Ninja Training Facility

I can't believe it but we finally have our own ninja training facility, aka the basement is finished!  As you may recall, just before Thanksgiving our basement suffered some major water damage that required the removal of drywall and carpet.  Water came in on three sides of the house. Did I mention that nothing was covered by insurance?

Before we could do any repairs, we first had to stop the water.  This required digging new drainage systems on both sides of the house.  I'm telling you, our contractor, Rich, can dig ditches like nobody's business.  We then had to dig up the drain at the back of the house.  This was a slightly bigger project.  We had a water removal company help dry out the basement and remove water from the walls as well as remove all the drywall 18 inches from the ground.

My dad and brother volunteered to fix the drywall.  My brother came up whenever he had spare time to work on the project.  He also fixed other spots of the walls and ceiling that needed repair.  I can't thank the both of them enough. 

We contacted painters we had used before, Eagle Eye Painting.  They were running a special where they bought the paint.  I hate/suck at painting.  I'm really glad we went with them versus doing it ourselves. First, they did the whole thing in four days.  Second, they did lead containment.  Third, they did an awesome job, especially in some tricky spots.  Since we were having painters come, we decided to just buck up and shell out a little extra money to get some other areas painted that needed refreshing--the hallway, stairs, laundry room, and main floor bathroom.

After three months, we are done.  Carpet was installed today.  Several weeks ago Linus realized that with all the open space we now had down there, it would be perfect for serving as a ninja training facility.  We got rid of furniture when the whole water damage thing happened so there is technically space....  Linus loves his new ninja training space and has gotten right too work.  It's never too early to start training.

We used Sherwin William paint.  We used the same color for the main floor bathroom.  I wanted to use a lighter color (it was previously dark blue in the basement) to make the room brighter.  Mission accomplished. I also picked a higher pile carpet than we had before.

A nice light blue instead of creamy yellow.  This will slowly transition into Linus' room.

Painting the laundry room/bathroom was tricky. I was glad to have someone else tackle it. Previous color?  A mish mash of cream and plaster.

The aqua marine stairs with black stripping has been replaced with a beautful dark brown with grip mixed into the paint. The walls benefitted from some plaster work and fresh paint.

The kids went on a hike around the neighborhood while the carpet people worked.

Pulling books off the shelf + rocking on horse = multi-tasking

This venture put a major dent in our savings, but the upside is that part of the house got a major facelift.  The damage could have been much worse.  I suppose if you want to raise ninjas, you have to be willing to make an investment.