Basement Project: If You Build It, They Will Come, pt. 2

Joel and I both grew up in great homes with amazing families. We realized, though, that neither one of us spent a particularly great amount of time "entertaining" friends at our houses. We were usually more likely to spend time at another friend's house before inviting them to hang out at ours. With all of the influences kids have these days, it was super important to Joel and I that our kids have a place where they can bring their friends for a fun, safe environment to "hang".

Now, we aren't naive. We know there is a great chance our kids will want nothing to do with our house. Or that we may move before our kids are teenagers. Or a million other variables. I just know that I'd rather provide the space and fun for our kids in our own home and have the friends come to us than wonder where they are and if they are up to no good.

So, we set out to make a practical, yet livable and fun, area in our basement.

Looking into the office.

Standing in the office looking out into the "rec" room.

Standing just outside the office in the "rec" room. SAY CHEESE!

After the drywall guys did their thing, my dad primed and painted all the walls.

Much easier with a sprayer!

Not much to see yet, but at this point in the progress, you could see the drywall is up and painting was going to be commencing soon. Eventually, the main room is all set to contain a ping-pong area with a corner-mounted TV, a flat-screen swivel wall-mounted TV with comfy seating, a fully-equipped wet bar (more like mini-kitchen), and potentially a high-top pub table/chairs. We can't wait to show you some Before's and After's, and where the basement is now! Carpet was just laid today, so we are making good progress!

Basement Project: If You Build It, They Will Come, pt. 1

Who is they? I don't know. Friends. Family. Rodents. Hopefully not rodents.

Stealing a line from the famous Iowa movie, the basement project began as a sort of vision. No one whispered random remarks in our ears - not that kind of vision. But more of the kind of vision when two people talk about what the future might look like and their hopes for their family as it grows.

When we purchased our house in 2008, we immediately began thinking about what to do with the 1,600+ square feet of unfinished basement we had to work with.

View into the Office.

Bedroom and Bathroom

View from the bedroom closet into the bedroom and family room.

Middle of the Family Room.

We knew the necessary items: an office, a 4th bedroom, a large rec/entertainment room, storage, etc. But we started dreaming about how and why the space should be used. It went beyond simply "slapping up some walls and calling it good". We developed a purpose, a vision, for the space. And my-oh-my has it been a roller coaster of fun, chaos, headache, confusion, indecision, vision, expense, and creativity. I'll be posting much more in the coming weeks on our basement progress - stay tuned!