One (Almost) Completed Room

We've been working on finishing one of the rooms in our basement,and after a long process of what felt like one step forward and then two steps back, we are finally done (except that I haven't finished organizing it, and the doors still need their knobs). It has been an interesting adventure to get from where it was to where it is now...

We started with no door, just this open area...
some painted/wallpapered fake wood paneling (but no insulation behind the paneling on the exterior walls) and the world's scariest wiring.
We had to rip down the paneling, and some rotten drywall, and we found some lovely hidden treasures, such as the sink below the stairs...
...and a hole in that we believe was once used for storing nuts.
We did the framing...
...and dealt with the whacky wiring (and believe me, this long, tangled cable cord was the best example of "wiring" in the room...I think we're lucky the house hadn't burned down).

We painted...
...and we thought that we were almost done...but then we got moisture and mold behind some of the paneling (although where the water was coming from is a mystery, as of yet unsolved.) So down came the paneling, as well as some of the insulation, and up went some weird moisture-resistant foam stuff and new paneling.

And finally, a finished, albeit not quite organized, room!
And, with my newly finished room, I decided it was time to get busy with a craft...so here it is!

Painting

Ethan and I did some painting while he was staying with us...and despite what these pictures make it look like, we did actually get some paint where it was supposed to go.

This Old House

Besides a sink walled up underneath our stairs, Adam found another little treasure in our basement. This hole is underneath our outside stairs up to kitchen door. We think, given the evidence of old walnuts, that it was once used as a storage space, but then at some point, someone boarded it up and put drywall over it...except that they didn't use treated wood or anything, so the wood rotted and the drywall got all wet and yucky, too. So, we had to rip it all down and remove it and seal it up.

It's not quite as funny as the sink under the stairs, but it's still interesting to see what sorts of little surprising keep popping up as we're trying to finish the basement.

Basement Fix Up

We've started working on our basement, starting with what will be our "everything" room (crafts, music, etc.).

This is how it looked at first: fake wood paneling...which might not be so bad if there were actually insulation underneath it, but there wasn't. Also, there's one outlet for the whole room...
Adam pulled down the paneling and drywall and everything...and made an interesting discovery under the stairs...yes, that is a sink...because naturally, when you build a house, you hide a spare sink under the stairs, behind the drywall. Right?
This is where we started, with bare walls and lots of work to do.
This is what we got done: framing for one wall. Doesn't seem like a lot, but hey, it's progress. And I got to measure, hammer, and use the radial saw.