Our finished basement reveal

July 24, 2012

I talked about our plan for the basement flooring back here when we had a different carpet picked out. Since then a new one came available that was SO much softer and only $200-something more than our original option.

It’s a Mohawk carpet, and the design is called Honored Tradition:

Capture

We went with a lighter carpet with a gray tone to it. I chose this one because our upstairs carpet has a really slight gray undertone and I LOVE it. I brought this sample upstairs to match that color as much as possible – but this one is much grayer (and a bit darker).

It has a slight design to it, but in my pics you really don’t notice it. I’m so glad I changed the plan at the last minute cause this is soooo much softer than the first one we had picked out! We upped the thickness of the padding too so it’s super cushy down there.

LOVE. And by the way, it is not lost on me that I couldn’t wait to get rid of the carpet on our main level last fall (for the hardwoods after a leak), and now I’m thrilled about carpet. :) We were just so tired of those cold, dusty cement floors. So. tired.

Here’s some before and after pics of the basement – it’s come a long way in the past seven months!! Bear with me though because things are still very basic and I kinda just threw toys on the shelves. I spent the whole day putting the room back together. :)

Here’s a shot of my craft area before:

And that same spot now:

Mohawk carpet honored tradition

Little different, eh? :) OH my goodness, I am so thrilled!!

Those who are super observant will notices my DIY craft table got moved. I changed things up a bit, and I love it so far. I’ll talk more about that soon!

This was a shot of the basement last year, into what is now the family room area:

This is that same spot now:

basement carpet

You can see all of the basement paint colors here!

One of my favorite parts of having a finished basement? Getting rid of all those random rugs and carpet remnants. I think we had eight of them down there and they were so gross from the drywall dust!

The Bub’s toys used to line the “wall” of our storage area:

plastic shelving

And now that area (to the right) has an actual door and walls. ;) Best. things. ever.:

Mohawk carpet honored tradition

I got rid of so much stuff, there’s not many places to sit down there. :) We have a solution for that, but we have to figure out if we can get it down the basement steps first. (Crossing fingers.)

This was a picture of the length of the basement before, and it shows how how far back it goes:

That area is segmented into rooms now – most of which are still awaiting finishing. :)

Mohawk carpet honored tradition

Those doors still need to be painted – I’m going dark!

Here’s another photo of the opposite direction:

basement play area

And how it looks today:

Mohawk carpet honored tradition

It keeps striking me that the space looks so much bigger with walls, ceilings and flooring. You would think they would make it feel smaller? But I think it feels massive now! Of course that will change as we fill it back up with items, but I do want the family room to feel cozy and warm so I’m good with that.

I can’t believe it’s (pretty much) done!! There’s still a very long to do list. Lots of painting yet to do, tiling two rooms, moving the washer and dryer, lighting in the laundry and bathroom, a sink, toilet, trim work…and I haven’t even started all the fun decorating projects I have planned for this space. I cannot wait to have some fun with it instead of constant DIY projects. ;)

Once I compile all the receipts I’ll do a final post about the whole basement finishing process and how the costs came out. And there’s one final BIG project that we’re working on this week that I can’t wait to show you!

So what do you think? Big changes huh?? It feels like forever since we started but it’s only been about seven months. I think it will be a good nine or ten months before it’s completely finished, but having dust-free, cushy flooring underfoot feels like the final frontier. I have been fighting the urge to roll around on it all day. ;)

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Comments

  1. Wow! Such a big, beautiful difference!!

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  2. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it soooo much!!! What paint color??? Love!

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  3. It looks so great! You're right, it really does look bigger now.

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  4. Looks awesome, Sarah!! Yay for you! I does look a lot bigger and the colors are great. Can't wait to see all the future projects you have planned down there. =)

    ~ Catie

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  5. wow!! that is beautiful!



    followme@ www.studentswife.com

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  6. Love, love, love it! Now I wish I even have a basement!

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  7. WOW did you just up the value of your home! Nice!

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  8. Sarah! It looks SO great!! I love the carpet you chose. It seems perfect for the space. The carpet, wall color, and lighting really does make the room look huge. Yay!! So happy for y'all. Congratulations on your doors and walls and carpet and a beautiful space! :)

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  9. Sooo beautiful! It really does look bigger with the walls. Can't wait to see the next project!

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  10. Gorgeous, gorgeous, GORGEOUS!! I've only had one house that had a basement, we only lived in that house for four years and the DIY list was very long and the basement was a low priority. We were planning different areas like this but just never got there. Since then we've lived in 2 different states....CA and TX. NOBODY has basements. Sigh....

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  11. So clean and spacious and organized now! I bet you're very happy with the outcome!

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  12. It looks great and I love the wall color. You need a nice sectional down there.

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  13. it looks amazing I love the carpet

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  14. It looks fabulous! If you end up looking for furniture and have a small or awkward staircase, look into the Berkline brand. When we moved into our house, the previous owners told us about it and said it comes in pieces and they put it together. We got our couch from Kittles in Greenwood about 6 years ago. The back and maybe another piece get put together after it is in the basement. Made our life so much easier! Husband still wanted his ugly bachelor days monster recliner, so that one we had to squeeze down the stairs. As they moved it and pushed it down, I kept hearing Ross (Friends) say "Pivot! Pivot!"...hahaha! Good luck!

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  15. That looks so good! I have "basement envy"! Congratulations!
    (PS, I'm not getting your posts to my email anymore... :( ... Idk why.)

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  16. The space looks fabulous! Love the color on the walls too! I think once you add walls you are less distracted by all the "functional" material supporting a house & notice the space itself.

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  17. Very nice! We've been in a very similar process of finishing our basement too... for the last 2 years... Between money and time, it's been a very slow process.

    Oooo you're going to paint the doors dark? I can't wait to read about that! What about the trim? Will that all be going dark too? We have white doors in our partially-finished basement and were just talking yesterday about whether to leave them white and use white trim or paint them or...

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  18. Great colors! It's amazing what a few walls and a little paint will do for the space. That's such a big project and you did a fantastic job! Can't wait to see the finishing touches

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  19. Go ahead & roll on it girl! You've waited long enough :-) I LOVE how its coming out! The transformation is probably one of the best I've seen in your house yet :-) So excited to see the rest!

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  20. LOVE!!! It's beautiful - I'm so happy for you guys to be able to do this. I hope I get to see it someday soon. :) Love you!

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  21. Don't resist the urge! Get your husband and your kid and get down there and roll on it. Why not?

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  22. How exciting!!! Oh, what I wouldn't give for a basement. I love your wall color, Sarah.

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  23. Pretty dang cool! Now take up that challenge and go roll around on it all day like you mentioned you wanted to do! Hey, you've earned some fun time ;-)

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  24. SO PERFECT! What an amazing transformation! That's the perfect basement. Period.

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  25. It looks amazing now, I love the paint color you chose.

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  26. Total awesomeness!!! Love watching the progress :o)

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  27. Looks fabulous...go ahead and roll on that new carpet!

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  28. Your basement looks wonderful! As for the carpet, I say go ahead, roll with it! :D

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  29. wow, you really know you to clean up, girl! Quite the finish job!! So, now, let me get this straight, you now have 3 living spaces?! Your livingroom, your loft area, and now your basement?! Wow! You could start taking in boarders now, lol!

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  30. It looks fantastic! I love the colours that you chose. The blue/grey on the walls manages to really brighten things up but still has some spunk.

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  31. How wonderful to have reached the finish line! I hope you will love your new space for a long time!

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  32. that looks fabulous! i love that carpet-do you see the patternishness more in real life? we're so close (almost) to carpeting the basement, too, and i am really unsure of carpet. ack!

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  33. You have added some serious square footage from a "finished space" point of view - your house must feel even bigger now. ;-) It looks fantastic, and the carpet really is the icing on the cake. Now you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. :-) Such a great space to have with kids - ours is definitely the kid hang out space in our home, and I love that.

    Can't wait to see all of the touches you add in the months ahead.

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  34. WOW!! What a diff ~ looks great :)

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  35. This is beautiful! My husband has said a few times he'd like to redo our basement (we drywalled ourselves about 8 years ago) and having seen your professional finished basement..I might be open to that. It DOES look larger!

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  36. Absolutely amazing - I love the colours! You must be thrilled!

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  37. It looks awesome! And I love the carpet! Definitely a great choice for a basement space like this! Can't wait to see what you do down here decor wise!

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  38. Fabulous job! I know you're loving it and you should!!!

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  39. I'll just go ahead and confess. I have basement envy. Jealous. Green. I covet.

    One of the disadvantages of living close to the ocean is having a high water table and, therefore, no basements. Boo!

    It looks so lovely, Sarah! I'm excited to see details on your crafting area!

    Aloha,
    Charlie

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  40. It looks great! It really does look huge too! I know how excited you must be to have it finished.

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  41. Lol...in the last picture I see a photo bomber!

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  42. Looks great! love the chairs, lighting.. nice! you must have been working very hard :)

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  43. Congrats! Color me jealous! We won't be finishing ours until some time next year. Yours looks great and I know you'll have a blast decorating it. :)

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  44. Soooo jealous. Our basement finishing project continues. We're waiting on electical and can then start our drywall. I would give anything to have just one section done.

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  45. Omg, Sarah! I love it! It looks incredible with everything that you've done to it. We have decided that our next house WILL and MUST have a basement!!

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  46. Wow! It looks awesome! It really does look bigger with the walls and everything up! It's going to add so much value to your home! :)

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  47. Beautiful! Looks like a great retreat!
    Although I'm sure you don't need my opinion, I like the doors light.

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  48. Give in to the urge! Roll baby, Roll away!! I would! :-)

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  49. Roll all over that floor!! How exciting and Beautiful! It's like a whole new house I bet!! Can't wait to see your finishing touches over the next few months!!

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  50. I love the changes. So so beautiful! What the heck ... I'm not looking ... roll around on the carpet :)
    Hugs,
    Bj

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  51. Wow! It looks amazing. I can only imagine what you will do with it in the coming months. Doesn't it feel great just to have a room functioning again after a renovation?! Enjoy your new space!

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  52. Beautiful! And why resist!?! Go roll around on it!

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  53. It looks so great! We finished (a room and a bathroom) and refinished (the family room) in our basement a couple of months ago. It was SO wonderful to have the extra space and fresh painting and carpet. Then a month ago our basement flooded with five inches of water. :( It is one of the saddest things to ever happen in my life. Our newly beautiful basement was ruined. Now we just finished replacing the drywall (bottom two feet) and painted and we're awaiting new carpet anyday. Can't wait. And hoping we never have to finish that basement again! I am rather wary of basements now - hope it never happens to you. So enjoy it.

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  54. Go ahead.....roll away! You deserve it!

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  55. OMG I love it!!!!!!!!!!

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  56. This gives me such hope for our basement project (that is FAR from completed!) Way to go - it looks amazing! I love the colors and the carpet looks so soft :)

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  57. Go ahead and roll! You and Bub! It's lovely!
    Chrissy

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  58. Amazing Job! That was quite a transformation. It looks great now, I can't imagine how wonderful it will be when it's completely finished. I love the choice in carpet and how well it goes along with the wall color.

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  59. What a transformation! If you get a sec, I'd love to hear your thoughts on my latest blog posts.

    peacelovedecor.com

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  60. Wow! What a great space for you all, enjoy!

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If you have a specific question I will do my best to answer you back here!

You can find our paint colors and links to items at the "Our Home" tab at the top of my site.

THANKS so much for reading!