How to drive your wife crazy and increase the value of your home all at the same time!

At the time, most shoppers were shying away from the house due to the condition of the basement. Truth be told, it was pretty rough: mostly super unfinished, moisture problems, jenky storage shelves and it was sort of a tetanus incubator. It was bad enough that the Sellers dropped the price AND (sorta) finished half the basement before getting a single offer.

By the time we spied it in late '16, we were ready to rise to the remaining challenge. Since then, I accumulated a substantial amount of time spent working my way through the basement remodel project; one space at a time. The workshop/storage space didn't put up much of a fight. The challenge on that front was mostly one of time management. I needed to have the floor painted, shelves assembled and work tables constructed before Wifey and the new baby came home from the hospital.

The office has been a real challenge though. With two kids, every minute I spend working construction is a minute Wifey spends managing two young children...alone. In loving appreciation of my wife, I dedicate my top ways to drive your wife crazy while increasing the value of your home:

1. Disappear into the basement right after dinner on a weekday without saying a word
2. Say that you'll be up in 10 minutes but don't emerge from the basement for 45 minutes
3. Ignore her design input
4. Admit that you're having fun working in the basement
5. Run the saw after the littlest one already went to bed

Now, get out there readers! You have everything you need to drive your wife crazy! Don't forget to justify the time spent away from your family by constantly overestimating the value that you've added to your home!

Office Update: Alex & Kinsley's Playhouse

This project is a couple of steps up the complexity ladder from the flooring, painting and wainscotting project that preceded it. It's going to be substantially more transformative though. The staircase is a hazard for young kids and a total eyesore. We originally planned to build a reading nook under the stairs but changed course in favor of a Nantucket-style playhouse for the kids to chill. It'll be a really cool space that's just for them. Here's what I started with; taken on December 31, 2017.

We built a fort in the backyard with Dad when we were kids. It was really cool - we even slept out there a few times. One night, we ran extension chords down from the house and watched the NBA playoffs on a black/white CRT TV. :-) Bunny ears and all!

While I remember framing a fort wall with Dad, this was definitely different. So, framing an interior wall was a first for me...as was coordinating with an electrician, hanging full sheets of drywall and finishing walls with anything other than paint. I was mildly terrified of the actuated hammer (which uses a .22 caliber round) to attach the sole plate to the concrete foundation. Here's what the framing looked like - it was taken on March 10, 2018.

There's a strand of LED lights that back-light the cubby and go around the ceiling of the playhouse for lighting. They're controlled by the switch at the door - the kids love to "open" and "close" the shop with the light switch and door bell. We put a carpet runner and some pillow seats in there to make it kid-comfortable. We didn't finish the interior walls so the kids can draw on them without us worrying about it. The cubby at the top is a space for some Boston sports memorabilia. This pic was taken on March 28, 2018 - 3 months after I started.

The playhouse certainly isn't future-proof. While we think we'll change it into a reading nook in the future, it might be hard to tear down and replace the memories that we'll create with the kids in the playhouse.

Up next: the staircase/stairwell project! Am I done yet?

The Office Reno

We are so totally knee-deep in home ownership and my sights are set on the basement office. I'm excited to introduce to you this 3-stage approach to the office renovation.

Stage 1: Admire how well photographers can make a room look. This is the seller photo that was used in the listing. During this stage, I find it useful to initiate contempt and channel it towards the previous owners as a means of motivation and action. Take the drop-ceiling for example. Sigh, have they no decency?! Look at the floors. Gasp, how could they?! And you just know they're hiding a hideous mess behind the camera lens. Tautology!

Stage 2: Despair and otherwise grasping that I've bit off more than I can chew. Also that I'm probably making it more difficult than it needs to be. But hey! Those floors look impecable. This is surely the longest stage of any project I run.

It's always useful during this stage to engage reinforcements. Here, Alex pitches-in by pushing the sawdust around with a moppish thing-a-majig (also courtesy of the sellers).

Stage 3: This is the stage of self-negotiation. Most of the big stuff is done. But not all. Dialogue turns inward as the finish-line is called into question; "chances are I'm the only person that'll notice if I don't put bead of caulk along the edges of the wainscotting." Or, "If the door stays shut, then maybe we don't really need that flooring transition."

There's still a bit of work to do but I'm officially filing this one in the "Done" column!