Okay, Here’s Where I’ve Been
(Look, that’s me! Click here to view the whole gallery)
Once upon a time, there was a simple little man–there wasn’t much that he couldn’t do and accomplish great levels of mediocrity.
Right, right.
So we all know I’m talking about me.
Look, there’s not much I’d consider myself “Great” at; I’ve got so much room for improvement on so many levels that about the only thing I’d call myself great at is finding a smattering few people that are willing to tolerate it and allow to continue to become whatever it is I’m on the path for.
Okay, so that’s pretty cool.
A little over a year ago, while sharing a “suite” with a wife, daughter and 2 cats and working full time during the days and putting in evenings learning how to run wire in the soon-to-be-new-house of ours, I started trying to plan and figure out what I could do to help make our home have a bit more value–and permanence to it.
Daydreaming, perhaps, since a lot of it involved things like a bar, big screen tvs, dancing ladies and a pool table.
Yeah.
Daydreaming.
Sometime late last year–and I’ve got to think that it was possibly even early this year–a lot of materials and tools started to be purchased at Home Depot and Menards. No, seriouly–a lot. Not like “I spent $250!”, but like “Holy shit we’re remodeling our fracking basement!”.
Every month that I look at that statement, I get a little more sick to my stomach. Wisely, Tums were a big part of the purchases.
Through a lot of planning, mis-planning, making mistakes, learning and un-learning, a lot has happened.
Somehow, with the help of some true, great friends (and by help, I mean that there are many cases that I did more than a LOT of leaning on others to get things accomplished), a lot has happened:
- 1000 sq ft of basement has suddenly become usable.
- 1 full bathroom has been added (someday, someone will be able to shower in there, too!)
- 1 office has been added, and will eventually be MY office, but right now it’s just a “sitting room”–hey, who wants to relocate an office in the dead of winter? (someday, it’ll even be connected to the home network!)
- 1 hallway that leads to a bathroom, past a walk-in closet for storing, you know, everything has been added–and even lit up with real electrical lights!
- Somewhere along the lines of 850 sq ft of porcelein tile has been placed, fully mortared and grouted and nearly all of the very, very difficult angled and puncture cuts have been created by none other than yours truly (with much, much help from Nicolle!).
- The entire space has had a drop ceiling installed. And let me tell you, that’s one thing I never, never ever want to do again.
- There are 8 new speakers (2 of which will be outside, soon-ish).
- There are something like 15 “regular sized” can lights scattered throughout.
- There are 12 small can lights around the outside walls (they look pretty cool and were actually, finally worth the effort and blown light switch from a Russ-induced wiring malfunction).
- There’s nifty dimmers for all those fracking can lights to make the whole space have a “mood”.
- There is actually a dedicated server closet. /nerd
- There is a bar! And I actually built it myself!
- With a Kegerator! (currently loaded with Blue Moon!)
- That taps from the bar-level!
- And a mini-fridge with Red Bull in it!
- There’s a 50″ Panasonic Plasma well-mounted, with all the holes necessary to hide all the wires.
- There’s a Wii!
- There’s an XBox 360 thanks to Metsfan.
- There’s a 23″ Philips LCD corner mounted.
- And a second 23″ Philips LCD awaiting the behind-the-bar shelving unit.
- That’s right, 3 TVs that can all have the same, or different shows on them all at once. /guy
- There’s a boatload of heated mats under the tile, 2 of which currently need to be repaired, apparently, but it’s still hella cool. Or warm.
- ere’s also heated mats in the bathroom. Also hella… warm.
- There’s 2 MAME boxes, 1 of which needs its computer to be completed so they can both be working.
- There’s a dartboard waiting to be hung.
- There’s a utility room that has our heater, etc. in it, but also has a cat door so that Roughy can also make it his “business” room
. - There’s even vented heat / air.
- A whole slew of stained, 6-panel and 2-panel w/louvres oak doors, some of which serve only but to hide the mess behind them!
- Boxed-in doors & windows, with a nice stain.
- Some cool curtains and blinds that Nicolle picked out that really help round out the room.
Th
Of course, all of this stuff us on top of the drywall and studs and everything else out there. This has been 6-12 months of a lot of learning and whining and almost crying at times. It’s been far from a small expense, but being a contractor has allowed us to make it a lot less heavier than it would have been had we had to finance it all.
In the end, we’ve added so much more to our home, and it works nicely with our patio that we put in earlier in the year–and even better with the steps that lead up to the deck.
Our “home life” has become very, very well-rounded and our living space is quite accomodating for big boys with toys and little kids with toys and even just for “chilling out” in. It’s a nice place to be, and when I’m in it, I breathe easy and actually am able to remove myself from the rest of the world for a little while.
It’s a rare comfort to have, and we’re so very grateful for it. I’m pretty sure we’re eternally in the debt of others for all of their help, but I’m pretty sure we’re happy to repay it all.
And with that all being nearly completed, perhaps I’ll start to blog again.
Perhaps.
Thanks for hanging in there.