Sorry for my lack of posts. My excuse is that I’ve been preoccupied with the renovation going on down in my basement suite. Even though I didn’t have to do too much of the work myself (at all), I still found the whole process quite draining. I’m really happy with the end result though. Now I’m dreaming about one day getting to gut my bathroom upstairs, fixing up the laundry room, and replacing our back stairs with a mini-deck. Oh well - those will have to wait for next summer at least (though we miiiight be able to squeeze in a new washer/dryer before then. We’ll see!).
Now - the exciting part: Before & Afters… oh also! Please note, the Befores were taken during the day and the Afters were taken after midnight when all the cleaning was finally done. The place is still bright and cheery in the daytime. Ok. Here we go:
Bedroom
What happened:
- Crack in foundation was discovered on this exterior wall, so this got repaired.
- Insulation was put in - none of the exterior walls in the whole suite were insulated!
- 3+ Layers of wallpaper were stripped off the other two walls and then the walls were patched up (not a labor of love. I was pretty bitter)
- Bedroom entry hole was moved to another wall and an actual door was put in
- New coat of paint
- New trim
- New carpet
- Potlights
Living Area (1)
What happened:
- Wall was pushed back a bit into our side of the basement (hot water tank had to be moved)
- Bedroom door installed (mentioned above)
- Pot lights
- Bamboo floor
- New paint
- New drywall
Entryway
What happened:
- Raised floor was jackhammered down and new concrete was poured in to match with the level of the rest of the suite’s floor
- New drywall and insulation
- Faux brick box thingy was removed
Living area and kitchen
What happened:
- Wall separating the kitchen and living room was taken down
- New everything that I mentioned above (I’ll stop mentioning drywall/insulation/potlights/paint - that stuff’s obvious)
- Bar area was installed
- Wall to the right was extended out a bit
Kitchen (1)
What happened:
- The big giant pipe in the ceiling got rerouted and inset into the ceiling. This was a HUGE job done by our friend Landon. He was sooo awesome to offer to do all the plumbing for us. I hope he doesn’t regret it! :O
- Fridge got inset into the wall
Kitchen (2)
What happened:
- Electricity panel had to be put in. Turned out our wiring was VERY shifty in the suite and we were lucky we hadn’t had a fire. Yikes.
- Old inset ironing board was taken down and replaced with a set of shelves similar to the one I have in my kitchen upstairs
- The door to our side of the basement was removed
Kitchen (3)
What happened:
- New sink and appliances
- Whole new kitchen cupboards and counter top (obviously)
- Tile back-splash
- A range fan that vents to the outside
- Inset shelves above the sink
Bathroom
What happened:
- When we were taking out the old toilet, it turned out the old metal pipes had corroded over time. Everything had to be dug up. It looked like Will was trying to dig his way back to China. It was insane. Once again, a big job for Landon. He also did a lot of other stuff like replacing the once-exposed pipes that you can kind of see in the Before picture.
- New toilet and vanity
- New mirror (not pictured)
- Bathroom fan that vents to the outside (there wasn’t one before)
- Shelf was put in above the toilet
- New tile floor
So that, in a nutshell, was the renovation that took up our whole summer and most of our money. Luckily, we were able to rent it out to a very nice girl and hopefully, I can start focusing my attention on other things like…cooking, shopping, my poor neglected garden, and all the other frivolity I enjoy. Hooray!
