Making & Keeping Promises

When we first scoped out the house a year ago, one of the first things we promised each other is that if we bought this house, the basement would be done, and notably, the scary bathroom would be replaced. We're still not sure how they considered this a '2 bathroom' house - the only one willing to use that bathroom was the cat (see litter box paraphernalia below right). Grant did add a bit of flair to the bathroom, with some lovely landscape paintings and our brother-in-law's highschool photo - just to dress things up a little.

So, after a few months of settling in, we decided not to get too comfortable before our first big project. The design to-do list:

* Lower the whole basement. Some parts are lower than others, and you can walk without hitting your head on the main beam.

* Insulate the walls. Currently, you can put your hand up and feel the outside draft coming straight in.

* Replace the existing hot-water tank rental with a tankless water heater. Will give us some more space and cut down on our energy consumption.

* Get a new furnace. Might as well, since the existing one is getting on up there and we can take advantage of the last days of the federal home energy audit program.

* Re-inforce many of the ceiling joists (several are cracked or not even installed properly. This would explain the crooked floors on the mail floor).

* Rebuild the stairs.

* Move the laundry room to the basement (currently taking up one of the bedrooms upstairs)

* Rebuild a new bathroom (with shower!)

* Build a storage room big enough for all our stuff needs to be built (we don't have a garage)

* Design a nice cozy living space for hanging out and watching TV.

So, here are some of the 'before' shots to give you a bit of flavour....

Entrance from the kitchen.

Walls need a bit of work

View diagonally across the basement to the bathroom.

The opposite diagonal view across
 from the bathroom.

View from the bottom of the stairs.

Back corner opposite the bathroom.