I’m as surprised as you are that we’re knee deep in a basement remodel. It sort of just happened. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ Thanks football season, for spurring Joe on to set up his movie screen. (Shoutout to the Vikings!) We’ve actually been dreaming this room up for, well, since we moved in. We got a head start on the bigger parts of the project this month and will probably wrap things up in the winter. We’re excited to take you guys through our big renovation!
Plans for the Movie Room
Maybe I should back up like 12 steps first. Here are a couple before pictures from our house before we even moved in. Since then it’s been pretty bare and we haven’t used it for anything much besides storage and a pathway to get to the laundry room and bathroom.
I did manage to whitewash the fireplace already, which was a super easy task.
In a nutshell, there’s a lot of room for improvement.
To be clear, we do have something of a plan. Although it’s already changed so much from what I envisioned at first. In a good way! We don’t like to plan every little detail before starting, instead we like to figure it out as we go. Kind of like a very sweaty and messy vacation… We think it’s best to let our ideas evolve and adapt to the room, and some of our best solutions come from working together and challenging each other’s first attempts. Two heads are better than one, and we look forward to your thoughts too!
Designing in SketchUp
One thing we like to plan is a tentative timeline, budget and the bucket list items we want for a space. Things that help us are lists, drawings and Pinterest dream boards. Also, Joe loves messing around in SketchUp. It’s used by a lot of professionals, so he feels pretty cool drawing up floor plans for all the rooms in our house.
Here’s the layout. We want to put a sliding barn door where that big green opening currently is. The white door is the door to our downstairs bathroom. Bookshelves will be on the back wall where those two ledges are now. The grand daddy movie screen goes front and center. (You’re actually seeing the screen right now up on the screen, within your screen. Oooh)
Here’s an aerial view.
The List of Projects
- Paint walls
- Replace carpet with hardwood floors
- Sliding barn door
Whitewash fireplace- Built-in bookshelves
- Entertainment area
- Movie screen, speakers + projector
- Ceiling
- Window treatments
- Lighting
- Base moulding
- Mantle upgrade?
- Furniture + area rug
- Decorate
- A few surprises
Summer is now over, so we’re back at the indoor projects. We’ll try to keep you regularly posted as we move through our basement remodel. Although, I plan on taking a lot of crafting breaks over the next few months of holidays – so everyone’s clear on my priorities. Gotta get my craft on. Things don’t always go according to plan, but that’s the fun of it. We hope you check in to see what we’ve got brewing up. It’s gonna be a good one!
