~ flipNdesign ~: Evolution of the Bonus Room

Continuing our basement progress series...

Here's the scoop on the evolution of the bonus room!

Let's go waaaaaayyyy back..

to 2015 when Gabe was patching the cracks in the foundation wall and sealing it with Drylok paint.

From the other direction in this cavernous space:

We partitioned out this space into a bonus room and a storage/utility room. The bonus room would eventually be almost a square, coming in around 12' x 13'.

September 2016, after our second child was born, we were working towards getting room footprints established. Here's a trippy photo looking from the bonus room towards the staircase and mudroom beyond:

By August of 2017 we had added stud walls, drywall, mud and tape. Here's Gabe working to close up the gap between the storage room and the bonus room (it can double as an extra guest bedroom):

Here, it's all closed in:

It will be getting a louvered door since the HVAC return is in that room and needs to be able to circulate.

Looking towards the doorway under the stairs, to the mudroom:

Not a whole lot was done in this room besides running electrical wires and plumbing through this room for years (why we had the ceiling open for so long) through the two substantial additions we did upstairs.

So that puts us in the year 2020, when we added vinyl flooring to the lovely concrete floors, simultaneously to the mud room. The first stretch, running from the mud room all the way through to the wall of the storage room on the other side:

It was a really interesting game of musical furniture:

Here you can see the louvered door to the storage room:

The door on the right leads to the downstairs bathroom.

A really quick jog into the storage room for a sec to show the shelves that Gabe built this summer as well:

Moving on to the painting job in the Bonus Room:

Gabe was able to get a daybed on FB marketplace for half the price we were seeing it at Ikea. Score!!

Putting it together:

And then another favorite moment for me--seeing the exterior window be replaced! That thing was nasty! I'll let you in on a little secret--Gabe wanted to drywall over this window!! Granted, it's under the deck and lets VERY little light in. BUT, I just wouldn't have it! Gosh, I wish I would have gotten a close up of the nasty thing. It was not plumb, it did not have clear glazing and was not very efficient. Here's the hole where it once was:

Next is an after picture of the window combined with Gabe installing the last of the ceiling panels around one of the recessed cans:

Ahh....covering up all those wires and joists is such a welcome change!!!

There will be a trim detail to hide the panel seams, eventually.

Here I am painting the first coat on this interior door:

I would say less than half of the trim in this room is caulked and painted. So we have some finishing work to do!

The built-in's are almost all from Ikea. This bookcase, this bookcase, a bridge shelf, a desktop and a storage shelf (without its doors) acting as a partial base for the desk: