Our first big house project - Basement Renovation!

We bought our house from a builder about 4 years ago now, and have been living here for about 3.5 years. Since it was a new build, we haven't really had to do any major renovations, of course that hasn't stopped us from spending tons of money here. For major expenses, we've put up a fence, built a deck, added eavestroughing, and an air conditioner. Smaller projects have included mostly painting, and upgrading some of the light fixtures. We've also purchased a lot of new furniture over the years. None of these things have involved much of a renovation, or much effort on our part. My dad did all of the painting, and built us our deck. Home Depot did the fence. My husband and I are pretty much the least handy people on the planet at this point in time.

We are hoping to change that a little with our big basement renovation! Of course we won't be doing all of the work ourselves. In fact, a lot of it will be hired out, and some of it will be done by my dad. BUT, we are still excited, and we are going to attempt some of the stuff ourselves. You have to start somewhere, right?

The builder finished the largest room of the basement, which is currently our "family room". There is also a roughed in bathroom, a furnace room, and another small room under the stairs. We are planning to finish the small room, which will eventually become a play room for Madeline. We're also finishing the bathroom. We figure it'll add a lot of value to the house, and won't it be nice not to have to go ALL the way up one flight of stairs to go to the bathroom when in the middle of an intense The Walking Dead marathon? We thought so! As an add-on we will be replacing the carpet destroyed by Leroy with some nice laminate floor, which will run through the family room and the playroom.

That mat is TOTALLY covering where Leroy ripped up our carpet...

I have made a huge to-do list and will update the blog once we've done enough to really warrant an update. Hopefully I will also remember to take some photos as we go. Here are some "before" photos, although the electrical work has been done, so they're not truly before, but close enough!

Leroy photobombing my shot of the playroom! The closet will cover that ugly stuff. 

Leroy loves photobombing!

Bathroom, you can see the roughed in plumbing!

And on to the big list:

1. Add electrical to both rooms. (75% completed - the electrician will come back after the room is painted to finish up)
2. Put up framing/drywall in both rooms.
3. Prime and paint both rooms.
4. Install light fixture in the bathroom.
5. Install light fixture in the playroom.
6. Install fan in the bathroom.
7. Rip up all of the carpet and remove baseboard in the family room.
8. Lay laminate flooring.
9. Lay ceramic tile in the bathroom.
10. Add baseboards and trim to playroom and bathroom.
11. Install the vanity in the bathroom.
12. Install the faucet in the bathroom.
13. Install toilet.
14. Install corner shower.
15. Put up glass tile backsplash over the vanity.
16. Hang a mirror in the bathroom.
17. Put a door on the closet in the playroom.
18. Replace the door of the playroom with a folding door.
19. Put up some shelving in the playroom closet.
20. Hang art in the bathroom.
21. Hang art in the playroom.
22. Come up with some kind of toy storage solution in the playroom.

Now, let's talk budget! My husband is an accountant, so naturally he's very in to budgeting and such. We talked a lot about what we wanted to spend, and got some quotes for the electrical and drywall work. We also took a trip to Home Depot to figure out just how much things like showers and toilets cost! After all of the we figure we're looking at about $6000. That includes everything, and tax. So far we have purchased a few things and I am happy to report we are under budget! I think I'll do up a budget post once the project is completed. After everything is done we are also planning on asking my real estate agent mother-in-law to do an assessment so we will know how much value we possibly added with this project :)

One of my friends is coming on Monday to start framing and drywalling, and then my husband and I are planning on tackling the painting job so that the electrician can come back and finish his work in the next week or so! Wish us luck! It should also be mentioned that any work that we will be doing ourselves will have to be done during Madeline's super short 45 minute naps (ugh), so it should be a bit of a challenge. I should have an update for you soon :)