Basement Progress

2015 is going to be the Year of the Basement. At least at this house. For so long our finished basement has been this kind of creepy place that we pass through to get to the laundry room, if you can call it that. The laundry room is really just the unfinished basement where the washer and dryer are. I would give anything to have the washer and dryer upstairs, but that's another story.
So the reason for the renewed interest in the basement (I started planning back here) is that I want to get this set up as my craft area. I'm going to be doing all my printmaking down here along with sewing and general crafty and DIY projects. I had been doing my printmaking upstairs in the guest room, but it was always a little inconvenient trying to get my tools rinsed and dried in the upstairs bathroom. I'm also going to be doing some linocuts with oil based inks which could get a little messy. The utility sink right through that door on the left will be great for cleaning up.
After about 9 months of putting a little money aside here and there, I finally saved enough for flooring. In addition to the 9 months I was saving, I spent about 2 years going over pretty much every type of flooring option available. Hardwood and laminate were ruled out early on because even a little water leak could cause serious damage. Tile seemed too cold. Linoleum (not laminate) was an option, but the cost was just too high. This space is nearly 350 square feet and linoleum would have cost about $2,000, which is a lot more than I could spend. I did a post on linoleum flooring a couple of years ago. There are a ton of modern options and I may consider it down the road for the laundry room.
So the winner ended up being vinyl plank flooring from Home Depot. I chose TrafficMaster Allure in Cherry because it looked the most realistic and love the look of light walls with a dark floor.

I'm so glad we didn't go with some of the cheaper vinyl flooring options which, I'll admit, was tempting. This one wasn't too terribly expensive (about $2 a square foot), but it looks and feels pretty good.
The basement is already feeling a lot more inviting. 

I put up some Ikea shelves yesterday, which I'll paint the same color as the wall. 
I've also got to get that mattress covered and looking more like a daybed. Then there are about a dozen other things on my decorating and organizing list. 

So I'm off to do some painting. I'll leave you with a shot of what the basement used to look like. It definitely got worse before it got better. Improvements so far: yucky carpet removed, walls painted Behr Popped Corn, new flooring down, window films in place, stairs stenciled, chalkboard wall painted, some furniture and shelving mostly in place. 

Comments

Unknown said…
Looking good. Love the floor!
Vanessa said…
Thank you! I was a little nervous about going with vinyl, but I love it.

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