Basement ceiling w/ beadboard walls & door

Our contractors are still moving along on the basement ceiling. There are also a few trim pieces that they are suppose to get installed for us. We hope to whitewash most of the walls this weekend and paint the door (a fun color that is yet to be determined). I am loving the new lights, the space feels a little moody, which I really like. I also like that in the middle of the day it is now bright enough with the windows and white ceiling that you don’t even need to turn on the light to walk around (which is a huge and pleasant change!).

More Basement Ceiling!

We will be painting all of the ceiling trim white and giving the beadboard panels a coat as well to make them feel less shiny and new.

Bathroom Floor Prep: Leveling and more Leveling!

They are finishing preparing the floor for our vinyl install this weekend. We decided that we would install the vinyl tile and faux grout ourselves, to speed along the process. The floor hasn’t been leveled in the laundry area yet so we will be only doing phase 1. Next weekend we should be able to do phase 2 (and live without a washer and dryer for a few days). Floor prep is definitely not a strong suit of mine (I don’t have the patience) but it does make or break an install like vinyl, since any discrepancies in the floor tend to telegraph through (which I don’t want).

What color do you think I should paint the door? Blue maybe?

I hope everyone has a great weekend (and enjoys the beautiful weather)! 

* To see all of the posts about our basement click here.

The Last of the Main Section of Beadboard went in! I love how it looks!

It was a productive day yesterday down in our basement. I did a little demolition on a couple of random old ceiling pieces that were in the way (a great way to start off the morning I might add), but the more exciting part is that they started working on ceiling in the main room. They also completed the last major wall of beadboard (there are still a few smaller areas to do).

My contractor and I went back and forth on the design for the ceiling since I wanted it to be removable to have access to all of the plumbing and electric up there. We ended up going with some extra “beams” spaced at about 3′ apart. These will have cleats to pick up the thin beadboard sheets that will make up the ceiling plane.

Another Shot of the Beadboard on the Back Wall and the Ceiling Grid

The ceiling cleats are made up of 1×1 for the wall edge and for the middle it is a 2×4 attached vertically (cut for all of the plumbing pipes) and 1×4 piece of poplar hung horizontally. I like that it is simple and effective. There will also be some pieces running perpendicular to pick up the sides of the beadboard panels about every 4′. This will also be a 1×1. The trim, cleats and boards will all be painted white when we are finished. At the light area you will need to pull down the housing to remove the panel, but they are just clipped in place, so that should be fairly easy.

A Small Section of the Beadboard Panel Ceiling is in Place!

The lights are one of the most exciting parts. This is the first set of photos down there where I didn’t have to do lots of color adjustment to make up for the horrible florescent strip lights (Yeah!). The new recessed lights are made of a standard 6″ ceiling can with a special LED light bulb/housing attached. The LED downlight comes with its own cover and is reasonably priced at $29.99. The standard recessed can is about $8, so for a total of $38 you have a super efficient, good looking light. Plus the light used 9.5 watts but is the equivalent of a 65W bulb, it will last for 20 years and not get hot (which is an added bonus for a space like this).

6" Halo Recessed Housing, $46.79 for 6

EcoSmart LED Downlight, $29.99 at Home Depot

When I started researching options for the recessed lights, I wasn’t sure how the system works, but basically the LED light and cover attach to the old school screw in socket meant for an incandescent bulb inside. It is also interesting to watch the price come down on these guys. The LED light and cover where priced at $49 last year. So by next year the price will probably go down again. For a price comparision if we had gone with incandescent we would have spent about $8-10 for the cover and bulb, so we spent an extra $20 per light. We are installing about 12 of these, so I am spending an extra $240, but I won’t have to replace them until the kids are out of college (kind of strange to think about!). I will give a more full report once they are all up and running to see how bright they feel.

* To see all of the posts about our basement click here.

The weather is beautiful here today, I think it is time to get weeding!

In Progress Shower Tile

It is slow going here this week. The shower tile is taking a LONG time. It does look nice, but I am getting impatient! I am sort of regretting not just doing it ourselves (not that we have the time).  I think the large tiles, although a good deal, are not helping because so many of them need to be cut. Also the two different depths of tile is making it more difficult as well.  I am also looking forward to them installing the final light, which will be an LED wet rated fixture/cover. The ceiling will also be tiled.

Beadboard Ceiling with our New Fan/Heater/Light

I also forgot to show you our new fan/heater/light. I ended up going with “Whisper Warm” by Panasonic, $251. They had a similar but uglier model at Home Depot but it didn’t have very good reviews. This one had pretty good reviews for being quiet and producing a good amount of heat. I also like that it does not stick down as far as a lot of the models I looked at. We used the heat and fan while we were painting down there this weekend, and so far so good. I guess I won’t really know until I take my first hot shower, but I have my fingers crossed that it will work out well.

Lutron Timer Switch

I also bought a fancy timer switch by Lutron for the fan. With this swith I can set the time I want it to run and when I leave it will automatically turn off for me.  I thought this was a worthwhile $32.50 investment, since I would hate to leave the fan accidentally going all day. Lutron makes lots of lighting and electric controls and I use them quite often on large scale projects, so I feel good about using them. I think my contractor thought it was a little over the top, but oh well. We didn’t have a fan before, so this should be an upgrade!

* To see all of the posts about our basement click here.

White Ceiling & Partial Whitewash on the Walls

Our contractors finished the beadboard on the walls and ceiling in the bathroom for us on Friday so we could prime and paint the bathroom over the weekend. We decided to paint the ceiling white and whitewashed the walls. Think subtle!  It is quite hard to see the whitewash clearly in the photos.

Whitewash applied to Beadboard Walls

Why whitewash? Well we are spending quite a bit of money to give the basement a nice rustic/ Victorian back of house feel with all of the beadboard. It seems like a shame (and lots of work) to cover up all of the pine wood grain with several coats of paint. We did decide on the ceiling we would try and maximize the brightness and go opaque white, but after some testing we decided to go with a whitewash (about 1/2 paint 1/2 water) for the walls. The color is actually a light tan (hard to read in the photos) because we wanted a slightly softer color. I also experimented with a blue, but the blue whitewash looked really strange, so we decided to stick with the neutral wall color and use color elsewhere. This is a pretty big departure from my normal preference of using lots of color on the walls, but given that these are small, short spaces it is probably for the best.

Paint & Primer: For the primer I went with a new product (at least for me), Kilz Clean Start. We used 2 coats for the ceiling to minimize any wood grain and knots. Then we used 1 coat of the Behr Premium Plus Ultra Ceiling Paint. For the walls I used a 50/50mix of Behr Premium Plus Ultra Flat Enamel in White Truffle and water.  The other nice thing is that the primer and paint are low VOC, so no smelly fumes which is great for those of us painting in the space and for our little ones nearby.  For the ceiling I used my favorite painting tool, a small roller (perfect for getting between the low hanging pipes) and a small angled brush for the edges. For the walls we just used a medium size paint brush, and it went on quite quickly which was another bonus.

Curvy Chrysantemum Vase, $28

Speaking of Color I did buy a beautiful vase for the bathroom (now I just need a shelf to put it on).

They are starting to install the tile for the shower today (so far so good). Hopefully  I will have an update tomorrow.

* To see all of the posts about our basement click here.

Main Space progress

It is a little crazy around here! We are busy getting ready for Maisie’s birthday and it was picture day today for the kids too. Meanwhile the basement is still chugging along. The guys have been here quite a bit and it is starting to show. I was starting to get impatient while they were busy doing the electric (and not making much progress on the walls), but yesterday they cranked out quite a bit of beadboard and plywood (and a little bit of wallboard). Now they are almost done with all of the electric, except for the lighting/ceiling. It is quite hard to get decent photos right now with the hodgepodge of lights and supplies scattered around.

Looking towards the bathroom

New Shower w/ Light

Utility Sink Area w/ Drywall

Sink/Toilet Wall

The bathroom is almost completely walled out too. The backerboard is in for the shower. They have started blocking the joists above for the ceiling. They have to put our giant exhaust fan in today and then they should be able to put the ceiling in. If all goes well we will be able to paint the bathroom this weekend, which would feel awesome!

* To see all of the posts about our basement click here.

Beadboard Progress (as of yesterday afternoon)

My contractors have been busy downstairs! They are busy installing the beadboard, finishing up some of the electric, and getting further along on the bathroom.

I thought I would give you a recap on all of the process for getting to this point.

It is a little sad that the current state doesn’t look that different from the old walls (at least in the photos). However it feels totally different in person.  Before the details close up always looked patched together (the previous owner really liked to literally nail small pieces of board together). Now it is rock solid and detailed beautifully.

Detail at Window Sill

I let my contractor figure out the best way to detail the connection between the horizontal and vertical beadboard. He went with a simple 45 degreee cut that looks great! He has also been scoping out 3 home depots to find the best pine beadboard pieces for us.

Laundry Alcove

We finally have an actual laundry area (the washer and dryer has always been somewhat randomly placed in the basement). There is enough space to the right for a 2′ wide x 1′-6″ deep shelf which I am super excited about! There will be a soffit installed towards the top of the area and I am planning on painting the ugly PVC piping to match the walls. I think I may leave the metal dryer vent exposed, since I don’t mind a little bit of metal.

I have also started to play with some watered down paint samples. I might try a bigger sample behind the washer and dryer this weekend.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

* To see all of the posts about our basement click here.

New Light and Towel Ring & Hooks

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Mr. S had the day off so we had a nice low key day with the family here! It has already been a busy week here on the basement. Both the plumber and contractor were here yesterday!

I thought it was about time that I show you the light I chose and the coordinating towel ring and hook (by Pegasus that I just happened to find on clearance at Home Depot). I also have the actual shower wall tile and the faux slate flooring. It is nice to see it all together. And at this rate we might even start to see some beadboard walls in the next day. Yeah!

More Stud Walls!

The plumber is done with all of his rough ins, electric is started and the studs are pretty much all in (except for the workroom which we will do after the rest of the basement is finished). It is still hard to imagine the space finished, but we are getting so much closer! Yeah!

New Sconce for above the sink (there will be 2 mounted on either side of the round mirror).

So in the end I went with Option #2 from the bathroom sconces. It is the By Gone Classic Bath Light from Shades of Light. I really liked the “bead” detail around the top and bottom of the glass. I also picked up the round mirror from Ikea over the weekend. I am still pretty indecisive about storage for the bathroom, but I figured that can be figured out after everything else is in. I did pick up an inexpensive shelf from Ikea, which I may try to use.

Paint Swatches

I don’t think I have shown you the paint swatches yet either. I am thinking of the lightest tan (white truffle from Behr) for the main part of the walls with the blue (rain washed) for the bathroom and the top of the walls. I think I may try a halftone of the blue. I like the color but think it might be a tad dark. I am also thinking of doing the baseboard and miscellaneous trim in bright white to contrast the light tan. For the baseboard we are using a plastic product (to avoid moisture issues) so it is already white, so it is very tempting to not paint it.

What do you think? I can’t wait to be able to show you some beadboard!

* To see all of the posts about our basement click here.

Basement Wall w/ Studs and New Beam to help support the Kitchen Floor

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine’s Day. I actually got to spend a couple of hours with Mr. S. minus the kids (which was very special)! My little valentines have been busy eating lots of chocolate and lollipops. I think that they are having a little bit of sugar withdrawal today.

New Cold Water Pipes (amongst all of the other stuff that goes on in a basement ceiling)

Sistered Floor Joists w/ new Joist Hangers (for the Living Room Floor)

It is another exciting day in our basement! The plumber is here running the new lines to our basement bath! Meanwhile our contractor has been busy the last couple of days putting up the stud walls and is just starting to run the electric (he will be back on Monday to keep going). The plumber needs about a day and a half to run the new water lines, partially because he is also replacing the main cold line that runs through the basement (it is not in the best of shape). The good news is that it will put us much closer to actually getting the basement walls finished. Our contractors have also been adding some additional structure reinforcing for my first floor as they go. Some of the structure on our old house is a little wonky and bouncy so we have been reinforcing where possible as we go (and with the advice of a structural engineer). It is one of the big advantages of fully demoing the basement. The kids can officially dance in the Living Room now without worrying about shaking the rest of the house!

The bathroom sconces also arrived and I managed to score some coordinating towel ring, hooks and toilet paper holder on clearance at Home Depot (it was pure luck that they coordinated so well). I still need to make a trip over to Ikea to pick up the round mirror and see what they have in the way of shelving for above the toilet, but at least I have a general strategy which is progress.

Fingers crossed next week I will have some exciting photos of  some almost “finished” walls.

* To see all of the posts about our basement click here.