Makeover Monday

Recently we did a little makeover in our basement. Want to see? A couple of years ago Allen (with some help from his dad) finished our basement. It was VERY roughly finished. They put up drywall and made closets. Then Allen laid tile and ripped out the 70's bathroom and put in a new one. It was a real challenge, but he worked on it and he eventually got it finished. In the mean time we had a baby, that is why I say eventually.

When we finished it we used what we had and we "made do". Making do is great, but I realized that we weren't using it too much. It was darkish and not as nice as the rest of our rooms. Not surprisingly we chose to spend time in the nicer rooms. When I proposed the idea of a basement makeover, I didn't get a very positive response. What I think he wanted to say was, "This isn't good enough?" Eventually I made him realize that spending a few hundred dollars was worth it to make it more of a family room and less like a first apartment.

So away we went to IKEA. We had a few ideas of what we wanted, but we ended up getting something different entirely. What we got turned out perfectly. It took a whole day to put it together and install the shelving and entertainment center, but we had a little help from Jackson, so that was good!

Here is the finished basement. Since I took these pictures I got some side tables at a moving sale ($5 each!) and painted them, but alas they have not made it into the pictures yet! Maybe one day.

This is at the bottom of the stairs.



Here are the new bookshelves and entertainment center. So much storage!


This is the coffee, oops I mean train table and sofa. We added the lights above the tables. We also now have red pillows on the sofa. Also please overlook the ironing board that is up. Yes, it is usually there! Nope I just didn't see it when I took the pictures!


Here is a frame that I put some of may favorite pictures in and made a collage. Love the frame.


This is my sweatshop, aka The Pink Dogwood.


If you come visit us, you can see all this and more, in person!