Pat on the Back for Serious Basement Progress... {Home Renos}

Surprisingly, we really sunk our teeth into this basement renovation, even through all the holiday bustle. I'm ashamed to say that on Christmas Eve I could have been found holding a paint brush trying desperately to cover all. that. yellow. It was an addiction.

Here is our wonderful basement progress:

A little less retro than before:

I realize now that perhaps the previous owners may have been attempting to match the wall color to the yellow tiles on the floor. But however the decision was made, it was not our cup-o-tea. The yellow walls took two coats of Bleached Linen by Behr in an eggshell finish. It's not pure white but more of an off-white.. just take a gander at the progress shot and compare the window trim color (semi-gloss paint in pure white) to the walls. It may not have been my first choice for paint but it was a color we had leftover, and this basement renovation is all about refreshing our basement on a budget and decorating with what we have. 

Here's another POV. Before:

Progress:

We've also relocated our 50" television and decided to splurge and go with a wall mount that extends and swivels. I was able to find it online here if you're into brands/product features.

It's great to get the television in a more kid-free spot.. away from the playroom and mounted securely on the wall. Currently, our coffee table is acting as our TV console until we can find some more functional/aesthetically pleasing.

Speaking of furniture, the basement has a lot less of it. One of our goals I mentioned in this post was to sell/give away/store about 85% of what was accumulating in this space. So far, we've been really successful with that. We were able to sell the couches on Kijiji for $100, as well as the coffee table for about $50 (which then paid for the TV mount). The large buffet and speaker system were passed on to family. We're still looking for a home for the corner display cabinet.

As far as what we're keeping.. we'll store the glass cabinet that we hope to use in a future basement bathroom addition. And we'll dismantle the aluminum storage until we can find a home for it (likely in our future shed/garage). But right now, those pieces are just hanging out until we get to moving them... (keepin' it real).

Our Foosball table also made the cut, along with this storage/display piece that has been super handy for toys:

I picked up these milk crates from Solutions for a great price.. with more plans up our sleeves to organize toys/games/books.

Over the holidays, I also squeezed in painting a chalk board wall below the stairs.

I was impressed with the chalk board paint. It took just two coats and the application was a cinch. I just used a paint brush to cut in and filled in the rest with a small roller. A great tip on the paint can was not to do excessive brushing and rolling, so applying the paint was super quick, with lots of paint to spare. I have yet to break in the chalk board wall since I'm on the hunt for dust-free chalk and chalk board pens.

So Phase 1 of our basement renovation is coming along really well. We can already cross a few items of our list (so satisfying..):

• Removing almost all of the furniture. We find it very furniture heavy leaving little room for play. The couches will go, as well as the buffets and storage units. We're unsure as to whether or not the Foosball table will stay. I should clarify that we aren't selling our TV and we may keep the white coffee table and use it below the TV. Kijiji may be my new best friend over the next few weeks. 
• Purchase a small sectional that fits right along that painted area, and perhaps a separate cozy chair. *We pulled the trigger on a sectional that will take a few weeks to be delivered.. stay tuned.. 
• Mount the TV on the wall across from the sectional.
• Purchase some kid-friendly toy storage. I'm thinking something like this from Ikea. We decided to keep a display piece that we already had. Pat-on-the-back for working with what we have. 
• And install shelves, maybe like this. 
• Bring home some cozy rugs.
• Hang art and photos. 
• Bring in some house plants.
• Make another homemade table for kids crafts. We already have an old, flat door that could work as the surface.

• Paint the stairs and add a runner. 
• Possibly paint the floor a deep gray. 

The handyman has one more week of holidays before he heads back to work so we'll be gunning to get this basement done and done so we aren't lingering on this make over... and that way the kids can really enjoy it as we head into a few more months of old man winter.