Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Our Basement

I was so excited to finish the den and show it to you that I completely forgot that I had not ever posted our new basement!  
Oops.


In March of 2008 a water main on our street burst and filled our basement with 30" of water.



It had never been a finished basement but the water didn't really help and two of the walls where the water had rushed in were damaged.



And so, in the summer of 2011 we had our house lifted and rebuilt the basement.



And finally, over a year later, it is, for the most part, done!



Join me for a tour!



These over-sized scrabble letters set the tone for a fun, family focussed rec room.
The shelf is from Ikea.  We laid it on its side and added castors.  In a pinch it can double as extra seating.



Here we have the games area.  Our dvd's and board games are stored on the shelves.  I stained and varnished this $15 table that I bought from Kijiji.  It's nice to have a spot to play games or to do puzzles.



We can't decide if air hockey or ping pong should live here.
Votes?



This is our entertainment area.
All the video games are in boxes and the controllers are tucked in the baskets.
I know I've already gushed about it but I'll tell ya again...I adore that my husband hid the cords so beautifully!!!



We all enjoy our little kitchen.



These are my World Market stools that we dragged home from Seattle.



The backsplash is chalkboard so we can write fun notes to each other.



I LOVE a checkerboard floor.  LOOOOOVE.
This is one of my most favourite things in our whole house.
See how my thrifted metal baskets have found a home?



We got a cozy new sectional that all 6 of us can fit on.
No more sqashing into our double bed for movies!
Now, I am dying to be laying out pretty blankets and pillows, but I've decided that in fairness to the kids, this should not become a space that belongs to me and has to look a certain way to please my tastes.  It's not fun for a kid to have to keep fluffing pillows and refolding blankets.  So instead we have one blanket for each family member stuffed into the ottoman.  Clean up takes seconds.



My dream was to have a tin ceiling.  However, my dream was crazy expensive.  I am thrilled with the second place and far less expensive bead board panels.



The curtains are from Target...cut apart and hemmed.  Two curtains covered four windows with some extra left over.  The curtain hangers are Ikea.



I chose these doors to tie in with the bead board on the cupboards and ceiling.  And the knobs are so much fun!  Love this shape.






















I put some fun vinyl wall words on the way down the stairs,



along with the kids' school photos and their little hand tracings.


We are so thrilled to have this amazing new space to play and relax and hang out with family and friends.  It has been a looooong journey but the end results were worth it.
Thank-you Daddy (Dino) for your endless hard work!

8 comments:

  1. LOVE this basement. Did you custom order those wall words or were they a premade set?

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  2. I ordered them from Etsy. Check it out!

    http://www.etsy.com/listing/103133236/house-rules-love-jesus-vinyl-decal

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  3. Shannon, so sorry for all the heartbreak, work, inconvenience and expense you have gone through. A flooded basement is NOT fun. Ours flooded years ago when our water heater failed. The gas company knows they only last 15 years and our failed in the 16th year. They don't proactively replace them, they wait for your basement to flood! But fortunately you ended up with a beautiful, functional basement that your family will get a lot of use and enjoyment from. Yay! Where did you find the beadboard ceiling tiles and what size are they? I absolutely love them.
    slbolderson@hotmail.com

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    1. Thanks! We bought the bead board in 4x8 sheets and Dino cut them in half so they are 4x4 squares. They even came painted! :)

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  4. LOVE THIS! You did an incredible job! I have to know...what paint color did you use?? It's lovely! So many great touches. I just love the kitchen area with the chalkboard. So fun! The tv area is so comfy too, I love the idea of having a blanket for each person that you can stuff in that ottoman! So smart!

    I can't even imagine the sadness and work you guys went through with that basement. Makes the transformation all the more meaningful!

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    1. Thank-you Erin!
      You are wholly responsible for the paint. You would not believe the number of times I visited your blog and scrolled on down to the wythe blue! I debated between it and palladian for awhile but I am very happy with wythe!

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  5. I think the wall color is very similar to the one I was telling u about

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