Basement

It was another quiet week at the Druffel house.  Justin has been traveling all month, plus it's been raining so we haven't been venturing outside very much.  I tend not to take as many pictures when we're just playing inside.

Since it was such a quiet week, I thought I would show the before and after pictures from the basement.  It isn't quite finished.  We still want to put up a TV, some more pictures, and get a train table for Edison.  But before we spend a lot of money on decorating, we want to make sure that we are going to be living in CDA for awhile longer.  That means I need to find a job here which I am not quite ready to discuss yet.  Anyway, the basement, like the rest of the house, was gross. Now it is not. 

Most of what we did involved eliminating awkward spaces. In this first set of pictures, we turned the back of the room into a large storage closest to make an oddly-shaped space not so oddly-shaped.  Doing so also enclosed the furnace and hot water heater better.  We installed a desk under the portion of the room with low headroom due to ductwork.  The desk - which is topped with leather (how cool is that?) - also hides the plumbing.  (Side note: I am convinced the previous owners were growing "special" plants in the basement.  There were 23 electrical outlets, plumbing, and a drain in the floor.)

Desk area before

Desk area after

In the second set of pictures, we worked around the existing chimney by adding some built-ins in the strange areas on either side.  This gave extra me extra storage (games on the left and crafts on the right) as well as a spot to display nicknacks out of Edison's reach.  The couches, by the way, are literally the only ones we could find to fit down the stairs. 

Family area before

Family area after

In this third set of pictures, we didn't do much except for add some wood trim to the window sill and hang an extra-deep canvas picture over the entrance to the crawl space.  This is the area where the kids play while the adults are enjoying the wine cellar.  The flooring is cork so it's durable but still a little soft.  It had previously been industrial carpeting installed on top of ancient tile. 

Play area before

Play area after 

In the last set of pictures, we removed the sheetrock door that swung to cover the stairs. We built a bookcase out of scraps from the wine cellar project to keep Edison from jumping off.  Yes, he tried it.  We also built a landing at the bottom of the stairs, tiled the whole set of stairs, and added a handrail.  The chalkboard, which was salvaged from a school in Seattle, is a huge hit with the kids. 

Stairs before

Stairs after

In retrospect, the stairs aren't the safest thing in the world.  In fact, we call them the stairs of death.  Remember my accident falling up the stairs in May?  Here is the damage I did through jeans.  I probably should have got stitches in the cut on my knee.  I will always have some pretty ugly scars, but at least the stairs look good.