HOME UPDATE: Our Basement!

This post has been well over a year in the making! We started to fix up our unfinished basement over a year ago and today I am sharing the progress and finished product with all of you. We had a lot of room to work with which is partly why it took so long. We added a full-ish kitchen (we didn’t add a cook top only the insert wall oven), a full bathroom, living room and a bedroom. My husband, my husband’s family and myself put in hours of work and we did as much as we could by ourselves. This not only helped with cost but we get a huge sense of pride knowing that we put in hard work to make this space as beautiful as it is.

I chose to take a photo in the same spot of the same area during all different times of our renovation. The bar area is the most transformed and we are IN LOVE with how it turned out. See the ‘In Progress’ section below.

The Before

From left to right, top to bottom: bar/ kitchen area, living room, back bedroom,
wall nook, bathroom, hallway

I started the photo process at the studs since our basement looked like the pictures above for well over half a year. We framed it out little by little then put the project on the back burner until we could finish it all.

The Progress

This section is showing the transformation of the bar area; from the studs to the finished look.

Left to right: Studs, Insulation

Drywall, Mud and Tape (of bar/kitchen area)

Left to right: Paint, Flooring / Cabinets

Appliances, Finished product

Color scheme and design direction consist of lots grey tones and rich browns. We knew we wanted to create this space opposite of what we did in our upstairs. The space is very industrial and rustic, which Sean and I are huge fans of. When we found the pendants we knew right away what we wanted to put on the front of the bar. The corrugated tin on the bar matches the lights perfectly and it’s very inexpensive.

The After

The bar area is the most transformed! We are both in awe at how amazing this area turned out. Pendants here. We are still working on a backsplash idea and we want to add shelving between the cabinets too. Keep scrolling for the bar stools we picked out!

The living room space has muted grey tones, a plush soft carpet that butts right up to the vinyl flooring we put in. A black TV wall disguises the TV’s and also makes the space feel more cozy and gives the feels of a movie theater. The couch was a purchase from Ashley Furniture and it’s a pillow top plush ivory couch. It also comes in charcoal. Ottoman is on order!

This bathroom is amazing. I want to redo our master bath just like this. I’m in love with the flooring and how well all the colors look together. It’s a busy floor yet I feel so calm walking into this space. Light fixture here. We purchased a separate vanity top in a 2″ thick concrete look-a-like. I love the muted grey. We added a temporary shower curtain but the plan is for a glass door to really showcase all the hard work be put in on the tile. Sean and I did the shower tile, tile on the floor, grouted and sealed everything all ourselves. Not bad for our first tile job!

I just love the contrast that we did here. The TV wall was painted a dark charcoal color called Cracked Pepper from Behr and we LOVE IT! It’s not quite black and gives the contrast that we wanted.

I think the ceiling that we did is my favorite part of the whole renovation. My brother-in-law took down a fence last summer and I spent hours taking all the nails out of it. I knew I wanted to use this somewhere and the cove in the ceiling was the perfect spot for it. It pulls more brown into the space but I love the mix of black and brown, especially in an industrial setting.

Some more details. The bar stools came in a set of 4 from Wayfair. They are exactly what I was looking for and fit the industrial theme so well. The height can be adjusted by loosening the bolt and spinning the seat up or down. Sturdier than I thought too! We went with square knobs and pulls on the cabinets. The appliances are a mix of black stainless and chrome which is equally represented in this kitchen faucet! It’s so neat looking.