Monday, January 21, 2008

And so we begin

When we bought this house four years ago we got a decent deal because the bottom half was unfinished (well, except for the laundry room). But with just one toddler and one on the way, we weren't in any big hurry to finish it. Three bedrooms, a living room and a playroom (shh, it's really a dining room), a kitchen and two baths seemed so huge! But with four kids we're starting to feel the squeeze. First it was a bigger table...ours is from our newlywed days and really only seats four - not five and a highchair. Then we started talking about the master bedroom which is essentially a catch-all for the stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else - Casey's guitar's and speakers, my sewing machine and craft stuff. Before we knew what happened we were thinking about finishing the downstairs!
This is the front bedroom downstairs. We'll have to put in a closet, but nothing too major in here. For now this will be a guest room and my sewing room. I'm not quite ready to move any of the kids downstairs yet and they're all enjoying sharing rooms for now anyway so there's no need to.

This will be the bathroom. I have lots of ideas for in here, but hubby keeps pointing out where things "have to go" and that is so annoying. He just doesn't appreciate my vision. Of course he would say that I don't appreciate he has to build this stuff:)

This room is behind the garage. We're planning on putting up a wall just this side of the white door you see down there to make this a smallish bedroom or office. The rest of the space will still be hubby's workroom accessible through the garage.


This is one end of the den/schoolroom. We've been using it to store outside toys so we'll have to come up with a plan for those. For awhile at least this room will be the playroom - no tv!


This is the other half of the den - the schoolroom half. I'm getting so excited planning all the bookshelves (although hubby reminds me we need walls before bookshelves - buzzkiller).
But, first things first, we have to set a budget. Casey is planning on doing the majority of the labor himself with some help from a friend at church (an a/c guy), my dad (former electrician) and my grandpa (a carpenter). I'm so lucky to have such a handy hubby and so many other smart men who are willing to help!
This house is such a blessing. If we never finished the downstairs, I'd be content - the upstairs is really wonderful. But as our kids grow and as our family keeps growing (I hope!), it sure will be nice.




4 comments:

Sarah said...

Isn't it so funny how we, as women have our own ideas about things? We look at the finished picture and the little decorating details here and there and our men see all that needs to be done before ANY of that can happen.

Your basement is amazing! Looking forward to more pictures as things progress!

Shannon said...

I try really hard to sort of space out my ideas when I'm planning with hubby. It took a long time for me to realize that he really doesn't see things the way I do - what it will look like finished. ANd he's slowly learning to trust my vision for something. These big projects can be really hard on a marriage (well, ours, anyway) so I'm going to be taking it real easy:)

Maggie said...

What a bright space! I love all the sunlight. I love thinking about what I want to do with our unfinished basement. I wish it got more light. :)

Shannon said...

Maggie - The light is my very favorite thing about the whole house - especially that front bedroom. I'm a blue/green person, but all that light makes me want to paint everything yellow:)