I'm sort of glad I forgot (neglected) to take any before pics of our basement, er, well, before we moved all the crap out to the garage and our reno guy got started. It looked a LOT uglier down there several days before these were taken.
This first one was taken from the bottom of our steps leading into the basement. You can see how there's a whole bunch of new framing already in place. The lights are a temporary measure because it was too dark down there before for the reno guy to work. (Henceforth I will refer to him as Phillip, because that's really his name. Amy and I have wondered if we can call him Phil, but we haven't bothered to ask and have continued calling him Phillip. Frankly, he strikes me as more of a Phillip, so I'm fine with leaving it at that. If I remember to ask him before he's done, I'll be sure to let y'all know what the verdict is.)
To the right of this shot is the furnace / water softener / storage / deep-freeze room. It's the only room in the basement that will remain essentially untouched during the renovation. To the left and behind this shot was what was affectionately referred to as "the poop room". This is because when our beloved Jack Russell, Jango Fett, was a puppy, he would flee downstairs to use the room as his personal lavatory. Needless to say, when he was finally house broken, this room got a thorough cleaning and it's been used only for storage since.
Interestingly, on the wall way up ahead to the right, the removal of the crappy chip-board from the old framing revealed some worn posters that had been glued directly to the concrete. A couple of Edmonton Eskimos football posters (from the 1950s era or so) and an Olympic sprinting poster from some Canadian come-from-behind victory in 1930-something. Also, an artist's rendition of the world famous Blue Nose winning its first yacht race. (Well, it's a famous boat in Canada at any rate.) They have no real value other than the inherent "neat" factor, so they can stay there to be discovered again some years in the future, a la Chuck Jones's "One Froggy Evening".
This second pic is looking back at the stairs from the exact opposite side of the basement. Note how the poop room (on the right in this view) is stacked very neatly with all the demolition debris from the first couple days of Phillip's work. His work ethic was immediately apparent after our first meeting with the fellow, but to see how clean he leaves our basement at the end of each working day brings warm feelings to my heart. In the midst of the entropic maelstrom that is the Fraser household, it is with a touch of irony that I note the contractor brings with him an organisational verve that reassures me we made the right choice.
That small, dark circle on the left of the picture is our washing machine. That will be a very multi-functional room in that we're having a shower stall put in there as well. So you'll be able to poop, shower and wash your clothes all in the same room. If there's room for a mini-fridge after Phillip's done, it may well become my favourite room in the house.
The computer used to be down there too, by the way. Stationed on the right of the above picture, just outside the poop room. Now, it resides in our increasingly cramped master bedroom. We're a cozy lot, so that's OK. My wife, subtle siren that she is, sort of summed it up by saying, "Sorry Si, but it's going to be harder for you to run downstairs to pull it for a while." That's my girl, always sympathising with her husband.
We should be ready to handle company just before Christmas. But more than that, I'm looking forward to the time when we can lob both boys down the stairs with some water, snacks and a few admonitions not to kill each other, and forget about them for a couple hours.
I'll be sure to post the After pics by the end of the year. And maybe a couple of progress posts along the way.
Gawd, I'm looking forward to this! We will effectively DOUBLE our living space by the end of the year. That is soooo worth the money we're putting into this.
