-style sink at Ikea which looks great. We got kitchen cabinets at Menard’s and Lowe’s because, of course, one store couldn’t have both sizes we needed…. We purchased them unfinished and had Richard paint them black.

We decided to keep some of the mirrored wall as an homage to the former home’s décor. It fits with the industrial design style of the basement. The fireplace also remained untouched (other than cleaning it).

All of the light fixtures and doors were replaced. Hunting for the correct sized doors proved a major challenge. We finally stumbled upon the exact sizes we needed at Lowe’s, which saved thousands of dollars because we thought we were going to have to custom order them. We were so excited when we found the doors that I stayed by the display while Jeff found a cart and called Richard to see if he could come get them on his trailer. Thankfully, he could….

I only growled once at people approaching our doors. If they tried to steal them out from under me, they were going to have a fight on their hands!

A couple of months ago, one of the doors sort of…exploded…during our bible study. It made a loud noise which sounded like something hitting a wall and then a crackling glass sound. Our friend Marty and Jeff went outside to see what hit the door, but couldn’t find any animal, and as loud as the noise was, an animal would have at least been stunned for a bit. Nothing showed up on our security camera either, so we have concluded that it must have been a defect in the door.

We haven’t replaced that glass yet. Thankfully, it was only one pane of glass. The door is still functioning as a door. We need to see if we can just replace the glass or if we’ll need to replace the entire door.

Most of the furniture in the basement is from our old house. Jeff sold a lot of our furniture, but we had enough to live comfortably in the basement while finishing the other two floors. It actually makes a really great space for our kids to hang out in when they are both home. It’s basically a full apartment for them, which they appreciate.

We did have an antique cabinet that once belonged to Jeff’s grandmother refinished. Clyde, Thelma’s boyfriend, refinished the broken-down cabinet, including making new drawers. Not an easy task, but he is a craftsman that made wooden projects for dignitaries of our country during his time working at Fort Leavenworth, so we knew we could trust him to do a fantastic job.

We recently purchased some inexpensive curtains for the windows in the living area, the room closest to a neighbor. I have yet to steam the curtains, but they function, which is the important thing. The curtain rods are from Lowe’s and they look like industrial pipe which fits with the industrial theme. They also match a shelf Jeff hung in the dining room. I love it when a plan comes together!

I found a rug online that helps keep the noise from reverberating in the basement. That is the one downside to tile, other than the cold factor.

To that I say, put on some socks….

The basement has been extremely useful for us throughout this time of renovation. I know our kids enjoy their privacy when they are both home. As a mom, there is no sound better than to hear your kids laughing together, especially adult children. When I hear the laughter, my heart is very grateful to have that “land down under.”