Goodbye Old Basement...

...it hasn't been fun!

Moving on from yesterdays exciting post about our new family addition, I want to discuss some changes that should be coming soon to our little house. Ever since our first viewing in early May, we knew the basement was a project we were going to have to tackle. With low ceilings, a bit of a dampness issue and a seriously bad layout - our basement needs HELP! So, it looks like our home renos will be working their way UP from our disaster of a basement.

Main living area in the basement at the bottom of the stairs. There is a bit of mold starting to appear by the baseboard behind me. Behind the wall, directly ahead, is the utility room full of our giant water heater and ancient furnace - only accessible by walking all the way around and through the guest room.

This is the little hallway that leads to the bathoom (seen through the open door) - to the right is the washer and dryer as well as the door to the guest room.


As you can see the bathroom needs a whole lotta love (and a whole lot less wood paneling around the tub - YUCK!)

These ancient pieces of equipment make it sound like a rocket is taking off everytime I throw in a load of laundry. They are located directly outside the bathroom door. To the left (see B's arm) is the doorway into what we have been using as a guest bedroom. Not really a nice site for our guests!


And finally our guest bedroom as it looked when we first moved in. We have since painted it a much calmer shade of green and the wood paneling has been painted an creamy colour. We also put floor to ceiling sheer curtains on the wall where our oddly placed window is to soften it up a bit and put in a double bed with a cream coloured head board that matched the wood paneling. It was working well as a guest room. But not for much longer.

As of last night, our basement overhaul has officially begun (in my eyes anyway). B had someone come by to discuss getting a tankless water heater installed. Since there will be no cost to have it installed and our old rental heater taken back to the other company, we have decided to have it done ASAP. B is all about the technical stuff, the most important part to me is that we will be reclaiming all of the space our water heater is currently taking up. So, with a new water heater coming, that means it's time to start ripping apart the basement.

Our plan is to turn what is now our guest bedroom, into our new utility room/laundry room, redo/update the bathroom and open up the rest of the basement into a larger living area. With the tankless water heater coming soon, and thoughts of purchasing a new washer and dryer on boxing day, our attention is focused on the new utility/laundry room.

As the main laundry doer in our house, I want a place that doesn't look like a dungeon and is more a part of the home. So I have spent the last few days online looking at inspiration rooms for our laundry room - the starting point for our reno. Here are a few I'm a fan of...

As I continue to think this through, I can imagine demo will begin soon - even with two dogs (hopefully) and a rabbit living in the house. Right now I'm really just trying to decide the best option for the floor... B and I are leaning towards a dark natural stone tile I think, so if there are spills or messes, they will be easy to clean. I'll have to keep you posted on my thought process.

In the meantime - what's your laundry room like? Is it a beautiful place in your home that you don't mind cleaning and folding your clothes? Or is the kind of place that you want to be in and out as quick as possible? Have you had it redone or do you plan on redoing it in the new year? Would love to hear some stories!