Le Basement.

Sorry its taken me forever to get a chance to sit down and actually share some pictures from the basement. Once Rob was done his jobs ("Honey, I want walls and ceiling before my Mom comes on Saturday."), I got to cleaning. And clean I did! My back was telling me so around 6:00pm last night. Are you aware that being on your hands and knees on a concrete floor, scraping off gobs of drywall mud isn't exactly fun? Its actually one of the furthest things from fun I've done in a long time.

Seriously people. ME, on my hands and knees, with a small bucket filled with suds and a putty knife, scraping away. You can tell how terribly excited I am to have this room looking somewhat like a room that I'm even desperate enough to do something as shocking as clean the floor on my hands and knees. The worst part? It didn't exactly clean up so well. There is this weird haze on the floor. Oh well, I know its clean. After the first go around with Dawn dish soap. Then some bleach solution, then a run over with the steam mop, I'd say she's clean!

Le gobs...
Our room (sans carpet & baseboards).
*The paint color is Manuscript by ICI Paints. Excellent paint, might I add. I probably wouldn't have picked this color (think "builder beige" ~ that one's for you Trish!), but when a guy gives you a nearly full 5 gallon pail at a garage sale for free, you don't exactly argue :)

This is where our new computer desk will go. New as in new to me. I plan to hunt for one on kijiji or at garage sales in the coming weeks. (*Note: the lovely bulkhead above. I'm quite taken with it).
Rob's lovely drop ceiling. I realize lovely and drop ceiling aren't usually put in the same sentence, but I'm actually quite pleased with it. And the ease of putting it all together was super impressive.

This is the landing at the bottom of the stairs. This area does cause me some conflict, but I think I'll be able to live with it. First of all, way too many doors. Of course doors mean storage, but it still feels busy. We don't have the doors yet, but plan to get them in the coming weeks. The opening to the left is the access to the under stair storage. The closest opening on the right is to my pantry room. The next door on the right is going to be a bi-fold door and it will be access to the mechanical (Isn't my husband nice? Thinking of the future repairmen by leaving a room for them to work in, only a man would think of such things!). The opening straight ahead is to our laundry room and craft/hobby room.

The other cause for my internal conflict is that blasted sconce. I'd say that sconce nearly ended my marriage! The husband was all about the sconce. Me, not so much. So when I put my foot down and said no sconce (after all the drywall was finished and pretty), Rob explained what would need to happen to move it into being an overhead light (like what's in the main room). This would include much damage to my beloved drywall and a hefty bill from the electrician. "Sigh, fine dear, have your sconce." And if you'll note, its totally hung it at man height. I picked the fixture (although not my fave, but we were working in tight conditions), and well, it does provide light. But next house...I get to make the sconce call!

This is the stairwell, also unfinished. We hope to get new carpet (possibly soon-ish), and then we will have to have a railing installed here.

My favorite part of the stairwell? This little cutout Rob made. A second access to the under stair storage. Brilliant right?

So yesterday I popped out to Home Reuseables and found these two beautiful cabinet doors ($7 each) to cover the opening. I plan to paint them white and etch the glass so you can't see all our junk. Yes, I realize they are too big, but my husband being the lovely guy he is, plans to adjust the opening to accommodate my doors. Now if that isn't' love, I don't know what is!

So there you have it, our new room! I mean not entirely done yet, but so stinkin' close, its terribly exciting! Tomorrow or perhaps later today I'll try to get up some pictures of the loads of storage this opens up for us.