We're busy with baby photo shoots

The Patio

This has been done for about a year and a half but never added to the blog. It's a stamped concrete patio and we extended it a bit to give us more room.

Basement fireplace is done.

Ta-da! Still trying to decide what we're going to do on the sides. We were going to put in glass doors because we need access to that one side but the doors we wanted would run us $500, so we're discussing. I think shelves would look great but we need a way to get to those pipes. Any suggestions?

The stone tile was bought at Tile Outlet in Chicago. ~$180 for the whole project.

Stairs have carpet now

We used this carpet that had the padding already attached to it and just glued it down. Three hour project but not easy on the stairs but much better than having to call 800-588-2300.

Fireplace part deux...

This is an electrical fireplace to give us some extra warmth in the basement.

Basement Progress

Flooring is just about done. It's Allure Country Pine from Home Depot. It's a laminate but looks similar to wood. The reason we chose it is because it's waterproof, just in case we'd get water in the basement at some point.

It went in pretty easily. Had to heat each piece with a hair dryer to make the glue stick better and you just cut it with a razor blade. Pretty easy. It took about four full days to do this - there's about 750 square feet here.

Utility Room is Done

We can't find a before shot of this but it's done. This is the entry from the garage and right off the foyer. New tile floor, re-finished the cabinets and added glass panels, new backsplash, new sink and created a pantry.

Paint is done in the basement

The paint is Behr Granite Boulder. It's much more grey in person than it appears here. We did the ceilings too but no one ever notices that.



Notice all the baseboard, casement and crown that also needed to be painted. Ugh. Lots of painting.

Finishing the Basement

I'm not sure why it's called finishing when it wasn't really started at all. I digress.

We've started work on the basement. And by "we" I mean we hired out the framing, drywall and electrical work. Very smart move.

Here are the befores:





More to come...

Took a little break

To have a baby. Work slowed down a bit and that's why I haven't posted here in almost a year. She's just about ready to earn her keep and help us paint.