The Man Cave a.k.a. the basement

2011-04-23T18:54:00.000-05:00

I gave Bill only two rooms in the house: (1) the garage and (2) the basement. When we purchased the townhouse, the basement was completely unfinished. It was a complete mess of exposed pipes, wood and no drywall. We knew that this unsued space was perfect for Bill's man cave. Bill went to work installing a 7.1 surround sound system. Of course no surround sound is complete without the perfect TV. Before the basement was even started, Bill purchased 50" plasma Panasonic TV and a top of the line wireless blue ray player. A man's dream right.

The basement was already designed with plumbing if we wanted to add another bathroom. We figured it would cost way over our budget (roughly $5,000 more) to add a bathroom. Plus, why do we need another one. It is already hard enough for us to clean the ones we have. Instead, we opted for a wet-bar. It is a great space to entertain, play video games, watch movies, drink and relax.

Before:

We started this project in July 2010 and it took roughly 3 months to get it finished. We hired a local contractor, Don, who did 95% of the work. To save some money, we painted the room ourselves, added shelves to a small closet (which we removed from our master closet) and got Don to build us a custom made laminate counter-top for the bar. Don installed 9 recesses lights, 6 outlet boxes, all the drywall, hard wood laminate near the back door. and built another wall to hide the furnace and water pipes. The only thing Don did not do was the carpet installation.. We can thank Lowes for the great deal they gave us ($1100 with 6 inch pad).

Here are some progress pics:

We installed a raised platform in the wet-bar area. This was for two reasons. First, the raised platform will really define the space and make it separate from the recreation area. Secondly, the raised platform hides all the plumbing for a potential bathroom underneath. It was our thought if the next owners don't want a bar, they still have all the plumbing for a bathroom.

We also had to add a bulk head to cover up all the duct work. Our sprinklers had to be moved as well to keep it up to code ($300). These were all within our budget.

The easier part of the transformation was picking the color. Bill wanted a dark color because it will mainly be a movie room. I wanted something to make it a brighter space and welcoming. We compromised and picked a Valsper color called Tea Leaves which looks like a grayish green. It worked out really well.

The only other decorative imput I had was on the window treatments. We got all our window treatments from Lowes at reduced rates (because of local store sales). We ended up with white roman shades that block light. The back door doesn't have any place to mount a shade of anykind so we ended up with another DIY project. We bought a film opaque transparency sheet to cover up the window and still allow a little light to come through.

Look at this beautiful entrance to the backyard door

All we had left to do was put in our furniture, buy the mini- frige for the bar and start enjoying our room. Have a look at the final outcome.

After:

We were deciding for a long time what should go in the space between the bar cabinets. I thought a mirror would be a great bar effect, but we would have to make a custom one to fit the space.

We found a perfect piece to go in the space. Bill's alma mater Penn State football picutre found its home above the bar sink.

The basement now is ready to go. We are usually down here every night watching a movie. If only I could convince Bill that we could buy some different furniture for the room. I don't think he will budge on this one.

Sorry this pic is minus the Penn State photo.. its an old one.

The total for this room was around $13000. This is not including the furniture (free), posters ($60), TV and surround sound (a lot- Bill won't give me the numbers). But, because of the $8,000 first time home buyers tax credit, we only had to spend $5000 to have the basement built.

A REAL MAN'S GARAGE

2011-04-16T12:55:00.004-05:00

Yeah most people forget this is a real room, and mistake it for a dumping ground of lawn tools, gardening supplies and holiday knickknacks. We have made some vast improvements to get the garage up to par with the rest of the house. Now its functional and we have added a ton of usable storage.

Before:

Now we have added white paint to all the walls. Bill spent another weekend sealing the concrete floor.

The last couple of weekends, Bill has bought more tools to build his own work bench (for more projects). The work bench would not have happened if it wasn't for the KREGG Jig. By far the best tool in the business to create easy pocket joints to join pieces of wood together. After seeing John and Sherry use one on their website Young House Love, we had to get it. Look how cool this tool is:

This workbench is Bill's pride and joy. With lots of love, we built the frame, spray painted it and even changed up the design to add a bottom shelf to it.

Even I got in on the action. I look like a pro with my dusk mask on. Yeah I am wearing a very ridicolous sweatshirt (Don't Judge).

This is the work bench with about 2 layers of black spray paint. Bill wanted both workbenches to match (how cute).

I know the suspense has been killing you. Here is the one part of the garage. There is still some work to do alongside the other two walls. Hint: (1) Cabinet for recyclables; (2) bike rakes, (3) Hose hook. Next weeks agenda once Bill comes back from Wisconsin.

After:

Townhouse Dream

The Man Cave a.k.a. the basement

A REAL MAN'S GARAGE