It all started with an idea....

So, I finally feel organized enough to catch the blog up on what we have been up to. Last summertime-ish....well no it was before that. When my dad bought his house last March (check it out here if you can't remember) we had an idea. He was going to have an empty basement approximately the size of the square footage of our house.  We loved our home, but while the living area was awesome, the upstairs and bedrooms were going to get small quickly. We'd been there three years already and I was afraid that it would be difficult to ever purchase something bigger when the time came without doing something different than we were.....especially with me not working. Back to the idea. We would move into my dad's basement, save some money, and keep him company :).

Of course, my dad is a real DIY'er so we were going to do the whole basement ourselves.

Ahem, I had no idea how long this process was going to take. We wanted to get a start on saving some money so we moved in with my dad last October and found some awesome renters for our home. They really have been great. I wish they would stay forever. I thought the basement would take another month to do. Maybe two. Try more like 6. I don't know if I've ever felt so unorganized in all my life. I missed my stuff, decorating, my schedule, my stuff....

But I am grateful for the opportunity we've been given. There's still a ton of touch up and little projects to do. I'm guessing several more months of doing little things here and there.

Finally introducing a bit of the long awaited basement--

The front room (technically in the back of the house). This room is itty bitty but it looks nice.

The family room. Justin put together that built-in bookshelf

Justin tiled this fireplace and built the mantle. I have also just started that photo gallery wall which I'm pretty excited about. I just finished sewing all the pillows and curtains....first time doing those.

The kitchen- still so much more trim and paint that needs to be done, particularly on the upper cabinets and built-ins but it is a beautiful kitchen. A big thank you to my dad and Justin!

I totally don't want to buy more stools (they are expensive!) so I need to figure a way to cut these ones down to bar height instead of counter height.

The dining area. We just finished building this table. The top will be dark like the floor, the legs will be an off-white. I'm excited to see it done :)

The guest/Kambri's bathroom

 

 

The master, not done decorating this one yet. Pay no attention to the haphazardly made bed done specifically for this photo, haha. The master bath is under construction still.

The gallery hallway to the master. We couldn't figure out what else to do with this space.

Kambri's Room

Just off of the stairs, you can see the door to the bathroom and craft room.

Ah my craft room. I'm still in the process of de-cluttering. They put some shelves in for me. This awesome armoire on the left has a table built in and when I'm done I can fold it all up and away from any small child's reach.

Close up of the shelves....and my new friend the chameleon's home. Hey, I totally needed a crafting buddy. However my first buddy Flynn Eugene had a terrible tongue accident...may he RIP...so my next buddy's on his way!

 

It has been such a long time coming down here, over a year now, but now that we are nearing the end I believe it has been worth it. Plus I get to see this cutie all day. 

Not going to lie we sometimes look like this

which usually leads to this

someone explain the angry ostrich move to me...?

But I'm told in the end it's worth it. And we love this area and the ward, so here's to the next few years!