The Thinking Minority

Yes, 6 months later, we're finally almost done with the basement. We've been a little busy...

We installed the 5 cabinet doors we were waiting on, 4 on the corner cabinets at the bottom of the stairs and 1 over the electrical box (175-179) and assembled the shower (180). Assembling the shower, by the way, was about 63 steps all by itself, and took 4 people with at least 7 or 8 degrees.

In case I never blog about it, the final parts that are left: putting up a towel rack (181), finishing the bottom edge of the back door (182), hang up pictures (183), and bring home the baby (184). That is, after all, why we started this project... :-)

We hung the mirror in the bathroom, and installed the ceiling light fixtures at the bottom of the stairs.

Mr. B put up the ceiling fan in the office. Just 10 more parts left...

The sofa was delivered (173), and is really comfy...

Where to begin?

They installed the wrong color carpet. Sigh.

BUT, the granite counter is in (167) and looks great, and the mini-fridge (168) and knobs (169) are installed, so the bar is done! Also, the entertainment center is all set up (170), curtains are hung (171), and the plumbing is done - we have running water (172)!

Whew: installed 2 GFCI outlets, 4 more switches, 2 doorknobs, tested all the outlets, put covers on the outlets, hung a curtain rod, touched up the paint, put in the entertainment center components, cleaned the floor. Also: TV delivered, carpet installed.

So close, yet so much more to do...

2 more outlets, 3 doorknobs, grout for the bathroom floor, vinyl tile in the laundry closet, hooked up the washer and dryer, installed 4 speakers, and got rid of a lot of trash.

I think that's it. All the little stuff isn't very exciting, I know.

But we're getting there...

There is tile in the bathroom (115), the trim and doors are painted (116), all of the cable, phone, and internet outlets are done (117), the rest of the outlets are installed (118-128) except for the GFCIs, and we installed 6 sets of recessed light trim (129-134). Also, we bought a sofa (135) and put up blinds in the new office (136).

Part 68: Doors!
Part 69: Trim!
Part 70: Bar cabinets! We chose the same cabinets that we have upstairs, but a slightly darker color, and they look great.



















Part 71: Shelves in the entertainment center!

Also: the laundry light (which comes on automatically when you open the door), 6 switches, 8 electrical outlets, 3 phone jacks, 4 TV jacks, 16 ethernet jacks, 2 speakers, 2 bathroom sconces, and one massive removal of trash.

Part 54: Paint touch-up. It's done, and it's fantastic.

Parts 55-61: Mr. B installed all 7 speaker panels last night.
Also last night, I stripped the ends off all the wires in the electrical outlet boxes (62), cut all the wire into 3.5" pieces to pigtail the outlets (63), and stripped the ends off all the pigtailing wires (64).

Part 65: All of the trim and doors were delivered about an hour ago. Very exciting.

Parts 66 & 67: All of the cabinets for the bar were delivered this afternoon! Also, I've pigtailed all of the outlets.

Sometimes things happen so fast I don't even have time to blog them...

Part 45: Most of the stuff is back under the stairs. Kinda. You can sorta walk through our kitchen now...

Part 46: Priming! Our painter showed back up in town and came out to prime the walls this weekend. It took an hour for the entire thing, using a sprayer...

Parts 47 & 48: Mr. B bought the MDF for the shelves, and our trim guy came and installed the bottom shelves in the entertainment center and on the corner knee walls. I'll post pics at some point to show what the heck I mean by that.

Part 49: Drywall touch-up.

Part 50: The switch for the light under the stairs is installed. We'll probably never use it, since the light has a motion sensor, but it's there. :-)

Part 51: The great returning. We took about $400 worth of stuff back to Lowe's. Cha-ching!

Part 52: All of the trim and doors have been ordered and will delivered on Friday.

Part 53: Paint! We have paint! On the walls! It's painted!!! Our painter and his guys came out today and painted the entire basement. They're coming back tomorrow to touch up, but it's basically done!

Tonight I picked out and bought tile for the bathroom (Part 39). I also bought vinyl tile for under the stairs and under the washer and dryer (40). Then when I got home, I cleaned the area under the stairs (41), laid out the vinyl tile (42), cut the tiles that needed cutting (43), and then stuck down all of the vinyl tile under the stairs (44).


(And you people said I wouldn't have enough Parts...)

So, we have our first floor! Tomorrow I'll be able to move all of the stuff out of our kitchen and dining room and back into storage under the stairs.

Part 37: We picked colors! All from Behr: Waterscape for the living room, Pinedale Shores for the office, and Ocean View for the office.

Part 38: We took a trip to Home Depot tonight and bought all of the primer and paint. Now, if we can just find someone to put it all on the walls...

We installed a light under the stairs! It's very cool; it has a motion sensor.

We have walls! The basement has been drywalled (Part 33) , mudded (34), and finished (35). Woohoo!

More cleaning. Everything is now out of the basement, even the stuff from under the stairs. It's clean, empty and ready for drywall!

WE PASSED THE INSPECTION! WOOHOO!

Part 26b: We finished fireblocking (we think)...put up more wood blocks, and stuffed rock wool in the odd spaces. We did NOT use Great Stuff (TM) because the can says that it's highly flammable. Doesn't seem appropriate for fireblocking, but what do I know? The inspector is coming this morning, so we'll see what happens! We have the Great Stuff (TM) if she wants us to put it up.

Part 28: All of the wires are pushed back in the boxes, taped, and ready for drywall. The recessed lights are hardwired to the circuit breaker (no light switch) so that we can turn them on or off, but don't have a switch in the way for the drywall guy (our friendly electrician is friends with our drywall guy, and he's thoughtful).

Part 29: We ran pipes between the sections of the entertainment center, under/behind the wall, for any cords/wires that aren't built-in. Right now, we just think it'll hold an HDMI cable, but the pipes will make it easy to run additional cords in the future if needed!

Part 30: The bathroom fan is installed, and it works!

Part 26a: We started putting up fire blocking. A few more boards, some Great Stuff (TM), and ... um ... whatever the heck is going to go on top of the long wall for fireblocking rockwool ... and we'll be ready to actually pass inspection!

Part 27: We have lights! We hooked up all of the recessed lights (and the one outlet that's on that circuit) and put in the light bulbs...and they came on! Of course, the outlet didn't work, but that's because I installed it myself. Fortunately our friendly electrician was able to fix it. So...we have recessed lights! 14 of them, to be precise.