Basement Remodel

When I bought my house my basement looked like a typical basement. And by that I mean dark (there are no windows, therefore no natural lighting) and frankly not fun to hang out in. There was pine paneling on the walls and carpet on the floor. Seriously. Carpet. In a basement. BAD IDEA. Here's the before. Excuse the mess!

See what I mean? Even without the mess, the paneling just wasn't doing anything for the place. Neither was the carpet. Sure, the light refelected off of the paneling a bit, but I wouldn't even call that a redeeming quality. Now, since I don't have the money in my budget to tear down the paneling and put up sheetrock I had to come up with another idea. Money saving solution? Paint the paneling!

First things first, that carpet had to go. I ripped it up one day during the summer when I just couldn't stand to look at it anymore! Next I primered the walls with Kilz. If you've never used it before be warned, it smells to high heaven!! Then I painted the newly primered paneling a pale yellow. The exact shade is called "Banana Cream Pie" (It's either Glidden or Behr).

Moving on to the floors, I rescued some laminate from a house my cousin had purchased. He was putting in new flooring and asked if I'd like the old.  I had the good fortune to find the exact same product at a discount flooring store. Then I enlisted the help of a good friend with the installation of the laminate flooring. It took us a day to do the large room. We still need to put up the baseboards but it is completed enough that I thought a reveal was in order.

Doesn't even look like the same room does it? I even had someone ask if I had put in new lights. There really is that much of a difference. I'm super pleased with the results.

I've also been working on the basement stairs, which were also covered with carpet, and will reveal their makeover soon. Plus, there are a few projects sitting in that before picture that I'll also be working on in the next few weeks.

Here's a video of my cat Penny chasing after a ball of painters tape. Apparently, the new floor is slick :)