Building A Basement

One month in, and while we've been throwing every extra hour- and dollar- at the project, there isn't much of an update to give. Jason has been working down in the basement as often as he can, and the framing is 90% done!  The rooms are all up, the ceilings are all up, and the pile of lumber in the garage (that we had to replenish 3 times) is almost completely depleted.

The rest of us mostly just stay out of the basement- too many splinters and nails- so I haven't taken very many pictures.  It's kind of hard to tell what's going on down there anyway, but here are a few that I took before church one day.  Leah is standing in the kitchenette area, Adam is 8-year-old-boyishly squatting in the bathroom, and Noah has disappeared behind the far left studs, which are the guest room walk-in closet.

Emma is walking down the hallway, storage closet on the left and game closet on the right.  We've got fun plans for this spot!

Here's the view from the stairs- family room in the middle and office straight back.  The ladder is in front of the guest room, which is easier to see in the picture above.  

And the family room/entertainment wall is the 10% that isn't framed up yet, so no picture there.

HVAC came out last week, plumber tomorrow, and electrical will start this weekend.  Quotes for drywall and paint are up next, and before long carpet and tile will be on order.  Boy, some of the line items on this project are quite impressive!  Tradesmen definitely earn their keep.

We took an impromptu trip down to Kansas City one weekend to figure out a few things that we wanted from IKEA.  The kids were such troopers- 6 hours in the car and super squished on the way back.  But we had yummy meatballs and lots of chocolate and Swedish fish and new movies to keep everyone happy.  In the weeks since Noah has told us again and again how fun the trip was and how much he'd like to do it again.  The family that squishes together sticks together!

We are shooting to have the majority of the work done by the end of the summer, but increasing the total living space of our home by 33% is feeling like a pretty daunting task.  It's a good thing that we have dedicated this year to getting the job done, and while it's not nearly as exciting as planning and saving for a super family vacation, it will be so nice to have it done and to have a new space to enjoy together as a family... eventually!