Basement Plans for the TV Area

When Hurricane Ida rolled through, it dumped more rain then the gutters could handle, and therefore dumped rain into a window well and that dumped into our basement. So guess what?! I've got to come up with a plan for the basement ... years before I thought I'd need to. But, here where are. Thanks IDA :/

The basement is pretty chopped up, so let's start with the TV-watching area, as that's the most important to my family and where all of the damage took place. 


And here's the plan:

First, we need to move the 1,000 lb pool table that you can see peeking just around the corner. That's going into the former gym area where I painted the rainbow mural. It's extremely heavy and we're not sure how we're going to move it there. 

So, there's that challenge. 

Second, I should also mention that our basement was professionally dried and no mold or other nastiness is growing behind the walls. So rest assured. They were pretty sure water has gotten in through that water well in the past, so it's nice to have that piece of mind of what's behind the walls. 

Our contractor came out and I walked him through the tasks I needed done. We included: replace the walls here and in the bathroom, come up with a flooring plan that's budget friendly, update the basement stairs and some outdoor work on the gutters to keep it from happening again. We're still waiting for the estimate. 

The Final Vision

But, here's a big lesson I've learned in all this ... have an END VISION. What's the FINAL DESIGN? It took a few weeks to come up with my ideal basement layout, measuring and moving things around in my mind. Thinking about color and how we use the space. But having that END GOAL helps manage expectations and targets your little/big projects so you're always working toward that ending. It might take years, but I now know what I want it to look like. I'll share the layout in my next basement post.

Now that I see it all in my imagination, I can start working toward it. 

The Sofa Drama

One of the big issues for this basement was the SOFA. We brought our brown sofa from our last basement but FRUSTRATINGLY it didn't fit down the stairs. There's an awkward turn/landing. I ended up selling it on Facebook Marketplace and washing my hands of the whole thing. 

But we NEED a sofa for watching movies, playing games, hanging out. 

So I dived into this concept of Modular Sofas. They follow the same idea of a bed mattress rolled up in a box -- but instead, it's a sofa chopped in chair-like sections, in a box. Yes. Let's SKIP the drama of getting it down the stairs. And they're pretty reasonably priced. 

I narrowed down to two options using this informative article (here). Other than looking great and comfortable, I really wanted a tall back, so you could rest your head on the back of the sofa. A lot of the options were more modern and low. 

I liked this one with the chaise and made sustainably, but ultimately went with the KOVA from Albany Park. Dave hates spindle legs, he doesn't think they're sturdy. And we liked how low and comfy this was. And for the price, and the size we're getting (121"!), it's perfect. Plus, it comes in boxes, so no issue maneuvering down the stairs. AND (last "and") it's customizable, so we can move the ottoman, or take out a piece to make it shorter.  


Ideally, we'd have a hang out space in the basement set up for Christmas, so I ordered it this week and it says it will get here in November ... but we'll cross our fingers and see. 

Fun Bathroom

The powder room in the basement was completely ripped up for water remediation, so I've given that space a bit of thought and want to go in this direction. 


Paneling below (there was bead-board originally) and a very fun and crazy wallpaper above. In Jr. High my bestie had a basement bathroom with crazy wallpaper (and maybe slightly pornographic?) but it was fun to be in there and stare at the illustrations. 

Ours is tucked away in the way dark recesses of the basement, so I really want visitors to walk out and be blown away by the design. And maybe delighted! I'm thinking of an over-the-top floral wallpaper and painting the paneling a glossy Kelly green. 

Other Details

Otherwise, all the walls will be grayish, to coordinate with the new sofa. I'm pulling off the chair-rail trim because it's cutting off the wall space, before I paint. We'll replace the super-awful sconces to more modern ones (that I hope to find under $80 each). Swing the treadmill over so we can walk/run and watch TV again (we loved that in the old house). Reuse a few rugs we have to warm up the floors. And put some great art on the walls. 

My current milestone is Christmas -- I'd like to have a semi-attractive/comfy place set up to watch movies with my family. And the bathroom put back together, so we have an extra toilet for all the extra people in my house.

Fingers crossed. 


Related:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The $80 Kitchen Pantry Update

Image
It took two days and about $80 in supplies, and now our kitchen pantry is REBORN! Here's a quick review of the project in pictures, starting with the BEFORE pictures: My main issue with the wire shelves were bottles or anything "thin" would tip over. And with my commitment to bulk, I wanted to store glass containers in here but knew they wouldn't be "safe." I foresaw broken glass at some point. Plus, it's a great space, so I knew I could add more storage space if I was strategic. Last, wire shelves are ugly. So then I demo'd the pantry and painted the walls (which was just primer) with leftover paint from the rest of the house. It's called Polar Bear. I paid an electrician to install an outlet at "counter height" in the pantry, so I could move the dumb microwave off the counter. (The electrician did a slew of other small jobs around the house, not just this outlet, including a motion-activated light in this pantry. Tres Fancy
Keep reading »

Family Calendar Improvement

Image
 Made a quick improvement at the start of the school year that I'm pretty excited about.  And yes, I'm probably the only one excited about it, but here goes ...  Here's our "command central" in our kitchen. This is a good landing spot, and a central place to all look at the family calendar ... it's that huge wipe board in the middle of the photo. All our activities are supposed to be written on here and our electronic family calendar on Google.  (Brief aside: my family is the WORST at writing their plans down in either calendar and Dave still doesn't share his events on our Google Shared Family Calendar consistently, which makes me nuts. And they all ask me "what are we doing today?" instead of looking at the calendar, usually directly behind me. But, that's another post.) I went to so much trouble putting this little area together and that huge calendar with wobbly writing was really killing the sophisticated look of that space. PLUS, we don
Keep reading »

Basement Shiplap Project

Image
The guys left me all the unused shiplap from the bathroom and I've been trying to think about where to use it. I had so many ideas but not a lot of shiplap, so I eventually settled on this corner of our basement. It's where the exercise mats and treadmill live, right behind the sofa. And also where the Marvel-themed bathroom with shiplap is located. So it made sense. It took much of a rainy Sunday to cut and nail up the new boards ...    I even had enough to do on the "backsplash" of our little kitchenette in the basement I've been slowly building out.  Next up will be to patch all the nail holes and calk around the edges for a clean look. And then the best part ... picking out paint color. Since this is a "free" project, I'm hoping I can find a color in my paint cabinet.  I'll keep you posted. 
Keep reading »