Full Basement Reno | Part 1

When my wife and I moved into our house in 2024, we were generally pretty happy with it. The house had a good structure and layout, and nothing was damaged or falling apart. Our only complaint was the overall aesthetic was way out of date. But that didn’t scare us away. Really, we were excited about being able to make the space our own.

Upon our first viewing of the house, before buying it, we had a few ideas on what we’d like to change, such as repaint some of the walls, remove some wallpaper, etc. But once we saw the basement, we knew it would have to be completely redone. It was a finished basement, but it was just so dark with only a few ceiling lights. Pair that with the dark wood paneling on the walls and the two small windows, it did not make for an inviting space.

The original workshop section of the basement. It had bi-fold doors and lots of storage space.

The original basement. Back to front view. Lots of wood paneling and very little light.

The original basement. Front to back view. Lots of wood paneling and very little light.

The original bar area of the basement. Lots of wood paneling.

And then, there was the bar. My wife and I looked at each other and without a word had decided that it had to go. Sure, it could be fun for hosting, as we planned to do, but truly, neither us nor our friends drink very much, and there was enough food and drink space on the main floor that there was no way that this area would get used, ever.

What we did imagine, however, was an awesome dedicated movie and gaming space. The vision was there, and when we bought the house and moved in, one of the first things we did was tear out the bar.

The bar itself has been removed.

The built-in storage in the bar area removed.

The full bar section has been removed.

Ah! The satisfaction in knowing that this was the first step in our journey to making the basement a space we wanted to spend time in was wonderful. Unsure if this whole bar setup was original to the floor plan, or if the previous owners built it themselves, but it was built to last. This whole basement (and it seems the whole house) was built using nails. No screws at all, which makes it a good workout for taking apart. Lots of bashing with hammers to take each piece apart! We did our best not to destroy the wood, as it could be reused in future projects, but some destruction was unavoidable. That being said, the bar itself is apparently being held together by the might of Zeus himself, because no matter how much we tried to take it apart, it refused. So, what did we do? Kept it and planned on using it as additional shelving and an eventual couch backing.

As I said, this was one of the first things we did in the house (May 2024). We intended to eventually redo the basement, but for now, it was more usable and we had other priorities.

Eventually, in late Winter / early Spring of 2025, following a heavy snowfall, the temperature shot up for a day or so which quickly melted a lot of snow. This sudden rush of water slightly overwhelmed the house’s still frozen eavestroughs, which forced some of the water back into the house and into the basement. It wasn’t a flood by any means, just a very small trickle. But, at the time, we did not know the cause.

We had to make sure it wasn’t actually a large problem, so the woodshop-like section of the basement near the stairs had to be dismantled to gain access to the source of the leak.

Removed the doors from the workshop area.

The shelves are removed.

Opening the wall up to see the source of the water leak.

After determining that it wasn’t a problem, and that we’ll simply have to make sure that the eavestroughs are properly cleared of snow from now on, we felt that it may be time to start on the full basement renovation. The bar was already gone, and now this woodshop area was taken out, leaving the rest of the basement ready for the work that we planned to do anyway. Next was to figure out what we actually wanted our basement goals to be and what the steps were to get there.

This was part 1 of the basement renovation project. I hope you enjoyed it, and keep an eye out on the following parts. Thanks for reading!