The Basement

I've always hated basements. For the most part I've lived in old houses with basements that well...were dirt floors, stone walls, and not a place to go. I've had friends with basements that were usually the place where the old furniture went, they smelled like a basement, and usually weren't finished. If you've ever watched *That 70's Show* you know what I mean. Unfinished walls or floors...dusty...*basementy*...

I also know people that go home and have the *formal* living space upstairs so they go down to the basement to watch tv and relax at night. I've never been able to figure out why? Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I knew it wasn't for me. So initially we didn't plan on finishing the basement right away, but thankfully we had a change of heart. We knew it would be hard to get back to if we didn't do it now. The only promise....that it would truly be a FINISHED basement.  It is still a work in progress...but we've gotten a lot done on the playroom side of the basement.

We have gone from this:

To this:

We put in a subfloor with an insulated backing because we were concerned that the floor would be cold otherwise. I do think it makes a difference and I'm glad Sean did some research there. We decided to use Pergo flooring mostly because it works in basements and we wanted something that could take abuse. We're pleased with how it turned out, especially since we weren't necessarily fans of this type of flooring.

It still needs a little work and some girlie touches on the playroom side. I'd like to maybe add a chalkboard, some wall decals and maybe an artwork *clothesline*. The basement is one open room and the architect designed it structurally so that we didn't have any odd posts in the middle, so there was no good stopping point to change colors. Sean painted the entire room Rookwood Terra Cotta from the Sherwin Williams Victorian Collection.  As you will see as we go along -- we love painted ceilings. We are currently setting up a pool table in the other end of the basement and can't wait to share that progress when we get further along.

The best part:

We thought like kids and finished the space under the stairs for a little hideout for Rose. Sure it would have been a great space to stash Christmas decorations, but this was way more fun. Here she is on a night she decided to camp out under the stairs. Way fun!!