2020 Basement Repairs & Updates

When we bought our house, the sheister (is that even spelled right) we bought it from did a bunch of lying and deceiving.  We got a decent deal on it but we would have paid even less had we known about some of the issues that he'd intentionally hidden.  I mentioned the leaking skylights in a prior post.  The other major issue was the rotting basement wall because of a poorly built deck.  This summer we (meaning Mark did the work and I cleaned the mess up) tackled that project.  He removed all of the siding from under the deck, removed support posts that were there in lieu of the ledger board that should have been there, and removed all of the rotten wall.  He then had to cut the deck joists to allow room for the new ledger board, install the new ledger, rebuild the wall, replace the busted slider, reside the wall, secure the deck.  While he was at it, we moved around the door and a window in the basement to be more functional in light of the new interior stairwell.  We also moved the pellet stove to better heat the space.

 

Installing the new ledger board and tearing out the rotted wall, beams, and studs.  We sat with a hole in our wall for over a week.  I was not a big fan but fortunately the weather was cooperative.

 

Putting in the new header for the new french door.  The previous slider was an 8' wide standard slider.  To replace it, it would have been several thousand dollars so we started considering our options.  I love french doors and yet we needed to be able to take very wide things in and out of the basement so we opted for this door.  French but both doors open to allow us full use of the opening for those very wide things.  Win.

Ledger board is up, tyvek is on, door is set, window is re-placed, clean up is midway done.  You wouldn't believe how big of a mess my husband can make!! lol.

 

Our realtor and his wife are friends of ours.  Just after we moved in, they gave us a dining room set.  They later gave us their tear out carpet, which allowed us to semi-finish a space in our basement for a family room.  We didn't roll the entire roll out but rolled it to the poles and made it work.  The pellet stove makes it a tolerable temperature in the winter so its become a really great space for family events.  As such, for grandma's party, we decided to finally roll out the whole thing and cut around the poles, expanding the space.  With enough bodies to drag the massive piece of carpet around, we got it done.  

My aunts and cousins moved things all around for the party but this is how I initially had it set when our work was all done.  

This space typically has foam flooring for the kids to play on but we pulled that for the party and set up tables and chairs in there.  It worked.  To better social distance, we had seating inside and outside.

We had to call the serviceman for our pellet stove this fall because we couldn't get it to stay lit.  Come to find out, we needed a new thermostat and we needed to reconnect the wire that had come loose when we moved the pellet stove to do all our construction on the wall it previously sat at.  He charged us a service charge and taught us A TON about some of the issues we were having with the stove and how to better utilize it.  Well worth the service charge.  Bought an $18 thermostat, hooked it up, and bam!

When we moved in to the house, our wonderful friends and family moved many of our things into our basement while I unpacked all of the everyday items upstairs.  Over the last few years, I've rearranged the basement boxes and utilized some of the items in them.  Some of the boxes have been moved from shelf to shelf but never opened.  This fall I made it my goal to unpack what needed to be unpacked, purge what needed to be purged, and better organize everything that remained.

 

This is how it looked during the process. Sorting, pitching, donating, organizing. 

It definitely got worse before it got better.  SO MANY BOXES!

This is what it looks like now.  There are still a few totes of things that will eventually be used as we finish the basement.  It had gotten to a point where I couldn't stand to go in this corner.  Now it is functional enough that I can easily go and access what I need without stress. 

This is another area that frustrated and overwhelmed me.  I tolerated it until my husband and children stood on the shelves of these 9 cubes and busted them.  Then I struggled to overlook the obvious chaos.  I started shopping fb yardsale for an inexpensive solution that would organize the chaos.  I went back and forth between a wall of shelves and closed cabinets.  

I messaged several sellers that didn't work out and then I stumbled onto this guy.  Totally the wrong color for my tastes but nice clean lines.  I got it for a steal and even fit the entire thing in the back of my minivan. 

 

    

I got it home and inside and then it sat for a couple of weeks before I motivated myself to tackle what I knew would be a monster of a project.  I had to prime every part and piece, paint every piece dark brown for distressing, and then coat every piece with 2 light colored coats.  Poor Merida lost free access to her playroom for a bit but we figured it out.  All of it was done in less than a week.

All of our STUFF fit inside the cabinet

My sister came over to make sure all of our electronics worked.  (We hadn't used the VHS since 11 N Clover).  Thank God for a techie sister!!  I was ready to throw it all across the room. lol.  Even the freebie dying TV looks good when everything works and the wires are streamlined.  

We had some cabinets we'd been given with the renovation of one of the suites in the building that I manage.  I decided to paint a couple of them to match the refinished cabinet.  At some point, those will be mounted on the wall beside each other and beside the entertainment center.  For now, they're sitting atop another cabinet that will eventually disappear.  For now, this is a 95% improvement over what it was before so I can deal.

As a fun project to thank Merida for tolerating and helping with all of the projects this fall, I made her a  huge box fort.  She loves it and so did all her cousins at Christmas.

 

Last year, I bought this pre-lit tree off fb yardsale just before Christmas.  I used some leftover glass bulbs to semi-decorate it and with my crazy family, that didn't go so well.  I thought I'd gotten all the broken glass and then my bare foot found a piece.  Unpleasant.  I then decided that I would make or buy new ornaments for the basement tree that were unbreakable and reflected our family legacy, with a farmhouse touch.  Merida helped and I feel like we nailed it.  Every member of my family and Mark's family has a personalized ornament and I had alot of fun being crafty with my daughter.

Turner Christmas at the Bouwkamp's

2020 Master Suite Improvements

When we first moved in, our bed was on the opposite side of the room.  Mark tends to be a "messy" and so somewhere along the line, I switched our bed's location so his messes weren't the first thing I saw when I walked into our bedroom.  He was unimpressed but he likes me happy so it stayed. lol.  2019 we got a "big kid bed," upgrading from our full to a King.  We were given the frame and box springs so we only had to buy the mattress and we found one in the clearance department.  Since then, I had been shopping for a headboard and possibly a footboard but just not finding what I wanted.  Mark suggested a pallet wood headboard so I took that as him volunteering for another project.  We wanted something tall and attractive and as the project took shape, we decided it made alot of sense to put 3-way switches on our headboard, as well as outlets.  Since marriage we've battled over who gets to hop out of bed to shut the overhead light out.  Switches eliminated a battle.  (I wanted wall sconces too but I lost that battle.  boo)

 Yes, this is that same fire engine red again.  Red is my 2nd favorite color and again, Mark likes me happy.  I think this was coat 1.  He finished (he started it when we moved in and then it sat for 4 years) drywall in a single weekend, thanks to 2 heaters and 2 box fans and then we primed and started painting it.  

 

Bold colors are pretty unforgiving of imperfections so we painted a coat and then he touched it up.  I think we painted 3 coats like that with the touch ups and then we were finally satisfied with the results enough to just keep painting.  Again, 5 coats to get the depth of color we wanted.  Yay for those box fans. The headboard was painted black so cracks between the pallet boards disappear.  It works but it has to be black, not dark grey.  Tried that and wasn't happy with the results.

Maybe we should have just moved out during this process of renovation in our bedroom but we didn't.  All this mud work and painting and pallet work was done during the day and then we would roll our bed back in place at night and hit the hay.  Glad that nonsense is over!

Our dining room has a horizontal pallet wall.  Mark suggested that we try vertical in our bedroom for something different.  I'm not sure if he later regretted that or not.  It did turn out beautiful and it works with the existing beam lines of our bedroom.  I especially love the aged rough sawn lumber he used to wrap the beam behind and above our bed.  Have I mentioned my guy is handsome and handy!!

 

Once we finished one side of the room...  then we had to move on to upgrading the other side.  

This is the best photo I have of the wall finished.  We're still renovating our master suite bathrooms so I currently have sheets of drywall and sub floor partially covering my new beautiful pallet wall.  Our wedding pics are finally up though and its a mostly attractive wall. You'll just have to trust me on that. 

  

On to the next room!  Our master suite has his and hers bathrooms.  I thought it was silly at first to have 2 complete bathrooms in a bedroom suite.  Then I decided since he's a messy, he can do whatever he wants in HIS bathroom and I can just ignore it and let him clean it himself.  Then the OCD realistic side of me realized that I couldn't just ignore the grossness that grows in a neglected bathroom.  Since I'm back to cleaning 3 bathrooms, they might as well work for us.  The small stand up shower in his original bathroom was functional but cramped and certainly not big enough for the steamy shower stuff of movies.  The jetted corner tub in my original bathroom was not my style - I get bored in the tub, I can't help it.  We have always dreamed of having a two person shower with a rain head shower head.  We were going to try and reconfigure his bathroom to fit a two person shower.  However, after demo'ing the stand up shower in his bathroom, we were forced to shower in the kids bathroom (for several months).  The kids shower has a skylight.  Do you know how much more light a skylight provides while showering?!  Conveniently, my bathroom also has a skylight right above the jetted tub...  See where I'm going here?  We decided to add a much needed linen closet in the former shower corner of Mark's bathroom and put in a new tub to replace the old shower.  Mark insisted it would be easier to just gut the space and start fresh.  I was skeptical and said no but if you know my husband, you know he takes no as a personal challenge.  So he gutted it an.  I may have even cried a little.

 

I survived his demo and drywall.  Begrudgingly.   My sister and nieces and I painted the walls and fixtures and then he wanted to do something other than simple clean lines with the new tile floor.  That turned out alright too.   It needed a few tweaks here and there but it definitely looks more stylish than had we stuck to my clean lines concept. 

  

Mark had to leave town again and the party was looming so my dad came over to help put the fixtures back in place and put my linen closet together.  The bathroom wasn't done but it was functional for grandma's birthday party.  

  

The long term goal is to do a concrete countertop in both the master suite bathrooms.  Who knows how long we'll be before getting around to that so when I stained the linen closet shelves, I stained the plywood countertop as well.  It definitely looks a bit better, maybe even intentional.  

I upcycled the overhead light to be a bit more farmhouse.  Painted some heat lamps and then glued a mason jar ring to its base and pushed that into the existing fixture.  Put the bulb back in and tada.

Mark has since finished the crown molding and pallet wall.  We still need to finish the window casing and trim and the baseboard and door trim.  Not to mention spinning the tub to be the correct direction so the ugly seam paint is hidden and installing plumbing fixtures for the tub.  We also need to fix the sink to drain better.  Otherwise, this space is fabulous.  Mark prefers his bathroom be the one with the shower so we swapped bathrooms.  That means my bathroom is now the pretty updated one.