Drywall!

Here they are, the first photos of the beautiful drywall hanging in our basement.  It may not look like much more than a mess to most people, but Kevin and I think it is completely fantastic.  We (that's the we that means my husband) has done SO MUCH work down there to get us to this point.  Let me tell you, he basically figured out how to frame, wire and plumb the space just because he thought he could.  And he was right! 
Check this out!  We have walls!!  We decided to hire out the drywall mostly because of John's asthma.  By hiring a company to do it, it has gone much faster and they make their dust during the day while John is at school.  OK, drywall guys aren't that concerned about making a mess, and they leave McDonald's cups in your precious basement.  But try to look past that and enjoy.
This first photo is the staircase and the door to the storage room.  When we started the project, the staircase had walls going all the way to the floor on both sides.  I wanted to open it up as much as we could, so at Nick J.'s suggestion we hired a structural engineer to come out and take a look at it.  He told us that we could safely remove the wall to expose 4 steps.  Kevin and Jake reinforced the overhead structural beams to redistribute the weight, and then removed part of the wall.  The stairs will be dark walnut stained wood steps with white risers when they are finished.

Here's what you see when you come down the stairs.  It is really going to be a giant, open space for the kids (and adults!) to play.  That opening in the back is going to be a closet for games, art supplies, costumes, all kinds of fun stuff.  All of the electronic stuff will be in there too - Kevin ran a tube in the ceiling to connect the TiVo, Wii, Blu-Ray, etc. in the closet to the TV without any wires or boxes showing.  Isn't he smart?

Here I am standing in the corner by the window, so you are looking in the opposite direction from the last photo.  You can see the GIANT space in the wall for the built-in flat screen TV.  Hey, when a man builds you a basement, you let him pick the size of the TV.  Agreed?
You can also see how the staircase looks with part of the wall removed, I really think it opens up the space a lot.  We had one soffit to deal with, you can see it in these last two photos, but it was really no problem.  The ceilings are nice and high so the soffit was no big deal.

Here's the rest of the space.  It makes an "L" shape.  So, now you are looking down the other leg of the "L."  At the end will be a kitchenette.  We will have a pantry (I have always wanted someplace to store John's bulk allergy-friendly foods other than the basement floor), a second refridgerator, a sink, a couple of bottom cabinets and a little countertop space for a microwave.  The goal is for the kids to have a place to hang out, make popcorn and have sodas with their friends, watch movies, etc. where I can keep an eye on them!  OK, OK, so maybe the adults will have some fun down here too.  (Our original plan included a hot tub no joke.  We quickly nixed that.)  You can see the bathroom door on the right.

Finally, here is the little bathroom, there is a full tub w/shower, you can see where the toilet and vanity will go and there's still plenty of space to get dressed and put a bag or suitcase.  Our other goal for the basement space was to have a place where guests could stay and have some privacy.  With this configuration, someone could have breakfast, get showered, and watch a little TV before coming upstairs.  It also gives us more flexibility with our early-waking children, meaning our guests don't have to wake up as soon as the kids start making noise at 6 AM.

More updates soon!  We hope to start priming and painting this weekend.  Give us a couple more months and we'll start taking reservations!  Ha ha!