It's done!! The difference is amazing! The entire basement is beautiful! The only problem now is, Kathy wants to do the rest of the house!
Living Room
Rather than just give Dad a bedroom, since the space was already divided in two, we made the larger area a living area. That way, if Dad needs privacy, he can just stay down there. Plus, it gives him his own apartment. The large window was made even larger. This, along with removing the paneling, makes the space so much brighter. It used to be that we always had to have lights on downstairs. Now, during the day, you can easily do without any lights.
Bedroom
I think this is the most impressive. A few years ago I framed in this bedroom when Matt came to live with us. It was small. With the cabinet with the sink on one wall, there was hardly room enough for his twin bed. Plus, there was no window in there. So it was like going into a cave. With the cabinetry removed, and the bump-out for the dresser, there's plenty of space for a double bed. Add the large window, and it's just a beautiful space. We put mirrored doors on the closet to make the space look even larger.
Bathroom
I have to confess that Dad and I will be sharing this bathroom, so I've been using it for the last week. It's great!!! The shower is soooo roomy! The granite counters and under-mount sink are easy to keep clean. And there's actually room to turn around in there! Makes me wonder why Grandpa made the room so small to start with.
Pantry
This was the area I was most concerned about. Seems like we never had enough room in the pantry. Turns out existing layout of the pantry is what prevented us from using it to its fullest. The old pantry had exposed plumbing on the ceiling and walls. The shelving was built to accommodate the plumbing, which made it hard to fit anything on the weird-sized shelves. Now, with everything hidden behind sheet rock, we have free-standing shelves. Even though the pantry is narrower, it's also longer. So it turns out we actually have lots more storage space than before.
There are a few areas that aren't shown in these videos. There's a hand-rail going from the back porch to the back yard, to assist Dad in getting out there.
When sitting on the recliner in the living area, he will have an unobstructed view of a fir tree in the back yard. On the fir tree is a squirrel feeder. It's great fun watching the squirrels scamper about. I'm also going to add a couple more bird feeders, also visible from downstairs, giving Dad even more to view.
And, of course, there's the two level play structure out back, complete with sandbox, slide, water cannon and swings. This assures that there's a steady stream of grandchildren about. And if Dad ever tires of the company, we can simply shut the door going upstairs giving him privacy.
So, we're ready for Dad whenever it's time for him to come down!
