Yucky And Gross, Into Something Beautiful? It is Possible! Old Basement Renovation Reveal!

 

Happy Friday everyone! For some reason, I am kind in high spirits. And as much as I am looking forward to the weekend, it’s been a good week and I’m not necessarily happy that it’s over.

I wish I could say that house renovations in our home are over. I’ve come to learn that renovations are really NEVER over. By the time one project is completed you look at a room that you painted over 5 years ago and think that it would be nice to change up the color. *sigh*

As some of you may already be aware, where I live now, was in fact where I was raised as a child. It’s been my home forever. Being that I have so any years experience in this home, there were certain things I was set to change.

One of these things was the laundry room. My parents original design put the laundry room in a space right beside the dining room. I hated this lay out. I always find a laundry room to be someplace that is always dusty and dirty no matter how much to try to keep it clean. And the thought of the zipper rattling in the dryer as we sat at the dining room was not pleasant.

So, I was set to move the laundry room somewhere else. But where? As an old home, there was limited space. Space that wasn’t already taken up by bedrooms or other living spaces.

Then, a thought came to my mind. Do you remember this post where I showed you the basement renovation? This has been a wonderful space. It’s where we do our movie watching and relaxing. It’s my most favorite place to take a nap. What you might not notice in this room in that on the other side of a door, is an old basement. Part of the original foundation of the house that looked like this:

YUCK! To the right you see an old door that was used as a pantry. It is also where an extra fridge and freezer kept food. And as a kid, it was the space that scared me! It was smelly, musty and FILTHY.

But, it was a usable space. A space that was 75% empty! Sure. It was dirty. And the floor was dirt and the ceiling looked like this;

My Dad thought I was crazy. Putting a laundry room in the basement. Having to go down two flights of stairs from the bedrooms to the laundry room. And I understood that. It’s not ideal. But, it was the only usable space and it happened to be the most perfect place for a laundry room.

After measuring the space, I also figured out that not only is this usable space big enough for a laundry room. But it would also hold an extra fridge/freezer and would hold my craft space. Although my craft room I made in one of the spare bedrooms was great, I now wanted that room to actually be a bedroom for guests! Luckily, this renovation would give me enough space for my crafting needs as well!

It was almost a two year process getting this room ready. Between cleaning out as much of the dirt as possible, rewiring all the electrical, moving the furnace, 2 floods, 1 septic pipe rupture (TALK ABOUT FUN! BLAH!), new floors, ceiling, walls, lights, doors and finally esthetics. The room was done! In fact, I hung the last picture this past Sunday. Such a gratifying feeling!

So, without further adieu, here are the before pictures (as well as the two above):

And…drum roll please…..

The after:

Doesn’t even seem like the same space at all, right? This has been by far the most challenging but rewarding renovation. The fact that we were able to take a space that has never been anything except a yucky, unused basement and make it livable is great! We have added extra usable square footage to our home. Extra space that is organized and useful. It’s a room that I now enjoy going into! I am not scared of the “old basement” anymore! We love our new space!

Happy Friday!

xo