It’s taken me far too long to share this little update, especially considering the HUGE changes we’ve seen this past month in our basement renovation. In the month since our last update, our basement has gone from total construction zone to cozy finished basement space – well, almost anyway. Not only did we get ALL of the trim work installed, painted and caulked (find our simple farmhouse trim tutorial here), but our carpets went in and holy smokes what a difference that made!
Anybody that’s lived through a major renovation will know just how amazing it feels to cross that threshold of no longer needing to wear shoes to walk through a room. Walking downstairs without stopping to put shoes on first, really feels like that pivotal moment when our disaster of a construction zone transitions to our home once again (or for the very first time in this case, considering this had been an unfinished space for the 50 years it’s been here). It truly is one of those milestone moments!
With the carpet installed, we can move on to some of the other pieces of the puzzle, mainly the stair railing, wet bar and a cover for our electrical panel.
Last week, we met with a local company to talk through a custom railing design. We’re working from this beautiful railing, but customizing the design to fit our own space. I just love the balance between modern and traditional. Because of the low ceilings and that tight turn at the bottom of our staircase, we need to make sure that whatever railing we do install is easily removable to allow us to move large items past it.
Our electrical panel has been another tricky spot to design around. We’ve given this little spot a ton of thought through these past few months, considering a few different options. At first, I thought we’d just build a little cabinet around it, but the more photos I looked at online for inspiration, the less I liked how much a cabinet would stand out on that wall. We also thought about building out some sort of wall to ceiling built in cabinet around it to mirror the one we had to build around our water lines (pictured below), but we didn’t love the idea of how wide it would need to be to accommodate the open space around our electrical box too. Eventually, we settled on an option we both feel really happy with – out of all the things we’d considered it’s by far the least expensive, easiest to execute and best of all, I really think it will bring even more warmth and coziness to the space.
Finally, we’ve also got this big empty space, otherwise known as our “wet bar” to deal with (find our design plans for it here). We’ve ordered up the appliances, fixtures, countertops and most of the cabinets (we’re still waiting on a few to restock). I’m hoping to get them all built over the next couple of weeks, so that we can get everything installed before our appliances arrive at the end of November.
And of course, there’s the bathroom, which is still looking very much like a construction zone thanks to the unfinished flooring and trim work. We’ve got all of the flooring and fixtures piled in this corner of our basement and Brady’s been pretty eager to get it all installed, but my indecision on the wallpaper is holding it all up. When I shared my design plans for this little powder room, I thought I’d made up my mind about the wallpaper, but after seeing the boldness of the colours in person last week, I’m having second thoughts about things. I’m still head-over-heels in love with the idea of using a bold wallpaper in this little space, so now I’m looking through some of my other favourite options (you can see them all here) to see if I can find anything else that I might love more.
Hoping I’ll have another big update to share next month, just in time for the holidays! If you missed it, you can catch up with all of our design plans for the space here.
Wishing you SUCH a lovely day!
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WOW! Your basement is really looking awesome! You will have so much more living space! I’d love to finish our huge unfinished basement – but don’t think we ever can. Pipe dreams. Glad I can live vicariously through you! Love your choices so far.
Hang in there – almost done!!!! : – )
Thanks so much Michele! We weren’t sure we’d ever get ours finished either, which makes it even more exciting to watch this all come together. Here’s hoping you’ll be able to tackle yours someday too! Thanks again!
Love that ornate piece of furntniture!
Thanks Rebecca! It’s a really special piece and I’m so happy to be able to put it to work in here!
It’s so pretty! I love the warm carpet colour, can’t wait to enjoy a warm Christmas drink down there with you!
Ah, thanks my friend! Looking forward to a drink and visit down there too!