Must..Finish..Basement

For those that didn't know, Erin and I moved into a new house at the end of 2005. Though I think we wouldn't have admitted it at the time, this was probably our first admission to each other that kids were on the brain (our public announced reason: closer commute for Erin).

It's a lovely house and we're still thrilled with it. One of the great features was a nice wide-open unfinished basement. There is plenty of room for a home theater area, a pool table, even a separate workshop for wood-working and the like.

In a fit of pure stinginess, combined with a good dose of do-it-yourself-ness, I decided to tackle finishing the area myself. Now, this might be a good time to ask, "Gosh, Ben, have you ever done any construction work before? Or even watched a video, or read a book, or had any encounter with anything remotely involving using sharp power tools?", to which my natural response would be, "Of course not, but how hard could it be?".

I started framing at the end of March, with the assistance of my mother and stepfather, whom I am eternally gratefuly for showing me, to use a bad metaphor, how to "start the car and put it in drive". We completed two solid walls in the first weekend, and I was well on my way... Of course, we all know what happened next, then there was travelling to Hawaii for my sister's wedding, then another trip, and bam! All of a sudden it was August, and well, three and a half walls were now completed (our of probably 9). This wasn't good! It's my heart-felt belief that if this basement ain't done by January, it won't be done for five years. Erin's belly put me back into drive again.

To put a cap on this journey, much progress was made in the last two months. I completed the framing, had the whole thing wired, made some adjustments to the plumbing, and made the wisest decision of the whole process: hiring out the drywall work. In a week and a half, the company I hired hung, taped, and sanded around 1000 sq. ft. of wall space, plus the ceiling. Painting now begins, and if I don't run out of money, maybe we'll even get the cabinets in.

I'll throw up a link to some pictures of the space once I get in and actually take some pictures of the space.