Basement...tRaNsFoRmAtIoN

The basement in our house was GROSS in need of some TLC, when we bought our house almost 5 years ago. The floors had a decent tile on them, two good sized rooms and a full bath. With a little cleaning and some paint it would be a great space. FAST FORWARD 4.5 years and we have the beginning of our "next" remodeling project. A couple of gallons of paint, a revamped positioning of the furniture, and a big screen, and you've got any mans dream. This was going to be the place to watch all sporting events and with a little work, it will be ready for the National Championship Game 2010.

Floors are not so bad...and remove all the dirt, add some paint--good as NEW, Right?!?!

(Timeline: December 2009) In an attempt to "do it right, the first time" I began preparing the walls for paint. As I am cleaning, I begin to notice some soft spots in the sheet rock, on one of the exterior walls. NOT GOOD, if all you are wanting to do is paint.  I pull off one of the outlet covers, and pieces of rusted metal fall out...oh my goodness, this is a mess.  I call my FIL (electrician) and inquire about rusted electrical boxes and could that be a bad sign. Yes, YEs, and YES...this could be a sign of water damage. I do a little more digging and a little more poking, until my finger pokes right through the wall. This is when the tears begin to fall; this was supposed to be an easy paint job and some rearranging, not a PROJECT. But it cannot be left like this...we have to find out what is wrong...

The high water marks from the lack of ventilation...yuck

After removing the entire wall of sheet rock, we noticed the water problem (down spout on this corner of the house was saturating the ground...we diverted the water and fixed the problem) was not drying due to the lack of proper drying. To ensure that the entire exterior is protected, we tore down an additional four feet of wall on the adjoining right side. So, we let it dry, and dry and DRY. Once it has dried, we SEALED the wall with DryLoc to prevent any damage in the future. Next, came the Sheetrock.(Timeline: February 2010) This was hired out (not that we could not have done it, but we did not have the time) to a set of twins that know what they are doing. In addition to repairing the wall...we decided to take this room a few steps further and replaced the ceiling and lighting to just bring it up to date.

Coming together nicely, nice job on the Sheetrock, and the ceiling is being prepared...

The ceiling was a traditional drop ceiling, that we replaced with newer acoustic tiles that were painted one shade lighter than the walls. We (my great FIL, the Electrician) installed recessed lighting and two smaller standard room lights rather than the UGLY/OVER POWERING large florescent lights from High School. In addition, I wanted to hide all of the components for the new flat screen and run all necessary cables in the walls and the ceiling.  Why not do it right from the beginning...then you wont have to do it again.

Here is the finished product. Bleachers from "The Stadium, south end zone"

Lots of cleaning involved to remove the dust and dirt from remodeling. Sometimes, I think that dust never really goes away. We brought in (unpacked) our ALABAMA memorabilia and began to find permanent homes for our collectibles.

There is the flat screen where it belongs...

SEC, not sure how that got there.

Houndstooth chair, freshly recovered in Pine Hill.

Jerseys, Helmets, footballs, guitars...

 okay...I am a sucker for all things football.

This was a huge undertaking, and lots of work to complete before the 2010 football season. We successfully made our deadline...and now with the HD installed we are just waiting on the next game. Mission Impossible Accomplished!!