basement renovation process: start to finish

The basement had a host of problems, and we only found MORE as we did the renovation. Fortunately, I’m married to a resilient, handy genius who solves anything.

Demolition

Here’s where we discovered all the giant sewer pipes the shelves were hiding. That’s why they were so shallow! We decided to just move up the entire wall and add a crawl space accessible from the garage. You can hardly tell a difference from inside the room. (We also discovered a mouse cemetery. Super gross.)

Electrical, Waterproofing Sealer, Insulation

New Framing

Around the pipes, adding the crawl space (accessible from the garage side)

Moving the Door

(primarily to confuse the dog) Actually, Boomer ended up LOVING his dog door. He prefers it even when we have the human door open.

Drywall

Flooring, Ceiling Tracks, Heater

Painting and Lights

Stairs, Stair rail and Storage Space

Furnishing… and Done!

You can read about the process for my awesome blue chest here. The couch was a Facebook marketplace find, as was the bookshelf. The fantastic nerd art watercolor paintings were a birthday gift for Hubs, custom by InstantGoodVibes on Etsy.

basement renovation process

Our basement needed more than new lights, more than drywall. It needed everything from the (literal) ground up. The ceiling panels had started to come loose as other projects took precedence, but one day, I’d really had it with the lack of lighting. My sewing desk had TWO table top lights, and the few remaining ceiling lights were turned on and I still felt like I simply couldn’t see to get my stitches straight. The oppressive dark paneling seemed to suck up the light like a black hole.

I begged my husband, “PLEASE can you install a new light fixture? I CAN’T SEE!” and then started dinner.

Next thing I knew, loud hammering. I went to check and part of the wall was gone.

That’s basically how every project at our house begins….

Here are some shots of the basement:

• BRIGHT fuscia carpet on the stairs.

• Old, crumbling ceiling tiles.

• Two old track lights with (combined) only three working fixtures.

• Dark paneling on the wall.

• Carpet over concrete on the floor.

• No railing on the stairs.

• Terribly placed door (90 degrees off the bottom stair, opening directly into the car you’ve parked in the garage).

• Little to no insulation so you could always smell car exhaust from parking.

• Weird shelving built in, um, everywhere but no usable storage.

• Giant wasted space under the stairs.

• Few electrical outlets.

• Weird closet with water softener built in the middle of a wall instead of in a corner.

And here’s the “after”… keep reading to see how we got from there to here! Also, bonus if you’re a sc-fi nerd and you can identify all the ships we used as wall art!