Basement Rundown

The basement renovation is a work-in-progress.  I'm sure it will take a while to finish since I can only dedicate nights and weekends. Minus the holiday parties, family time, Christmas, New Years, and the busiest time of year for me at work - I might find an hour or two to cross some more projects off the old to-do list.  For now, I need to focus on getting all the presents wrapped and preparing for a holiday party Thursday night, hosting Justin's work holiday party on Friday (yeah!!), and another holiday party Saturday.  The electrician will be back Sunday morning to finish up the lighting and electrical situation.

As I said before, the basement renovation was always on my long, projected to-do list.  I attempted to create a design for the basement about 8 months ago.

I measured the dimensions and laid it out on graph paper.  I didn't get very far.

It's time to get serious!

Before even planning a renovation it's always a good idea to set a budget.  Setting a budget ahead of time will allow you to design with price in mind.  The design, surprises and finishes can spiral out of control very quickly when you don't have an idea of what you want to spend overall.

Why am I renovating?  With a major, and even minor, renovation, it may be important to get a return on investment.  In other words you should ask yourself if/when you sell your home, will the renovation add equity? If so, how much?  This is important to me, which is why I do a lot of the work myself.  The return on investment for a mid range basement remodel is Michigan is 66.8% (based on this 2011-2012 cost v. value report from Remodeling Magazine).  In fact, a basement remodel has a higher ROI than a major kitchen remodel!

Although I won't be putting in an upscale basement, I want to make it a comfortable area to hang out.  So the ROI isn't the #1 reason I'm finishing the basement.  The most important factor to me right now is to have another space in my home where I can entertain and maybe actually enjoy doing laundry.  My house is small, so finishing a basement to add more entertaining space can double my current space!

My budget for the basement is $5,000.  I actually think I will spend much less than this.  I'm just keeping an open mind when it comes to those costly surprises.  My basement should actually be considered an update rather than a renovation...it's already partially finished.  I will use my electrician, plumbing, and drywall resources, and mainly my DIY abilities (because I'm cheap thrifty like that).  The timeline I am estimating is 3 months.  I am not too concerned with finishing it immediately because it is not a main living space in the house.  I've lived with out it for 18 months and I can continue to live with out it for a while, as long as I have access to my laundry area.

I plan on working with the existing paneling to help keep the budget low, and I would like to add a few walls to separate a few different areas. My current basement has one wall going directly down the center of it separating a "living space" from the storage, laundry, toilet, and mechanical area.  The drywall on the separating wall looks like it was added as an afterthought.  And it was never finished.  I will probably remove all of it (along with that weird built-in) and replace with a full wall of drywall and add a soffit to hide the HVAC.  And that gross carpet that was GLUED directly to the lovely 9x9 tile will be removed and replaced with...something.

The mechanical, laundry and work area are all on the opposite side of the living area wall in one big open space. The furnace and HWH are conveniently in the dead center of my basement. Who was the genius that ever created this trend? And the laundry area is kiddie-corner from the mechanical near the water closet, and across from the storage room. I have a sump pump in each corner of my basement on the mechanical side. The current layout is actually pretty workable - which is why I think I can do this renovation under my budget. While the furnace/HWH are in the center of the basement, I will work around it to avoid having to move anything - which would be costly and not in my budget. 

The storage area is already enclosed in a nice little walk-in room accessible through the mechanical side of the wall. Directly on the opposite side of the storage area (facing the living space) is that funny little built-in which I can't wait to remove. I am hoping that once the entertainment center is removed, it will allow me to expand the storage area and place an access door from the living space rather than the mechanical space. The toilet is also on the mechanical side of the wall and is enclosed....but has no sink. Luckily, the laundry tub is directly on the other side of the water closet wall - which should make it easy to expand the toilet room to include a sink. This will make it a true half-bath. And while not fancy, it's workable and will come in handy when completing the bathroom renovation.  Oh, and that lovely 9x9 tile is adhered with an asbestos compound. It hasn't been tested, but based on my research it is definitely asbestos. And the best thing to do in this case is to leave it right where it is and encapsulate it, or learn to love it.  I chose to get creative and paint it.

I already planned on creating a workshop and have already purchased the peg board a few weeks ago.  And I am in the process of rehabbing an old workbench handed down to me by my grandfather, and wanted to make room for my workbench and tool box in the workshop. My original plan was to place the workshop in the area that I would now like to be dedicated to an exercise area. But I have new plans.   

Here is what I would like to have in my basement:

- Play area (my parents have a beautiful Foosball table they would like to dump on me)
- Comfortable seating area with "built-in" entertainment center (I'm thinking of the custom-ikea kind)
- Bar area (I don't need a bar, but if Justin and I move in together then this is "his" space, and I want him to have a bar...this will probably be a craft area until then)
- Exercise area
- Storage room
- Half bath
- Laundry room
- Workshop

I am still working with colors and designs.  My biggest challenge is tying it in with the rest of the house.  I want it to feel like an extension of the other rooms so I plan to carry the same color scheme downstairs.  Any input is welcomed!

Mary

Just in case you missed previous steps and find out why I am completing a basement renovation, you can find that all here:

What Started It All: Electrical Permit Letter From City

Step 1: Electrical Inspection

Step 2: Basement Plan of Action