Our first house, as we bought it (2007):
And the house, as we left it (2013):
Goodbye, house.
(more…)
Category: Play Room
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Empty
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The Finished Basement Studio and Play Room
I know, I know. I never really showed the basement after I finished it.
You’re already seen the laundry room and half-bathroom. The storage area has these shelves built, but since we decided (abruptly) to sell, it’s not looking so photo-ready in there. I’m assuming you’re not all that interested in it anyway though, as it really is just a bunch of storage.
Let’s see the parts you might actually want to see, yes? Here we go.
The basement has fairly high ceilings (for Oak Park, at least). We’ve never had any issues with flooding or seepage, even before we remodeled and finished it. The problem, I suppose, and the reason you haven’t seen “after” photos until now is that it’s not really finished the way I imagined it would be. It looks fine, but it’s far less Pinterest-y than it could have been. You know what I mean.
Dude. I know what you’re thinking. Where’s the bunting? The pom-pom everything? The framed Etsy prints? But don’t worry! It’s still plenty twee!
I kid, but I really was going to do a paint-by-numbers mural on the far play room wall. (Next house, perhaps, especially after seeing it in person at Camp Wandawega.)
We had a problem with one cat peeing on the rugs I tried to have in the space before. I don’t know why it started, but once it happened, it just kept on happening. We had to throw the rugs out. The striped rug that’s in the play room side is the one that I bought for August’s room and so far, it is unspoiled. (I’ll tell you a secret though. We only have it out when we’re going to be playing down there. Then it gets rolled up as a precaution.)
Ta da! Finished.
p.s. Our house is for sale today. All official-like with an MLS listing and everything.
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The Basement Studio and Playroom Plan
All right, I’ve decided on a rug. I had to turn to my good friend Photoshop to help me figure out which would be the best in the space, and this pink and white one looked best. I found it thanks to some of the comments on my post about the basement rug situation, so thanks for the recommendations! I also put a post together with a bunch of my favorite indoor/outdoor rugs over here. Check it out if you’re in the market.
The värde was c/o IKEA, and we’ve had that orange daybed for years. It was originally in our short-lived guest room (now the nursery). It should be good on the playroom side of the basement, and I’m going to skip a rug on that side. Kathryn pointed out that her kids actually prefer a bare floor to slide around on, so we’re going to give it a go.
We’ve had the 4 Seasons in Chicago (first edition) print for a while now too. Brandon gave it to me as a gift, and I’m looking forward to having it up on the walls. And speaking of the walls… I’m rethinking that grellow color. I chose it thinking that the floor on that side would be offset by the black and white rug, taking up most of the space. now that it’s gone though, I’m not sure I like the way it’s looking. I’ve never painted a room white before, but might like it here. I’m still thinking about doing a paint-by-numbers wall mural too. How awesome would that be?
It’s kind of a commitment though, eh? And you know that if we ever move, it will suffer the same fate as the dragon that I painted over when we moved in.
Update:
I made a mockup.It looks awesome.
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Paint-by-Numbers, Giant Wall Mural Inspiration
I’ve painted original murals before for my nephews, but it’s been a while. These giant paint-by-numbers murals have me inspired though, maybe enough to actually commit to making one! It might be something fun to do in the play room area of the basement.
I don’t think it would be difficult, but it would be incredibly time-consuming. Here’s a peek at the process…
A crazy amount of work. I think the results are just the right amount of cheesy goodness though! You like? Or are they too cheesy for you?
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The (Mostly) Finished Basement
Ta da! Does it suddenly feel like December again? Because that’s when all of this was supposed to be finished. Here’s the floor plan:
Let’s head down the stairs to take a look around.
And now a before:
And after:
After:
That’s as good as it gets for empty basement ‘before and after’ photos, because once we reached this stage we started moving in all of our stuff. Witness, we couldn’t even wait at this point to start filling up the storage area.
The play space used to look like this:
Now it’s a play room, and it looks like this:
And of course, we have the bathroom and laundry room sneak peeks you’ve already seen:
Our house feels so much bigger now. I think we added about 600 sq. ft. of living space to our existing 1400. Now it’s on to the fun part: decorating it!
