Twice As Many Moments: November 2011

We finally finished our basement remodel! The same contractor who did our master bathroom also finished our basement for us. The basement was already finished, but the previous owners used it as a live-in nanny space, while we wanted it to entertain. Since the space was already finished, we only had to move or remove a couple of walls/doorways and then put all new surfaces in.

We wanted a more modern entertainment space with a water/rain ‘theme’. My husband had more influence on the space since I had more influence on the master bath. He tends to prefer contemporary and modern, plus very masculine spaces. I actually really love how the space came together. My favorite part is the aluminum backsplash.

Here is what it looked like going down into the basement. We sold the carpet on Craigslist for $300 and the guy who bought it was a contractor so he also removed all the carpet! You can still see the carpet on the stairs. The biggest change was adding a wall to hide the pole, opening the wall on the right to make a hallway, replacing the carpet with hardwood, and moving the rail to the other side so that we could pass inspection (the space was previously unpermitted and we permitted the space).

This is another view looking back up the stairs. You can see that we removed the doorway leading to the new workout room and opened up the side of the stairs a bit to the new hallway. The stair rail is all custom welding work done by our contractor.

This was the bedroom that we converted to a workout room. I took two before pictures to show the wall where we put the mirrors (the TV is in the same spot) and the number of doorways we were dealing with. We took out all the doorways, made the closet slightly smaller and put new double doors on at a 45 degree angle. I only took one after picture since we have large mirrors installed. The mirrored wall is on the left in the picture and the room extends to the right. The tv is in the same place in the before/after.

This is the view of the new hallway. Before the entire hallway was part of the bathroom and didn’t make much sense. We moved the wall to widen the hallway and removed the door. This made the closet slightly smaller. The first set of pictures is looking toward the bathroom while standing in the workout room and the second set of pictures is looking back toward the workout room.

The bathroom had quite the remodel. We completely gutted it and had custom cabinets installed. We also removed the tub (we have 2 other bathrooms in our house that have tubs) and removed the wall in the corner to make a larger dual shower.

We removed the door way to open the hallway and made the bathroom smaller. We also automated the house using Control 4 so we built a new ‘closet’ for the rack system.

We left a little play area for the kids under the stairs, but moved the entry to the other side of the stairway. Here you can see the new 45 degree door to the workout room and how we opened up the stairway and hallway.

We put in a new theater system and made the zig zag wall flat, plus hid the pole.

The basement already had plumbing for a kitchen, so we used that area for the new bar. The contractor did the foot rail, counter supports and wine rack to match the rest of the metal work in the basement.

The contractor created the custom wine rack and we put glass doors on two of the overhead cabinets. We used the same pulls in the bar area as the bathroom, as well as the same backsplash. The wine fridge also has a regular drink side. We installed a dishwasher in the other corner opposite the wine fridge to avoid moving dishes up and down the stairs (not shown).

The new pool table/game area worked out well for the space. We used the beam on the other side to hang the pool cues on. Out of reach for the kids, and a great use for the beam. Our contractor also made the drink rails in the pool table area.

We’ve had a party in the space and it is a perfect entertainment space. Tons of fun and lots of space to spread out. Lucky for us the workout room seems to double as a playroom with large mirrors.

Info on finishes, paint colors and furnishings. We purchased nearly everything at local stores, so many of the links aren’t where we actually purchased from, but rather pictures to show you the items.

Paint colors: Benjamin Moore Old Navy (theater area), Benjamin Moore Blueberry (bar area), Benjamin Moore Platinum Grey (pool table and other major areas), Benjamin Moore Urban Nature (workout room), Valspar Mountain River (bathroom), Behr Frost (white trim)

Flooring: Handscraped Engineered Maple, forgot stain color, walnut maybe?

Bathroom Floor: Porcelain Moutain Slate Iron (20 in x 20 in) from Floor and Décor Outlet

Shower wall tile: Porcelain Soho Lafayette from Floor and Décor Outlet

Shower accent tile: Bliss Random Waterfall Mosaic from Great Indoors

Shower floor tile: Carrera Brick Mosaic Marble from Floor and Décor Outlet

Backsplash in bar and bathroom: Eden Mosaic Tile 3D Raised Brick Pattern Aluminum Mosaic Tile

Bathroom Granite: Blue Pearl

Bar Countertop: Quartz Fresh Linens

Bar Sink: Single Bowl Stainless Kitchen Sink

Bathroom sink: Kohler Ledges in Sea Salt finish

Bar Faucet: Delta Vero

Bathroom Sink faucet: Kohler Loure