Full basement renovation is complete! (Enough...) Cost breakdown!

12.06.2023

Full basement renovation is complete! (Enough...) Cost breakdown!

Many months ago I shared about our basement renovation plans (here). A 1,100 SF basically unfinished, yucky, cobwebby basement that we, for the first time ever, hired out most of the work to finish to modern standards and add a bathroom to. We finished parts of it (bathroom, guest bedroom), but then began our separation and divorce and plans changed, including our use of the basement for a while. 

Now, the basement is basically done, except for some finishing things like paint touch-ups and cleaning up the windows. It's partially in use as a playroom, plus storage, laundry room, furnace room, and lots of storage for my former brother-in-law's stuff. It's not fully presentation-ready but I've had some questions from followers and even neighbors about the cost and extent of the project and wanted to have everything documented!

Historic house full basement remodel cost and updates

You can see the full before pics and budget here, though that doesn't include everything. You can see my updates in this Instagram story highlight too!

The first thing we did was the earthquake retrofitting (bolting the frame of the house to the concrete foundation), a step necessary on the west coast for older homes not built to current seismic codes. 

Then came framing the new walls, bathroom work (that post links the progress posts for the bathroom), and drywall. We painted it ourselves which was an awful experience due to the personal stress I had going on at the time... and there is still touch-up to do! But it's done.

The wall paint color is SW 6227 Meditative by Sherwin-Williams and the trim is a couple shades darker, SW 6228 Refuge. The ceiling is SW 7008 Alabaster (like the white walls, ceilings, and trim in the rest of the house).

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I painted my bedroom pink!

11.19.2023

I painted my bedroom pink!

I've been wishing for some updates for my bedroom for quite a while now. I felt too lazy to paint but the white walls were getting reeeeally boring. I redid this room from 2021-2022 and called it done here. It was fine, but minimal (just, with antiques). Since that reveal I've gone through a separation and then divorce and now the room is solely mine, so all the more reason for a feminine update!

I'm still working on some big changes in here, but I debated so much over the paint color and ended up mixing it myself and getting it color matched, so wanted to document that here at least! And you can see what a change paint and 2 hours of work on a Sunday did.

Pale peachy pink bedroom makeover

I wanted a pink, except those all felt too pink or blue, but a peach felt too 90's. I wanted really pale, though. Adding color to walls is still relatively new to me (my past few room projects have involved colored walls, but always smaller rooms!) and lighter felt more versatile. I got some muddy pink paint cards and chose two and got sample pots at 50% strength. They were still way more saturated than I wanted! I added white paint I had and played around. I added some warm yellow-brown to the pinks (and more white) and made my own color!

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Downstairs guest room/office REVEAL!

6.05.2023

Downstairs guest room/office REVEAL!

Another room done! I haven't had a guest room in years so this one feels very luxurious (even though it doubles as my work from home office squeezed onto one wall). We've had a few room shuffles since we finished the basement, then Jason moved out, then etc. other changes, but things are getting cleaned up and I have this whole glorious, light-filled room on the main floor to decorate and use.

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Wallpaper in the dining room! Just what it needed

4.28.2023

Wallpaper in the dining room! Just what it needed

 I'm working on the dining room this spring. New chairs, new rug, different gallery wall, working on replacing the dining table and finding a permanent replacement for the chandelier. The dining room was the first room I "finished" in this house in 2018-2019 and aside from changing the rug a couple times and adding to the sideboards, it was still that "modern traditional" look I was doing here at first and not my current style. 

The new chairs, rug, etc. helped but it was still looking really plain. We have the original wood trim in here and I struggle with what paint colors would look good with it, but am also not planning to paint it. So... how to add more interest? Wallpaper!!

Thanks to Brewster for providing this wallpaper for my review.

I have some patterned curtains in here that I love, so wanted either a very small pattern or just a texture that wouldn't compete. I found this sort of grasscloth-ey, super durable, fabric backed vinyl textured wallpaper from Brewster.

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How to recover a curved, nailhead headboard - tutorial!

1.17.2023

How to recover a curved, nailhead headboard - tutorial!

I wanted a really unique, cool headboard for my One Room Challenge guest room but I wasn't prepared for a full-on from-scratch plywood etc. DIY headboard. I found a curved headboard with nailhead trim (not my favorite) for $10 on Facebook Marketplace and recovered it with a beautiful fabric, and found a great solution for covering up the nailhead trim. I didn't even have to remove it! Easy tutorial here!

DIY recovered curved headboard tutorial

You will need:

• Headboard
• Fabric (plan to run the fabric vertically, so enough for the width and height of the headboard plus 6"+ on each side--I had to use two widths of my 53" wide fabric for my full/queen headboard)
• Optional/if your headboard is dark and your fabric is light: white spray paint
• Spray adhesive
• Staple gun and staples
• High heat hot glue gun and glue
• Piping cord (or, I used macrame cord since I liked the size better)
• Zipper foot
• Or, for simpler/no sewing, contrast trim!
• Standard sewing tools

Instructions:

1. Measure out and dry fit the fabric. I had to piece mine so I chose how I wanted to center the pattern on the headboard.

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2023 house project goals

1.06.2023

2023 house project goals

As I mentioned in my 2022 house project recap post, this house is in a good spot and I've learned I need to focus more on myself in 2023. So I have some goals for myself (take 3 fun vacations with friends, get my tattoos removed, learn to make cocktails), and the house stuff will have to fit into the happier lifestyle I'm trying to create for myself. 

Part of that means hiring out some projects when I'm able. Partly that will also mean making small changes when they feel fun, like adding pieces that represent the style I've been working on identifying this past year. 

Fixer upper renovation project goals for 2023

Exterior

I had this on my list last year but talked myself out of it... I want to paint the brick. I've gone back and forth a lot on this one and it's a harder choice since this is a somewhat historic house (1937), but... the bricks and mortar are not in good shape and cleaning them has not been successful. I need to tuck point/re-mortar in places and then I'd like to have all of the brick painted the same color as the siding. I think it will really clean up the look of the front and give the house a less shabby feel overall.

In the backyard, I hope to get it cleaned up (ended up storing a lot of garden stuff for various reasons) and hopefully remove the garden area, just make it lawn.

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2022 home project recap

1.02.2023

2022 home project recap

I majorly paused home projects and blogging and Instagramming in 2022 due to an unexpected divorce (hard) and finally learning to take care of myself and choose fun and rest over needless productivity (good). We moved into this house in July of 2018 and have been working on it since, with not a lot of breaks. It's currently very comfortable and adequate, with a few unfinished or under-improved areas, but I am so grateful for it as it is, a wonderful home for me and my children.

I did get several fun projects done this year (somehow), though. Here they are.

2022 Tudor revival home projects

Here's my list of house project goals for 2022. I definitely did not do all of those... but I did a good job of picking the highest priority/most important to me ones.

Exterior

The biggest deal thing on the exterior this year was replacing the front window. Read about that here. Very expensive, long lead time, kind of sad on an old house, but very much needed! So glad I did that.

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Moody English-inspired basement guest bedroom REVEAL! + costs and sources

11.19.2022

Moody English-inspired basement guest bedroom REVEAL! + costs and sources

Hooray, my One Room Challenge is done! I 100% did not have time or capacity to do this project (hence the lack of blog posts long the way, unlike how I've done my previous ORCs) but I have to say it turned out great and I'm so glad I did it!!

Moody English-inspired basement guest bedroom

This room is part of my big basement renovation which unfortunately is still not 100% done--though now this room is, as is the bathroom right next to it (my spring One Room Challenge--reveal here). Most of the work in this room was done earlier this year, and a lot of it by the electrician, drywall team, etc. who did the rest of the basement, but still--huge transformation! 

See the before/inspiration post in Week 1 of the ORC here. 

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Historic home statement front window replacement

10.25.2022

Historic home statement front window replacement

One super prominent feature of this home is its long living room with (approx.) 7'x7' window at the front. It lets in tons of sun in the morning (it faces east) and a good amount of light most of the time. It's a great!! But it had a lot of issues. Almost all the windows on my 1937 home are original wood windows, including some leaded glass ones. They are very cool and help the house keep its original character. But this window was failing in several ways. 

When we first bought the house this window was on the long list of overwhelming expensive projects/updates, and it fell to near the bottom of the list. But now with two kids and using the space in front of the window for their playmat and climber, and with a lot of other projects crossed off, it felt like it really needed to happen. 

Take a look... leaded glass panes including four fins in the middle, which were no longer welded together. At the top someone had tried to secure them with wood and screws, but the glass literally moved when you pushed on it slightly, and rattled in strong wind. There was also a lot of water damage on the sill and floor below. (And cat hair--but hard to dust with the varnish worn off from water damage!)

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