blood, sweat, and tears.....

Okay, maybe not tears but definitely lots of sweat (and just a little bit of blood) ............As many of you know, we have been working on finishing our basement for a little over a year now. Let me rephrase that, Trev has been working on finishing our basement...I've helped here and there. Most of the time I have no clue whats going on and figure it is better to just stay out of the way! Trev is definitely a "Jack of all trades" ...In the last year he has been a framer, plumber, electrician, painter, finish carpenter, and a tile layer. Even though he can do it all himself, it has been a blessing for him to have help along the way from other people that know what the heck they are doing!! Trev's dad, Rick, and his brother-in-law, Brady, have spent many evenings helping him work on the basement.....THANKS GUYS!!!! Without their help this project would definitely have taken a lot longer!!

This week the tile is going down. I'm happy to say that we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel...and even though there is still lots to do, the basement project is closer than ever to being finished!!!

I think back to when we very first started...the room was full of boxes from moving in, a HUGE king size waterbed...and a bunch of other, for lack of better words, crap. We started in Jan of '09 cleaning up and getting rid of all of the crap..then Trev built shelves for our storage room.

After that came the framing....





Wow, Jak looks so little!!! Papa let him hold a saw...he was pumped!!



After the framing was complete, it was time for all the electrical work. Rick and Debbie's friend Lloyd Dawes is somewhat of a genious when it comes to that sort of thing, so we "tricked" him into coming up from Oklahoma to help. We traded a gourmet steak dinner at the Krehbiel house for his knowledge and labor.

Skip ahead a few months....now its time for sheet rock. The one thing that we were willing to pay to have installed!!

Okay..a few more months have passed and we are ready to paint ceilings and walls. This is one area that I was able to help. I have to admit Trev did the bulk of the ceiling painting, but I did spent quite a few hours helping!!

After a few more months have passed we decided it was time to get the ball rolling again and start the trim work. This is one area that I would have to label Trev as an expert in. He does an AWESOME job!!!!!!!! He built a beautiful bar...make that two bars....and the rest of the wood work in the basement is just goregous!! Good work Trev!!!!!!!!

Here is the finished product.... Isn't it pretty??

The bar....


Oh boy, I can't wait to have a icy cold beer at this bar!!!


The view from behind the bar. The wall you are looking at will be where the TV will live... To the left is Trev's baby...the garage door. I haven't always agreed with the installation of the garage door, but its growing on me :)


The walk up bar...


This is the club house for the kiddos. If you look inside the clubhouse on the left you will see an opening for a tunnel that goes into the playroom (aka, daycare room) This is probaby the kids favorite part.


The tunnel opening in the daycare room. It runs through the hall closet...


Jak has enjoyed working with Trev on the basement. He often asks if he can go "help daddy build a basement" He is daddy's mini-me!!


When Trev finished all the trim work the painters came in and stained all the woodwork...then Trev (and Brady) got to work painting.

This week Trev has taken "vacation" to lay tile. He has been putting in 12-14 hour days...and then Rick and Brady have been helping when they get off work til the wee hours of the night. It looks awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good job boys!

Here are few pictures of the tile process.





Jak's job was to pick up all the little white spacers. He picked up 700 of the darn things!!!




It has been quite a process so far!! When this basement is finished we will be having a BIG party!!!! So, stay tuned :)