So my first post about this was all about destroying or gutting the basement. This house was built in 1959 and I swear to God that the basement had not been updated since then.
Well now that the basement is gutted, we have begun to form an image of what it may look like. I don’t know what happens to men when they start talking finished basements. All of a sudden we’re getting speakers built into walls and a wet bar, when all I wanted were cream walls and a light floor. I mean if this was the house we were going to live in for the rest of our lives (that’s another blog post in itself) then, i really would let him do what he wanted. But this is what he’s shown me so far:
And:
And:
Now I had to remind him that we’re building a basement, not an office space. And I’m not putting black on the walls or rocks on the floor, and by no means are we going to have fake palm tree’s. I don’t mind the last one, and we’ll just replace the Crown with wine 🙂 But I digress…
This is what I want:
And:
So you see our dilemma. It’s a little hard to compromise when you see the difference in vision here. Now i’ve got him to budge on the black walls and rocks, we just have to see how much more I can get him to budge… Any suggestions??
I’m lucky…me and Mike agree on the basics of our basement rec room (big screen tv, surround sound, comfy furniture, bar, fooseball table)…what we don’t agree on is the “art” – as in, he wants to hang posters of sports stuff and movie posters, like of the joker from the batman movie (hello, creepy!?!). I don’t mind this…but in a nice way…like framed movie posters, and nice sports memorabilia. There’s got to be some flow…some rhyme…some reason!
So the compromise is: he can help pick the “theme” and the elements…but I have final say. LOL. I guess I should share with him what our compromise is!
BTW, Great posts and site Erin!!!
Mention the magic words. “Investment potential” “Profit Margin” “Resale” “Target Market” Works like a charm. You need to renovate to the potential buyers, even when you renovate for yourself. If you don’t you end up with a house that you spent thousands on that you might have loved for three months, three years latter you want to sell, and the people you are marketing to want a family friendly place to stash the kids, laundry and the big screen with the umpteen Disney videos. AS far as I have seen basement renos can totally add to the value of your house or decimate it.
His ideas are very sleek but maybe not too baby friendly. Not knowing what your basement looks like….can you put a bar on one side and a gym on the other?