Basement

While Andy was off work, we made the decision to finally use the money we had set aside for finishing our basement.  It wasn't an easy decision, given our financial situation at the time (unemployed.)  But we knew that we had the money and TIME to do it then, and figured we'd regret it when Andy went back to work and we still had the money, but not the time anymore.

So he spent a good 5-6 weeks finishing one half of our basement completely on his own: electrical, drywall, painting stairwell, finish carpentry, EVERYTHING.  Okay, we did have the carpet laid, I forgot; oh and I made up the outlets (under Andy's guidance) (can I get a woot?!)  But still.  On prior home improvement projects, I at least helped on the things that I could (drywall, painting.)  But my contribution to this project was watching the kids.  It was a lot of long LONG days for everyone involved, but we couldn't be MORE happy with how everything turned out! 

So without further ado, (because I actually remembered to do this!) I present to you before, during and after pictures!!!

Here is the stairwell.  Note the linoleum that was replaced by clean white woodwork.  Pardon the painters tape on the "after."  I guess it was taken before we were completely finished.
Here is the stairway.  After pricing balusters (I always called them spindles), Andy came up with a plan to make his own.  The pre-made ones would have cost about 8 dollars each.  The ones he made cost about 10 dollars total.  The best part is, I actually like the ones he made better than anything we could find in store!

I also love how much safer it is for the kids to go down the stairs!  That big gap always scared me to death, not only when the kids were going up/down, but when I myself was carrying things up and down it!  Hooray for a railing!!

Here is the East side of the basement: aka the play room.  It is SO nice to have a space where the kids can spread out all of their toys and be completely "out of the way" of the rest of the house.  We spend most of our time downstairs now (when we're not outside.)  We purposely made the entire basement "baby-proof" so that I can have somewhere to go with Ruby where don't really have to tell her "no."  It has been SO NICE!  Ira's drumset usually goes on that little wall by the stairs, but it's all gone right now and I didn't really feel like dragging it out just to take a "finished" picture.

And here is the West side of the basement.  We moved our TV and computer downstairs to make a "den" and truly love the feel of it.  It just seems so much cozier than upstairs.  Like I said, we really do spend most of our time downstairs now. 

As you might have seen in some of the pictures above, one special place in the basement is the closet under the stairs.  That was one thing that I actually did do in the basement.  It was Ira and my's special project.  He really helped me come out of my completely un-artistic shell.  I was picturing straight clean lines and perfectly measured everything, because that's just who I am.  I am not that creative, nor artistic, so why I thought I would undertake this project in the first place is a little beyond me.  But Ira truly helped me to let go of my "visions/plans" and go with the artistic flow.  We couldn't be more thrilled with how this little closet turned out!

Notice the little handprint flowers and a footprint sunflower.   We made the grass and bushes with our fingers.  The clouds were made using scrunched up walmart sacks.  I painted the sun and the tree on the side wall.  The pink hand on top of Ira's hill is touching the clouds because Ira thought it would be so cool to touch the sky.

So there you have it!  At some point, we hope to finish the other half.  The far door leads to a storage room that will remain unfinished.  The middle door will lead to a fairly decent-sized bedroom.  And the door closest to the stairs will hopefully be a full bathroom someday.