Category: home improvement

I’m slowly getting things moved downstairs. Mid-move I had a real moment of regret about my plans for the space (“I already HAD a sewing room, what am I even doing??”) but now that it’s a little more set up, I’m extremely pleased. This will be the fancy sewing lair I dreamed about when I bought the house, uh, fifteen years ago!

I still need to: move more things, make a new ironing board cover, make a new fabric-covered pinboard, get more drawer organizers, hang art, and figure out the lamps I want to use, but the fabric fits in the cabinet (whew) and the sewing machines are all down there. We’re getting close!

I started getting things put back into the basement over the weekend and … the second storage shelf we’d moved up to the garage doesn’t fit back in the closet. (Well, it physically fits but it would block access to either the door or the first shelf, so it functionally doesn’t. I’m not sure what I was thinking when I measured.) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So half the things I’d already moved downstairs got brought back upstairs and that second shelf will continue to live in the garage. Meanwhile, we hauled the two IKEA cabinets down there and I put the new legs and doors on, and I got a little excited again.

I’m going to fill that cabinet with vinyl records FABRIC! As soon as I carry it all down two flights of stairs. (•́ ᴖ •̀)

Terrible things are happening in America* but the basement is officially FINISHED, professionally cleaned, and inspected. It took just 12 weeks including holidays (!!) and I love it. If I were rich I’d hire EVERY home improvement project out to the pros.

Here are the befores:

And here are the afters:

I need to get everything we put in the garage moved back into the new closet before I move in furniture, but I did put some rugs down already. (Gotta protect the new floor!)

*I saw this post this morning and couldn’t agree more.

We’re in the last few weeks of this project, which feels simultaneously like no time has passed and like October was about a year ago. But the floors went down this week!

We’re not staying in this house forever so I didn’t go for custom stair treads. Just gonna keep reminding myself of that…

My BFFs the tile guys are coming back today to finish the shower curb. Their snacks are ready, lol.

Since the last basement excitement, the drywall has gone up and been taped and mudded and sanded and the window has been replaced. The tile guys have been here for three days, building the shower curb and getting everything prepped (LOOK at their tile saw!).

And as of last night, there’s some tile down!

I’ve always liked mosaic tile and I realized that I could just…use it! For the bathroom I’m having built! From scratch! That I’m not doing myself, and WHAT a good decision that was!  (I will need to reference this post when the interest rates on the HELOC go up in January, but still. I’m glad I didn’t try to DIY this.)

1. Toby seems to be just fine again, so our stress levels have decreased by at least 70%. Here he is being very cozy and relaxed last night:

2. The water line got fixed and the insulation got finished and inspected yesterday midday, so the drywall delivery got moved up to late afternoon yesterday. Then, because we’d passed inspection, the guys wanted to start hanging so I said, “Sure, but don’t work past six.”

3. Guess what happened at 5:40?
I think they’d already put the window back (they had to take it out to get the drywall in) and someone just misjudged a turn, but it’s unclear. The damage was to the inside pane of the double-paned window, so at least there isn’t a hole in the house?

4. And since we’re looking on the bright side–it’s the weekend! Enjoy it, friends. (Did I play this last night? Maybe.)

I don’t know who was writing yesterday’s episode of our lives, but the amount of inconveniences piled on in just one day really needed an editor:

• We had to get new springs in the garage door
• We weren’t sure what was wrong with Toby but he was pacing and yelling all day*
• I discovered our sink disposal is leaking
• Matt came home with a flat tire on his new car
• The insulation team was 2.5 hours late showing up, which put them here from 7:00 to almost 9:00 pm…
• …and then they stapled through the fridge water line in the basement ceiling.

I put our contractor on speaker phone and she sent them home; they’ll be back tomorrow to finish, along with the plumber. Until then, I took matters into my own hands so we could keep the water on:

Vise-Grips for the win!

*We think Toby needed to poop. Once that happened, the meows stopped. As of writing time, he’s pretty chill, but we’re still ready to head to the urgent care at any minute today.

We’re 6 business days into basement construction and we already have framing, plumbing, and lights. I was really nervous about working with subcontractors but everyone our general contractor has sent over has been so nice and really seems to know their stuff.

The plumbing work wasn’t too noisy but the dust was terrible, even with sheeting up. (We’re going to be cleaning up for months.) But dust is a small price to pay for not having to excavate the Mariana Trench ourselves: They ran into a footing when they started digging so there were two days of concrete cutting and jackhammering:

But it got done and filled in and the lights went up and now they just need to concrete the trench and do a day of HVAC, and then we’re ready for inspection!

Construction on the basement started yesterday and the framing is already done (!). Three guys were here from 8 to 5, plus the general contractor to get everything going, plus a visit from the plumber and the floor guy. Concrete cutting starts tomorrow and the door guy is coming for a consult tomorrow afternoon.

I was already feeling pretty good about the decision not to DIY this whole thing but the speed at which the framing happened really solidified that feeling. I am so glad I didn’t try to do this myself while being employed and watching a senior kitty–just the framing would have taken me weeks.

Speaking of senior kitties, we had to bring Toby down to show him all the scary noises had stopped for the day. 🙁 I don’t think any of us will enjoy the concrete cutting but hopefully it will get a little quieter for him after that.

We got the basement completely emptied out yesterday, after five weeks of organizing  and finding homes for everything else one lamp at a time.

Everything that was left down there fit into the garage, plus I can still park in there all winter during construction! (Also, getting that tool cart up the stairs just about caused a domestic incident, but it’s going to stay in the garage forever so at least we don’t have to do that ever again.) (Until I decide to epoxy the garage floors next year, that is.)

And now the basement is completely READY. Ready to start framing and, uh, jackhammering the concrete to move the sewer line over, which I’m sure will be chill and fun to have done! It’s all going to be so chill and fun!

(Still better than DIYing it though. I saw this yesterday and where’s the lie?)

 

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