Basement Renovations on the Go!!

Hello? Is there anybody out there??
I know I've been absent from this blog for quite some time....and I apologize profusely!  Life got somewhat crazy last spring with house renos, travelling, a beautiful little addition to our family arriving (grand baby #4!) and time spent on our trapline....And now, with life slowing down a wee bit after Christmas, it seemed like a good time to reconnect.
The biggest change happening here at the Little Shack, and one I've been dying to crow about...is the magic that has been happening in the basement!!  After 8 long years, it's finally getting done!  It is beautiful!!   If you've read past posts, you will know that our Little Shack has been a project right from the get-go. A few years ago, we hired a guy to come in and build 2 bedrooms in the basement for our still-at-home kids. The kids and I went away to work in a tree planting camp for the summer,  while hubby stayed at home to work and take care of the critters, and we had the 2 bedrooms done while we were gone. It was so exciting to come home and have these 2 rooms ready for the kids to move into. Goodbye temporary walls, cement floors and open cobwebby ceilings! Hello beautiful bedrooms with closets, flooring, ceilings, light fixtures and doors! You can take a look at them here.
Now, I get to share some of the stuff that has been happening downstairs recently!
Last spring, we decided to use some of the money hubby got when he retired (early at age 50!) to hire a contractor friend of ours to help get the basement finished. Hubby and I were the 'gophers'....well, I was more the gopher, coffee lady, lunch preparer, clean up the sawdust and wood  person, passer of tools and screws, reloader of nail guns...you get the picture. Hubby dealt with wiring, cutting wood, heavy lifting and was part of the 'harass Susan' club. I spent 2 weeks being the brunt of jokes, teased and poked fun at. Boys will be boys. It was fine...really...I just smiled and kept reminding myself  that the basement was GETTING DONE!!!!
So, now the unveiling! Well, obviously there is still work to be done. We are currently laying floor down and will be doing some more finishing after that.  But, I couldn't wait to share these pictures any longer!!!

In the photo above, the room I'm standing in to take this shot is the 'family/tv room. I am looking towards the front of the Shack into what used to be the underside of our deck. We had closed it in years ago to add a sunroom onto the front and it has now been opened up with a wide doorway.
I'm just loving the wood walls. The Little Shack is basically ALL wood walls, but these are different from the upstairs ones. I love the grey bits and the saw marks.

Look at that gorgeous wood!! The wood we used for this was some rough cut lumber we purchased from a guy years ago. It's been slowly used in different projects over time, but we still had tons left. It  went from being rough, grey and dirty to this beautiful state via a planer. Lots of work, but well worth it!

This photo and the next are in the sunroom.  The beadboard was stuff we purchased from Home Depot when we had the kid's rooms done. I had ordered enough to do the entire basement, but since we used the wood on some of the walls, there was enough to use on the sunroom ceiling. This room will be so lovely for sitting in when it's still chilly outside. Lots of light and we still can enjoy our hillside view from the basement!

Here's a peak at the view from the sunroom. The beadboard needs to be painted, but I am very tempted to keep it white.  It's so bright and clean feeling.

We also needed to finish off the stairway. It is a nice bright entrance to the basement now with the beadboard reflecting the light from the little window we cut into the wall at the bottom landing.
This is the point where our contractor friend deserted us had to go home to his family.  We have continued on without him, the momentum is there to get it done...finally! We are faced with the problem of not being 'at home' much anymore. We spent April working on the basement, after being away most of last winter, then were away (with a few stops at home for a few days between traveling) until August. Home for a bit more than a month, then off again. Then back to the Shack in time to celebrate Christmas!  It's been great! Don't get me wrong. But it sure is nice to be at home for a bit and getting things done.
Stay tuned for the next part of the basement project!