Room with a View-ish.

Over the past two years I have been working (sloooowwwwwly) on renovating the basement into an apartment for myself. I live with the Rogers family in the basement (yep, I am a cellar-dweller) and I thought it would be a great project to turn the unfinished basement into an apartment for me, storage room, rec room, two bedrooms and a bath. We started with the bathroom – the most important – and then moved on to Robert’s room. Those are both done, and framing and rough drywalling of the storage room, furnace room and hall way. The bedroom in which I currently stay, was already completed and has a kitchenette. So I began work on the larger project which was a challenge because I am paying for in cash as I go. It’s been a long process, often frustratingly slow because most days, the last thing I want to do when I get home is do construction work (especially drywall sanding). And the paying-as-you-go part has slowed things down as well. I have had to have much help along the way, especially in areas that I am just not good at or have no experience in. So, I am coming to the end of the process. All I have left are some doors for the main closet, some trim around a pole, and the big part – the kitchen cabinets, counter, sink, fridge and microwave. I am so grateful to Gary for helping me on the plumbing and electrical, Chad for helping me sand and install the tongue and groove ceiling, Dustin for laying the tile floor and trimming the room so beautifully, Scott for painting the doors (especially the french door!) and Robert, Robert, and Cameron for helping me carry down sheetrock, 2x4s, insulation, ceiling boards and a host of other things. Oh yeah… and Scott Devlin for letting me use his DeWalt compound mitre saw for like a year!

I am pumped to get moved in, but I also will have to get some new furniture as well. I am sure I will be seeing the inside of an IKEA in the near future. For now though, enjoy the gallery of photos that go from start to current. (The main reason I am posting this is that I promised my brother, Matt, like a month ago that I would!)

Check out the gallery >>