Our Other Home

Pin It Or in other words, our finished basement. :)  It's like a whole 'nother house down there!  And about 1900 square feet of more space to clean.  But let me tell you, it is everything I dreamed of and more.  We were constantly in each other's space, toys and messes spread everywhere, and every morning before school I had to listen to three kids fighting over one sink in the bathroom, and then a mad mama because they woke up the baby!

Since the finished basement, I don't hear a peep from the kids in the morning until they come up for breakfast, Kinlee is finally sleeping through the night because she isn't sharing a room with her big brother, and all the toys went downstairs.  Half the time, I have no idea what the basement even looks like, I just shut the door and don't have to worry about it.  There is less competing for space and less arguing over who made what mess.  We now even have an extra room for guests and all of my unfinished projects.  It is wonderful!

I am so impressed with my hubby, he finished the basement almost entirely on his own, while also in the Executive MBA program at UW and while getting promoted to Vice President at Wyotech.  He was the framer, plumber, electrician, painter, drywall hanger, finished carpenter, mason, tile installer, etc.  His work load is not for the weary, he is by far the busiest person I know.  He said that this basement project was his release and hobby, but we are both soooo glad it's finally done!

Here is the view coming from the stairs:

The paint color is looking more green for some reason than in real life.  It is a "Greige," combination of grey and beige.  I prefer stone with mortar, ledge-stone and white carpentry.   

View of the door to the stairs and sliding closet:

Look at the pretty lights. :)  All of our moldings, carpet, doors, and fireplace match the upstairs.  I wanted to make sure the basement felt part of the house and not an afterthought.

I have many ideas for that little playroom closet:

But for now, it's just a place we stuff our toys.

View down the hallway.  To the right is the storage room, left is Averie's room, and other left is the bathroom.  Cale wanted me to wait until he had those light switches covered.  That's how much of a perfectionist he is!

Here's the guest/project room.  Lots of ideas swirling through my head!

Love the Daylight windows.

Kempton's perfectly clean room.:)  His closet looks identical to the guest room, only reversed.

Beachy bathroom, I had to have some of my California roots present somewhere in this house!

We split the vanity from the toilet/tub, as to avoid issues in the future with male/female teenagers.  The tile is much more grey than this picture shows.  

This pantry will come in handy when the kids get older!

Averie's room (a light greyish/purplish)

Her closet is huge, has another side as well.  

Cale and I balance each other out when it comes to building and designing.  He is practical and always looks for the functionality of a space.  He will veto much of my ideas because they just aren't functional nor practical.  When building our home, this worked out very well and we ended up with a product in the end that was hopefully both.  I tend to focus more on how things look (which is most of the time not practical for our situation with lots of kids).  Maybe someday I'll have a home that reflects the design that I love (but probably not, since what I desire most is for my kids and grandkids to come visit me! haha).  In the meantime, our home is super functional, practical, with a little beauty here and there.