The basement

We decided to finish our basement!  Our family spends so much time down there we decided it would nice to have it finished and really enjoy the space.  So I talked to people who have finished their basements, checked out some do it yourself books from the library, and drew up a plan.  Jeff's work schedule keeps him pretty busy most of the time, so I was assigned to learn how to do everything and then tell Jeff what to do.(Neither of us know anything about construction.)

With all the foreseen work looming over us, Jeff started to wonder how much more it would be to pay someone else finish the basement for us.  So we got a couple bids.  One company we were really impressed with and gave us a really good price, so they got the job. And now our lives over the next while will be a lot less stressful!

Here is our final floorplan:

On Monday the framers came and did 80-90% of the framing.  It was amazing how fast they framed everything!

Tuesday morning the framers came and finished the rest of the details like the nitches for the tv and component center and the doorway and window for the kids play area under the stairs.

The plumbers also came on Tuesday and did the rough in plumbing for the bathroom and installed the shower.

The electrictians were here Wednesday morning to wire everything.

The ac/heating guys came Wednesday afternoon and put in the vents.

And I got to sit back and let them do all the work.  Everytime I was down there as they were working, I would think, I am so glad we are not doing this ourselves!  Everything is way over our head and foreign to us.  It would be like trying to teach oursleves Chinese. 

They said the basement will be finished within 4 weeks of the starting date (much better than the 6 to 7 to I-don't-know-how-many-months it would take us to do it all.)  I am so happy we hired someone else to do our basement, and am so excited to see the finished product in 3 1/2 weeks!!