Rambling Rhodes

Counting down

Well, tomorrow, if all goes according to plan, we'll have carpet installed in the basement. It will be the culmination of an ongoing basement remodelling project that began back when I first purchased the house back in 2004. There will still be much work to be done, not the least of which will be untangling the nightmare plumbing issues that have plagued the house from day one, but with the installation of the carpet, 4/5 of the basement will become fully livable.

Over the years, I've resisted taking out an additional loan to complete the basement project, mainly because the basement wasn't a huge priority. The upstairs provided more than enough space for my wife and me. It made more financial sense to pay for incremental steps towards the final finished product.

The addition of the infant boy, however, changed that dynamic considerably. We still have enough space, but once the boy starts crawling--which should be in next couple weeks--we'd be sorely pressed for space and room to maneuver. Thankfully, I've had enough in my savings to pay for the rather substantial projects we've had done over the last month and-a-half. It should be worth it though. The basement project basically doubles our living space, so I'm excited to see what it all looks like when I get home from work tomorrow.

When I think back to what the basement used to look like, with its burlap fabric acting as a ceiling, the ancient panneling, the iron gas fireplace and just the general creepiness of it all as a whole, I'm amazed at what we're about to have in its place.

Just having carpet is somewhat exciting. While I love the hardwood floors we resurrected back in 2004, I do miss the bouncy, soft feeling of carpet, and I suspect the boy will enjoy crawling on carpet rather than spinning his wheels on the slippery hardwood.

It has all cost a lot of money to get to this point. Thousands and thousands of dollars. And, an eventual new gas fireplace will also be necessary before next fall, which won't be cheap. But, we're about to have a whole new house to come home to, and that's pretty damned cool.

Posted by Ryan at May 24, 2010 10:21 PM | TrackBack