Finishing the Basement

I need to get back into the swing of things! It's been too long since I've posted & I'm way behind. Hopefully I can get caught up on some of the fun things we've done this summer. This is mostly for my own enjoyment and record keeping, so feel free to skim!

I honestly don't know where this summer has gone. It's been pure madness for me. The reality that summer is at an end nearly brings me to tears. . . Tears of sadness that all of the fun and adventure of summer is almost over, and tears of relief that all of the fun and adventure of summer is almost over. A girl can only take so much! I am SO looking forward to routine! We haven't had much of one all summer long, and I think everyone is ready for some structure.

One of the major things adding to my stress level this summer has been finishing the basement. About a month ago this is what it looked like:

After a day or two:

After a week:

After less than 3 weeks:

Let me tell you what, our builder knows how to move!

Really, I've been shocked at how quickly the work has gone in our basement. To say I was unprepared heading into this project would be an understatement. I thought it would take a couple of months to get to this point, and that I would be able to leisurely go out and shop for things like carpet, tile and paint. Well, not quite. From the first day Bob came to work, he was asking me to make decisions that I had not thought about yet. . . like the fireplace. Oh! That fireplace gave me serious heartburn! I had a vague idea of what I wanted, but I had no idea how to make it happen. I'm so glad my Mom came over to help me design it so that we were semi-ready for Bob when he came to finish the framing and sheet rock.

For a few weeks I ran around dragging my kids into random stores to pick out bathroom fixtures, lighting, door knobs and baseboards, and I can tell you right now, they are done! And unfortunately, so am I! Problem is, the basement is not! I think I burned myself out with little decisions like bathroom fixtures, and now I have no energy left for the big choices like cabinets and carpet. And the fireplace. Oh! The fireplace is still giving me heartburn! We could probably be finished by now if I had made all of these choices before we started construction, but there just was not time, and we wanted Bob to be able to finish his work before he went back to teaching in the fall. Anyway, so here we are. Waiting. Until I can make some decisions. At the rate I'm going, we might as well just haul a TV and a sofa down there now and call it good because it may be 20 years before I figure out what to put on the front of that stupid fireplace. At this point the 10,000+ choices that still need to be made are just too overwhelming. That said, I am super-excited about how everything has come together so far, and I can't wait to get this project behind me!

The evil fireplace: