This series will be one that is very near and dear to my heart. We are finishing part of our basement to make a playroom.  Glory be!

This is an itch I’ve wanted to scratch for several years. Our littles are adorable, but let’s face it, the colony of large plastic toys that magically appear and somehow multiply in baby and toddler-occupied households is *quite* hideous.  When we first purchased our home, I did not exactly have visions of a train table inhabiting a third of our living room.  The kiddie play kitchen is nearly the size of the kitchen in my first Hoboken apartment, and after three years, the sight of it is starting to burn holes in my retina.

My arch-nemesis:

So as the cooler air rushes in, and the leaves are blowing all around, my thoughts turn to….indoor play for the kiddos. All.winter.long.  Gulp.

Time to get cracking on this project!

Step One: Making a Plan.

We made a list of our wants and needs.  And then checked it twice, against our planned budget.  And then adjusted the list from there ?

A quick check on numbers.  Estimates are that in our area, basement remodels will generally recoup anywhere from 60-70% of cost to resale value.  This means that for every $1000 spent, you can expect your home value to increase by $600-700.  (You can check your numbers here ).  Not bad, and since we have a burning desire to get this project done, it’s a win.

After several rounds, we’ve decided that our main goal for this project is simply to have a well- lighted, heated space that the kids can use to run amok during the long cold winter, and on rainy days.  And for the love of god, get that train table and play kitchen out of my living room!

Google searches for “unfinished finished basement” and some semi-obsessive pinning on Pinterest gave me inspiration:

Here are some ideas:

Unfinished:  We are choosing to keep the ceilings open as we plan to do some additional renovations in the future, and wouldn’t make sense to enclose the ceilings right now.  We will not be insulating or sheet rocking the walls, since the basement is underground and already naturally insulated.  If down the road we feel it’s too difficult to maintain a comfortable temperature, that work can always be done.

Finished:  We will add electric baseboards for heating, and, for lighting, install 8-10 highhats in the ceiling.  We will be walling off the utilities, and storage/laundry areas for safety (though I eventually plan to teach my little darlings how doing laundry is a great, fun game!)  We are choosing a soft flooring that can withstand alot of abuse, a foam tile that can be easily taken up and replaced should it get damaged.

Down the road, we may decide to make it a more formal living space, but for now, heat, light, painting, soft flooring, and enclosing utilities are the basics.

While time (and budget) will tell if this will be our final product, this is what we’re working toward.

Plans, check. Now time to do some work!

Step Two: Clearing out the junk.

Somehow, our basement now looks like this:

And this:

In the words of Ron Burgundy, that escalated quickly!  How did that happen?  We have boxes of who-knows-what that were moved into the house eight years ago and never unpacked.  Followed by heaps of discarded baby gear and toys that were unceremoniously piled on the basement floor once their services were no longer required.

On the plus side, in the process of sorting through all this STUFF, we’ve discovered we own approximately 6,000 gift bags, so we should be set for the next millennium of gift-giving.

It’s been a long, slow process but we are making headway.  And sneaking out all the old baby toys after the kids are asleep, lest they become re-attached to some toy they have not laid eyes on in over a year. ?

In the next installment of the series, we will be kicking off the start of work, and I’ll report on how work is progressing against our plan.  Stay tuned!

Have you recently finished your basement? What were your biggest surprises, and challenges?  Were you happy with the end result? Was it worth it? Add a comment and let us know!