Jen Bowles Design

Basement Project Update: Week 7

Things I've learned while working on my part of the basement remodeling project:  I love blue & green (nearly all shades), a paint sprayer would definitely come in handy and if I have a can of Kilz primer and a roller, I'm dangerous.  Especially late at night.

At any rate, here's an update on the progress in the very cool {literally} basement space...

Family room area:

Since I last posted pictures, I completed the painting of our coffee table and got a new friend for the wall.  We bought this table while living in NC.  It's very sturdy and has lots of storage.  It came with a nice, distressed black finish.  While living in the old basement playroom it became even more distressed while being used as a storage shelf for metal buckets and heavy wooden crates.  Lots of scraping.  So, I didn't feel bad painting it the same blue shade I'm using on the stairs (and on my studio floor).  I think it looks great in there and it makes an awesome footrest.

And then there's Esther.  She was a gift/bonus from a friend I worked on a digital design/book project with this spring.  Esther is right at home with the beachy, vintage, coastal vibe I'm working down there.  And she's coral.  So punchy!

I also finished painting the stairs.  Sort of.  They are now all primed but are still waiting for a topcoat.  At least they look cohesive now, the topcoat can wait...

Studio Space:

Things are really starting to take shape in my new studio space.  I painted the topcoat on the floor on Sunday and after letting it cure for 2 days, we finally moved some furniture in there last night.  It's a little bit scary.  I have so many supplies packed up but I'm not sure how many are going to make it back into the space.  I'm really liking the clean yet colorful look.  I may have to set up some satellite, not pretty storage out in the garage. 

In fact, I liked the clean look so much that I actually decided to paint my beat up work table surface.  We bought this table, oh my goodness, 18 years ago at a yard sale for $50.  It was our dining table in our first apartment.   I love the character of it but I couldn't resist the temptation to paint it.  I'm planning on sewing a fabric skirt to velcro all around the edges of the table so I can have even more (concealed) storage underneath.   

Speaking of primer, I'm also repainting a French Provincial style lingerie chest that Bubbe scored for *free* on the side of the road.  The owner even helped load it in her car!  The cream with gold accents isn't really my style so I dove in with the primer last night.  Topcoat coming tonight.  Or soon.

On the storage side of the studio, we moved a few pieces back in last night.  I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to put the shelves back in the Shabby Chic (from Target) bookcase.  I finally gave up and started searching online.  Thanks to a picture posted on flickr, I saw that not only do the shelves fit in notches, there are also wooden support pieces that I totally forgot about.  Sure enough, when I looked today all the support pieces were stored right there in the bookcase drawer.  I am pleased to report that the shelves are working much better now ;-).

I still have a bit more furniture painting to do.  It could be that I'm trying to delay moving all of the boxes of supplies back into the space.

Maybe...

 

Basement Project {Mini} Update: Week 6 1/2

For a while there was a lull in the work in the basement.  My dad has two of my aunts and an uncle staying with him for 2+ weeks and I was keeping busy getting ready over there.  And then those pesky kids of mine got out of school and demanded to be taken to a pool or a beach nearly every day.  What kind of mother would I be if I didn't oblige??

Over the last few days I've been back at work down there though, concentrating mostly on my new studio space.  We've finally all had enough of art supplies in the dining room, no room in the garage and general clutter and chaos all around.  You may recall that I toyed with the idea of painting the studio white.  There are so many clean and inspiring art spaces on flickr and all over blogland that I nearly gave in.

But I didn't.

Instead I decided to carry the color palette from the family room area over to the studio area.  So far I've painted the walls a light robin's egg blue (Sea Breath by Valspar--ridiculous name, nice color), the floor has been primed with tinted primer, painted all the trim and the steel door to the bulkhead has been painted (Cheery by Behr, inspired by Melissa at Yummy Goods!).  Still left to do: prime and paint the new desk (Castleton Mist by Ben Moore, same color as the family room walls) and oh yes, move in all the furniture and stuff. 

As of right now, it does indeed feel like an indoor swimming pool--which luckily, I'm not opposed to ;-).

Phew.

Good thing the boys have camp this upcoming week...

{pictures taken at night, colors not quite right but yes, the door is that bright}

Basement Project Update: Week 5

In the last week there's been a pretty dramatic transformation in our basement. And while the space isn't complete, the family room portion is officially open for business.

First, a few details...

*Stairway

I'm slooowly but surely working my way up the staircase with the porch and floor tinted primer.  Now that people are using the stairs all the time, it's much harder to paint the stairs.  But I really need to finish them.  Soon.

*Door Curtain

My special order sale fabric came in at JoAnn and on Sunday night I whipped up this lined panel to serve as our makeshift doorway to the laundry room.  I'm loving the fabric but I'm not crazy about the 3+ inch drop from the top of the door jamb to the top of the curtain--but since it's the laundry room and we go in and out of there all the time it just made sense to use the clip rings so the curtain would be easy to slide back and forth.  I have plenty of extra fabric so I sense a pillow making session in the future.  Or something...

*Under the stairs built in

Painting beadboard, even when it's pre-primed, is not fun.  Painting beadboard that's cut at an angle under a stairway is even less fun.  But I love the look.  I haven't styled the shelves yet, but the boxes are a start.  I made my 2nd contractor callback when one of the doors on the built in cabinet came off it's hinges.  Repair is scheduled for tomorrow.

*Painted furniture

Bobby Law walked into my workroom one night last week, took one look at the rainbow of colors I was painting our furniture and declared that he felt like he was in Wonderland.  Awesome!  Of course he didn't mean it as a complement ;-).  No matter, I love it.  And since I'm doing all the work down there, I get to decide.  That's what I keep telling my family anyway.  Can you tell that I'm an only child??

*Accessories

There may have been a mini shopping spree (or 2) at HomeGoods in the last week.  Pillows, a lamp, a basket, and a throw all came home to live in our new space.  The coral fabric is a memo sample that is waiting to be stitched into a pillow.  I'm loving the colors I picked.  Ouch, I think I just pulled a muscle patting myself on the back...

And finally...CARPET!!

Last Wednesday the carpet was installed!  Instant game changer.  It allowed us to move the furniture back in and really start using the room. 

Here are a few full view shots of the space...

Before:        

and After:

        

Progress has been a bit slow this week, but hopefully by Sunday night there will be even more done.

And then I get to start on my studio space :-)

Basement Project Update: Week 4

On schedule and under budget.

That's how we like our tradespeople :-)

We did indeed have 3 last days of work done in the basement last week.  Then, poof, by 2pm on Thursday they were packed up and drove away.  Sniff.

I'm gonna miss those dudes.  The ones who do stuff for you out of the goodness of their hearts because you're paying them.

Anyway, let's take a look at the week's progress...

*Ceiling

Bright and early Tuesday morning, the acoustical ceiling installer was hard at work.  I'd finished my task of priming the walls (in both rooms) over the long weekend.  He started with the grid in the family room and in no time he was popping in ceiling tiles.  Next he moved on to my studio where he installed 2 more grids and a bunch more ceiling tiles.  In less than 6 hours, two years of looking up at fiberglass insulation and duct work: gone.  Yes!

*Electrical

Wednesday marked the return of our electrician.  Now that the ceiling was finally up, he could place and install the recessed lighting.  We walked the space together and discussed placement and then I left him to his task.  Other than one small problem (one recessed light short because he had previously installed one in an additional spot), things went pretty smoothly.  For me anyway, I didn't do the electrical work.  He was here late (after 6pm) but finished everything up--which I'm sure he was happy about.  I'm not sure how happy he'll be when I call him to tell him the awesome energy saving light he installed in the closet is suddenly not working.  Could the bulb really be shot after being switched on, um, twice??

*Built-Ins, more trim and finishing details

Our carpenters were here on Wednesday and Thursday.  They built a narrow desk/counter for my studio, installed pegboard for my gift wrap center (slightly to the left of where I wanted it, but that's what you get when you go grocery shopping instead of hovering), and trimmed out the 2 windows.  They also built the doors for the family room cabinet--I decided to use some of the leftover beadboard after all.  They cleaned up, left me a whole mess of wood (per my request), collected the final payment and drove off into the hot & humid afternoon.

They'll be back.

*Paint

Then it was my turn.  After painting no less than 4 sample boards (a first for me), I finally selected a wall color for the family room: Benjamin Moore's Castleton Mist.   I spent the weekend putting on 2 coats.  Turns out, that's a big room down there.  Of course I knew that because the carpet man came and measured for the carpet that is supposed to be installed this week.  12x23--plus the stairwell walls for me to paint.  My task for today involves the trim...

The walls aren't the only thing that got touched by paint last week.  I bribed Bobby Law into getting down the Victorian-style mirror from my favorite chest.   It's been in storage in the garage since moving here.  The ceilings are too low here to use the piece as we did in our last house.  I had the brilliant idea that I would use it at the bottom of the basement stairs to set the Victorian coastal vibe I'm after.  Victorian coastal, that's a decorating style, right?  I'm still going to do some highlights on it but it has hanging hardware and as soon as the carpet is in, it's going up.

So this week we are in the homestretch.  At least for the family room portion of the basement.  Plenty of painting to do ahead of getting the carpet installed.  And then:  the re-installation of the 2nd television and dvr and filling the room with furniture.

Good thing, because the kids have less than a week of school left.  Eek!

Basement Project Update: Week 3

3 weeks into the Basement Project, 3 more days (hopefully) to go!

Of course the 3 weeks and 3 days refers to the work that we're paying to have done, not the painting, carpet, moving of furniture, hanging of art....But let's not dwell on what's ahead right now, rather focus on all the progress this past week.

Plastering

Not to be confused with 'Plasterhead', the plasterers arrived Monday morning.  They taped, the mudded, they plastered.  At the end of Day 1, they left a big, scary mess.  I made the mistake of peeking, even though our carpenter told me not to.  Luckily by the time they left the next afternoon, everything was cleaned up and the walls had gone from gray drywall boards to plastered masterpieces.  They even got rid of the hideous texture on the stairwell walls.  Hurray!  Next year maybe we'll have them back to get rid of the fish scale pattern on our ceilings...

Trim & Doorways

After the plasterers did their thing, baseboard trim started to go up.  Doorways were framed in and one door was hung.  By design, the door to the laundry room was left off.  We have some space issues (i.e. the washing machine is in the way of where a door would swing) so for the time being I will be sewing a beautiful lined drapery to hang there instead.  A nice way to bring some fabric into the space ;-)  Perhaps next year (or the year after...) we will purchase a stackable washer & dryer and hang our door. Or not.

Stairway

After the plasterers smoothed out the stairway wall texture, the old-new railing and newel post were able to be installed.  The railing is re-used from what we had there before and the newel post (chopped off at the bottom) is a swap pile find.   We changed the brackets from shiny brass to brushed nickel and once it's all painted, it's going to be mucho spiffy.  I hope.

Closet

The closet really came together this week.  It was plastered, got an energy efficient light and 3 built in shelves.  The bi-fold doors were also hung, though the knobs were intentionally left off.  I'm hoping to visit Anthropologie sometime in the next few days to pick out something special.  Or Lowe's.

Electrical

One thing that didn't get done this week was the dropped ceiling.  In fact, it's the last major piece of the project.  The dude that was lined up to do it went m.i.a. , turns out he was in the hospital due to some sort of asthma flare up.  He's fine but he won't be putting in our ceiling.  We think we have someone lined up for Tuesday.  Fingers crossed.  Anyway, because the ceiling didn't get done, our electrician wasn't able to finish up.  He did come and put in all the receptacles and a few lights that are in the sections of ceiling that are drywalled.  As soon as the ceiling is in, he'll be back to install the recessed lighting and pretty up the outlets and switches.  'Pretty up', that's an electrical term...

Built-In

Much progress was made on the built in cabinet and shelving under the new staircase.  I'm loving the beadboard backing, happy that our carpenter convinced me to use the high quality beadboard rather than the thin, flimsy sheets they have at Lowe's.   Once I get in there with paint and accessories, I'm planning on the shelf brackets sort of disappearing.  They still have to build and install the doors on the cabinet but as you can see, Cuyler's secret lair will still be accessible ;-)

It's looking quite nice down there and I'm getting excited at the prospect of having 2 more {real} rooms in our house.  I'm having a bit of a paint dilemma: leave the studio all white and fill it up with colorful art and objects or paint the walls a shade of pale robin's egg blue that I love?  I'm leaning toward white.  In the family room area I'm going for a vintage beachy/coastal vibe and planning on using blues and greens with some brown thrown in (reminiscent of sand and some of our existing furniture that I have to work with is brown or beige).  Not sure about the wall color in there yet either.

Luckily I'll have plenty of time to ponder as I roll primer on 500+ sq ft of newly plastered walls.

House Project: Basement

It's Springtime--and today it really feels like it.

Lots of sunshine, warmth and chirping birds.

Around here, Spring means Project Time.  It may or may not be a coincidence that Project Time coincides with Tax Refund Time.

Last year we tackled {and completed} several projects including fencing in my garden, enlarging our deck and the infamous steps/patio/path/drainage budget buster.

This year we have a new list. Some of the projects include painting the house (luckily only the front is painted, the rest is shingled), staining the deck and cutting back a bunch of brush.  Our big project this year is big in a number of ways--time, square footage and $$.  That's right: finishing our basement.  At least part of it.

Right now we have a full, unfinished basement.  Lots of things live down there: the laundry, the workout equipment, the kids' hang out room complete with video games, board games and toys for every age, and my art space.  Oh, and the cat's litter box.  We use it like it's finished space even though it's not.  We need the room.  Having fiberglass insulation fall on your head is all well and good, but when it's January and there's no heat in your unfinished, uninsulated basement well, then you have a problem.

The actual work down there won't start for a few weeks.  In the meantime we have the monumental task of sorting and packing everything up and moving it out of the space.  Good. Times. 

At this point, how's about some before pictures...

First, our current staircase.  Open, utilitarian.  The best thing about this staircase is the French door at the top of it.  It used to be in our dining room but we had that opening enlarged and had our carpenter move the French door to the top of the basement stairs.  Love the light and open feeling.

The current playroom.  Leftover furniture & rugs, a collection of toys spanning Fisher Price to Wii.

More of the playroom.  There will be a wall where the poles/lally columns are now with a doorway on the right side.

My future studio, current kid art space that I took over.

Steel door that leads to our bulkhead.  The best thing about this door is that it's magnetic.

Oooh, pretty magnets.

Table.  Piled high with stuff.  And more stuff.  My main studio work table will be here.

My current studio which will be turning into my studio warehouse of sorts.  Going to use leftover/mismatched shelving in here to store and (hopefully) organize all my creative goodies.

One of my current inspiration boards.  It's part of Ebby's crib with IKEA clips to hold display items.  I may spray paint it white...        

So there you have it.  Our basement: before.  I went ahead and embraced the packing/sorting mess because it will {hopefully} make the after pictures look even better ;-)

Now, anyone have any cardboard boxes for me??