1/18/2015

Basement Makeover: Part 1


As I mentioned in my inspiration post, we've been chipping away at the basement for the past few months. We finally reached a good mid-way point this weekend, so I wanted to share some photos!

Here is a photo of how the room looked a few months ago. Ugh. Dreadful.
ugly basement beforeThe storage shelves were handy, but not ideally located. Since our goal is to turn this into a family hang out space, we decided to take them down. The boards are actually a lovely cedar, so we removed all the nails and saved them for another project.
removing nails from salvaged planksAfter the shelves were removed, Jesse installed six recessed can lights and we also had the ceiling spray painted black. The spray job wasn't cheap, but it saved us a couple weekends worth of time so I think it was a good investment. The color is off-the-shelf flat black from Glidden, available at Home Depot.
exposed ceiling spray painted blackI gave the cinder block walls two coats of bright white paint and also painted the floors with Valspar Latex Porch and Floor Paint. Painting the floors required a LOT of prep work because you need to remove every speck of dirt, but it cost less than fifty dollars so I really can't complain!
budget basement makeover with painted ceiling and floorsA quick break down of the floor painting process. First, I used a scraper to remove tape, globs of paint and other mysterious substances from the floor. Then I used a drywall sander and went over the floors twice to smooth out any remaining gunk and loosen dirt, sweeping in between. After that, I vacuumed the floor twice and finished with two rounds of mopping. Whew! It was a workout, for sure! Once the floor was spotless, I set up a fan, had some wine with my mom, and waited a couple hours for the floor to dry. Then I painted it the same way I would a wall, cutting in the edges and rolling the reminder. I did a second coat of paint right away the next morning (before more dust and dirt could settle on it).
exposed basement ceiling and cement floors paintedOh, and Jesse built this combination climbing wall and fort. No big deal. Just kidding. It's freakin' sweet! Once the inside is finished, we'll do a full post on it. Actually, I want Jesse to pen the post since the wall is his baby, but I'm still trying to convince him!
basement climbing wall fort

3 comments:

  1. It's looking great! The black ceiling/white wall combo was a great choice. Can't wait to see more!

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  2. Basements are funny, either you love yours or you hate it. Much more fun to lov'em. Bet your loving yours now, it looks great!!

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