basement remodel - phase 1

Our stairs leading down to our basement/garage originally landed in the garage, with a door at the base of the stairs leading to our heated basement. This has generally been okay throughout our life in this home; the basement has been my crafting area, the laundry area, and there is a small living area for a TV and toys so walking through the cold garage wasn't much of an issue. Plus, we used the basement area maybe 10% of our time. 

But our lives have changed. We have kids. And they have toys. Large ones, noisy ones, plastic ones, vibrating and bouncy ones. 

E and have always imagined a remodeled basement for the kids to have a playroom - one which the stairs led into the basement rather than the garage. And we knew it would be a fair amount of work which is probably what has kept this project on the back burner for so long. Moving a wall, redoing the stairs, replacing 1970's paneling with drywall, building a landing area to lead into the garage...

The top photo is the original, messy basement stairwell. The bottom is our newly framed wall and those original stairs on the other side.

But we are looking at getting our house reappraised and since the basement square footage was never eligible to be included in it's original form, we have tackled our renovation. 

E started work on it on Thursday and now, 2 days later, we have the roughed in area almost complete. As I type, E and our friend Travis are tearing out the old stair treads and replacing them with ones that are actually straight and fit the stairwell.

The most exciting part for me has been the chance to be down there getting my hands dirty in all of the work. It's been nearly 4 years since I've been able to really help out with any home construction project (pregnancies, newborns, etc. seem to hinder that) and I've never been happier to hang drywall. 

 

We have a lot of work to still do, but the room looks COMPLETELY different now. This opens up the basement so much and makes it feel so much roomier. I'll be sure to post before/after photos of our progress, as this project will likely take over our lives for the next few weekends, and maybe even the next few months. 

Another before/after shot, this time from the inside of the basement.

The wall is gone and the old stair treads are looking worse and worse by the minute.

A view from our "new" basement/garage door. The basement seems so much bigger now.