We’re going to start a series of posts where we show the before and after throughout the house. It’s a good way of tying things up since we’re nearly done (thank goodness).
Last time we showed you the front of the house. Now let’s move to the basement.
The basement was partially finished when we bought the house. There were three finished rooms down there - an empty room, a bedroom for the main floor tenant, and a storage room. About 50% of the area down there was done…but not very nicely.
When we started our renos the basement got torn apart. Plumbing and electrical had to be accessed and changed and concrete had to be busted open to better support the open concept we were going for on the main floor. Here’s how things looked:
Once all of the electrical, plumbing, boiler, hot water and sewage lines were replaced we decided to finish the basement. We wanted a big playroom, storage room, tool room, spare bedroom and bathroom. It took us a long time to agree on a layout but we finally rolled the dice and we’re happy with the result. Here it is:
Next up…the backyard…
10 responses so far ↓
1 laurajane // Nov 14, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Looks great, I adore the after bathroom!
2 Sharon // Nov 19, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Beatiful … very open and a great use of space. It is amazing how you can’t even recognize the before. Congrats!
3 Kirk // Nov 19, 2009 at 7:17 pm
So nice of you to say Sharon, thanks. Your blog looks great as well.
Best. Kirk
4 FRECKLES CHICK // Dec 14, 2009 at 10:45 pm
The part I love the most is that it doesn’t have the “feel” of a basement, you know? With your choice of layout & the recessed lighting, it’s light, bright & airy! Amazing transformation!
(I’m especially enamored by the mix of marble mini’s mixed w/ the subway tiles in the shower. Beautiful.)
5 Kirk // Dec 15, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Thanks so much for the nice words. We purposely went with very light wood floors and white walls to ensure a bright and airy space. Usually we are suckers for dark, dark wood floors but in this case it felt wrong.
We’ve been really happy with the tiles in the shower. We were actually using leftover marble from the kitchen backsplash. It ended up working out really well.
6 sp // Jan 23, 2010 at 2:23 am
I have a question about your shower tiles. They are so beautiful. We are renovating our entire house and I found out today (after buying 5000 worth of tiles) that they can’t use glass mosaic tile over subway tile because the subway tile is thicker than the glass so it won’t be flush. Did you run into this problem? I would be SO greatful if you could let me know asap…..very confused over here
7 Kirk // Jan 30, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Hi SP
Sorry to hear the news! We didn’t have that problem so I’m not sure I can offer any advice. Sorry!
8 Toronto Basement Renovations // Feb 15, 2010 at 7:03 am
Fabulous Snaps! It is good-looking and well deliberated.
9 ashlee // Feb 22, 2010 at 3:52 am
oh my gosh! how did you get that tree on the wall in the playroom…? is that a decal of some sort, or was it handpainted?
10 Kirk // Feb 22, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Hi Ashlee
You’re 100% right - it’s a decal. I wish I could paint like that!
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