Basement Update — Drywall and Karndean Flooring

Thankfully things are really starting to come together in the basement. Like, I can see a light at the end of the tunnel, and it isn’t fogged up with construction dust. All in all, Gerry and his crew have made the whole process smooth sailing, but I can officially say drywalling is the worst. Word to the wise — the smartest thing we did was shrink-wrapping everything exposed in the basement. The sofa, photo booth, pool table, coffee table…every single thing that was left out, was shrink-wrapped, covered in tarps, and sealed uptight.

Even though Gerry put up sheets of plastic to block off openings to the rest of the house and contain the destruction, drywall dust still gets into every single nook and cranny. We also turned off the central heat while the crew was working. Didn’t want all that dust getting caught up in the whole-house system.

If you look close, you’ll notice we removed that hideous faux bricked unvented fireplace. The home inspector really spooked us when he told us we should install a CO2 detector and never fall asleep with the thing lit. Gerry ripped it out in about 2.5 seconds and capped off the gas line. Death machine is gone!

Since this project was taking place in the basement, the mudding took extra time to dry. It’s a bit more humid down there than the rest of the house.

Knowing we were still working on the basement bathroom, we kept everything shrink-wrapped. It made the space pretty much unusable and the kids lost their playroom, but at least the furnishings were protected.

The painter was next up on the docket. He’s apparently painted enough walls in the new house that he can read me like a book. Didn’t even bother bringing in his paint swatches….just walked in the door, white paint in hand, and said, “Snowbound, right?” I kinda wanted to mess with him, but my quick wit was still dusty from the drywall.

The space was wide open, and the flooring hadn’t been installed, so Tom was able to get straight to work. He knocked the place out licketty split, and now it looks so bright and spacious! No longer dark and dingy. It also thankfully no longer smells like a frat house.

Flooring was a go, and we made had to make color decisions. Remember when I turned my nose up at our insurance agent who said if he was renovating his own basement he’d install vinyl flooring? The post is here if you need a refresh. The dude schooled me because I never knew beautiful flooring like this existed. We wanted a natural wood plank design that made a serious statement…not to mention something a bit more durable.

There are a handful of vinyl flooring companies out there, but after ordering up a few samples, both The Boy and I knew immediately Karndean Flooring was the way to go. Their quality just stood out leaps and bounds from the rest.

Now it came down to colors. If you read the last basement post, I talked about how gray flooring is trending right now…my only problem to troubleshoot was that the sofa down there was gray as well. Hmmm. Buying a new sofa was definitely NOT in the budget.

The Boy and I ripped a tiny hole through the shrink-wrapped sofa and laid the samples next to the cushion peeping through one by one. Too brown, too beige, too light…ah, just right…although almost a perfect match. The solution, eventually a cream rug might be in order to add a bit of separation. Easy fix, but all in due time. I was informed new rugs were also not in the budget…besides, I didn’t really want to cover up the beautiful flooring.

The Karndean Flooring Limed Silk Oak was a winner-winner chicken dinner. Even better, this color came in the narrow planks. Exactly what I wanted. Yahtzee!

Because I double and triple check EVERYTHING, I created a mood board with the Karndean Flooring and Clé Tile in the soon-to-be installed in the bathroom renovation to make sure everything was shnazzy. Guess what…it’s better then shnazzy…it’s the bomb dot com.

The Karndean Flooring with the black penny round and white subway tile in the bathroom…oh my! Clutch the pearls and someone get me a phone…order it up. Do you see the light at the end of the tunnel? OMG, I DO! And that makes my stress levels dropped. The Great Flood of 2016 was unexpected and unfortunate, but we are SRSLY kicking ass, and the results looking incredible.