The bathroom turned out great. I scoured Pinterest for ideas and then found cheaper options to make it happen. The framer had to build us a fake wall and raise the bathtub for us because the builders didn't install the rough in plumbing correctly and refused to fix it. Since we had a structural floor this was the easiest and cheapest work around and it looks just fine! I found a cheap mirror on clearance and spray painted it white and we grabbed this fun vanity on sale. Everyone is surprised it cost so little with free delivery from Home Depot!
Originally we were going to put tile flooring near the wet bar and table area and linoleum in the art room, but this vinyl flooring that mimics wood flooring is just great! I couldn't find any tile I wanted and hubby hated the idea of linoleum anyway, so when I realized what was on display at the flooring store was a cheaper option to tile, I went for it. The carpet was already in stock and a great price -- much less than what a different store had tried to charge me. The children helped me pick it out and they all love it.
They also love the screen their daddy made! When people come over to see it I tell them it was my husband's baby. I tell them about how he designed the built in shelving to hold all the electronics on the other side of the room after measuring all their dimensions, set up all the speakers, carefully built the wood frame, put up special foam, inserted a speaker into the dry wall, patiently painted thin layers of black paint on the speaker's screen to prevent a reflection, stapled the screen on, and painted the trim black. He has put so much time and effort into our basement! We've also had some unexpected surprises, especially when it comes to money. For example, we had to spend about $1,00 on radon mitigation. Yup, the EPA says your test results should come back at 4 or lower and ours came back at 14. Lucky us. Supposedly having a level of 10 or higher is as bad as smoking cigarettes. Boy, I sure hope they are exaggerating and glad we could get it taken care of.
On the other hand, we didn't have to buy an air hockey table or a the white bookcase in the art room! My friend T., who I've known for over five years from LLL, is moving to Virginia and downsizing in the process. So she was more than happy to give me a white book case she was getting rid of. And score of scores, when our friends the Jones family moved they gave our friends the H. family their air hockey table. Then when they heard the basement was almost done, they said the table was too big for their basement and wanted to get rid of it. Our two husbands works so hard to get that huge thing up their stairs, onto their pick-up truck, and down our stairs and put back together while the wives chatted and watched over the children. I actually had our kids asleep in bed before they were done. Thank you, guys, just doesn't seem to be enough to say! The next day I had every available boy in the neighborhood at our house and K and M had saucer round eyes watching them all in amazement.
So the basement is being used but still desperately needs decorated and organized before I will really feel comfortable telling people it's done. It hasn't stopped us from hosting a game night, book club, and showing movies in it, though. Those other things will come in time. But for right now, my children are about to start back at school and that is pretty exciting and scary for all of us!
Putting together the new Ikea table for upstairs after moving the old table to the basement.
Update: Last Saturday's project for me (on 8/22) was to organize, clean, and decorate the art room. Ta da! It's mostly M's art work because she was the one helping me. Now I only have to attack the mechanical room storage and decorate the walls and then I will really call the basement finished!
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