While I was upstairs, ripping out the wall-to-wall carpet, the drywall crew was downstairs turning the basement spaces back into rooms. It’s very exciting to see the work progressing.
Here’s how its changed over time
Check out the view of this basement bedroom corner from its original faux-wood paneled and oil-tank-enclosing state to now:
I’m delighted with the way the room-wrapping soffits have come out. They reduce the prominence of the necessary duct enclosure and help bounce light from the new window further into the room. I just want to move downstairs into the cool … but since dad is holding the shop-vac hostage its … a little dusty.
The den is slightly dimmer with just two small windows but its very satisfying to see it start to come together also. I’ll be re-facing the low cabinets and building back in full height storage to enclose the plumbing drop from the floor above. Everything will seem a little brighter when we get the can lights wired in.
Looking back north, the space for the wet bar is much more defined now and I am so happy with how the soffit turns down into the wall corner there.
Having all the walls white makes the knotty pine panelling of the stairwell all the dramatic. The wood tone (and knots) are not long for this world – I’ll be painting it all wall-colored when we get to the painting.
Next steps: Choose paint colors and get to painting!
I’m still deciding what I want to do with the paint. The ceiling will be white (naturally) as will the trim and built-ins. I’ll go with a very light grey for the walls. The question is if I should treat the soffits as wall or ceiling. Normally I’d say more ceiling white is better but with this low height wall height I might go the other way.
Here are two views, photoshopped in two ways:
Anyone got a vote?