Basement Makeover

When we bought our house we had every intention of finishing the basement.  Unfortunately, we soon learned we would have to sell one of our kids in order to afford to finish the basement and be in compliance with fire codes.  Since selling our kids wasn't an option at the time (some days I question that decision) we decided that we would just have to make the basement useable without actually finishing it.  Our washer and dryer, food storage, and a lot of toys are down there, so it's obviously someplace we are going to be spending quite a bit of time and I wanted it to be nice, not a creepy scary basement.  So here's what we've done so far:

I put a fresh coat of pain on the stairs and walls.  The old ones had 50 years of dirt and grime on them.  Yuck!  Now they are much better.

Before the paint

 

After being painted

The concrete flooring in the basement was crumbling in places and it drove me crazy having little bits of gravel in the laundry and being tracked upstairs.  It also wasn't much fun for the kids to play on.  It kind of hurt when you fell down, you know?  So we installed uber soft foam flooring over the concrete slab.  The kids had fun helping with the installation!  

The Basement Floor Before and After 

  

And finally John and Rach learn Sump Pump 101
Growing up in Utah I had no clue what a sump pump was.  However, out here they are as common as pigeons.  This is our sump pump and our new battery backup sump pump.  I know it's not doing much good still in the box, but that'll change soon.  Installing it is on John's mile long "honey do list."
After our first wet weather in this house it freaked me out how much water the sump pump was pumping out of our basement.  So I immediately bought the battery powered backup system.  We would be in big trouble if our main pump ever failed.  Between the pumps and the waterproof removable foam floor we should be in decent shape if we ever have water issues in the basement.  Knock on wood.

We still have more work to do in the basement, but for now it's functional and oh so much nicer than before!