A proper basement update

Lots has been happening in our basement this past winter.  That’s really an understatement.  Sam has literally been burning the candle at both ends, working all day and camp, then heading to work in the basement after the kids go to bed till the wee hours of the early morning.  Even through set-backs, frustrations, and exhaustion, we see that God has shown His favor and blessing in the progress.  It has not been an easy road, and certainly any family that has done any kind of major house remodeling knows the sacrifice and toll it can take on a family.  However, we are learning and continuing to seek what God has through it.  We are trusting that God knows our needs and our prayer is for the basement to be done in time before the baby comes so that we can move the other two munchkins into their new bedroom downstairs, and have a guest bedroom for family/guests, as well as a finished laundry room, bathroom, and family room. 

I’ll just smatter this post with a bunch of pictures and try to fill in the gaps. 

A huge load from Menards was deliver last fall to get us through the the winter with enough supplies for major progress. 

Will, a friend of ours, fellow staff member, and electrician by trade helped update our ancient fuse box with a fully updated electrical panel

Installing the panel

An enormous amount of time and effort on Sam’s part this winter was spent on correcting, replacing and re-routing plumbing for the bath and laundry areas.  This was not for the faint of heart I tell you!  He pressed on though and God blessed his work. 

Here, Sam is filling in around an old opening where the previous shower was. 

Leveling and installing the new bath/shower (this will be our first bathtub in the house!)

Phase two moved us on to the building of the new stairs. Yes, that’s right.  We’re crazy (or really efficient with space:), and tore out the old stairs and built a new set in a much more space efficient place. 

Sam beings cutting the hole for the placement of the new stairs.

The new stairs are built after lots of measuring, cutting, checking, and re-measuring!  I am so proud of Sam for his accomplishment on these stairs…they turned out so nice and exactly how we wanted them.

They are not quite what you’d call ‘spiral’ but certainly have a spiral feel to them, just giving them a little more space on the stair frame themselves.

This post would not be proper without the mentioning of Sam’s parents and all they’ve invested this past year.  Sam’s dad came up two different times in the past two months and accomplished a crazy amazing amount of work. 

Sam’s dad Randy came and tore into the old staircase and an old remaining wall.  He also ran tons of electrical for us, framed up the remaining walls needed, and probably dozens of other little (big!) things that I don’t realize:)

This past week Sam used some vacation days to really hit the drywall hard.  We were blessed and encouraged with the help of many friends who endured some late nights with Sam.  The following are pictures of where we are at now - drywall completed, and pretty much ready for the mudding/taping process.

The view as you come down from the stairs - family room, (no lights have been installed yet so these obviously won’t be the best pictures:)

Tava and daddy….the kids are going to love their new space…..I think!

View from the other corner of the family room

Not a great angle, but here’s the laundry room just as you come around the corner from the stairs.

Guest room

Kids’ room (yep that’s the glow of a grow light on our little garden sprouts…can’t forget about the garden in all of this chaos:)

One of two sump pumps that we have in the basement.  This one will be behind a locked door, under the staircase.  Sam ran new pipes for this and other sump pump for efficient drainage.  He’s amazing.

Another view facing the staircase. 

There you have it for now!  Sam will be tackling the tedious next step of mudding next, with the hope of painting in May!  I’m just slightly paralyzed by the thought of picking out paint colors for all of these rooms - but am trying to have fun with it. 

Thanks for reading!