Monday, December 7, 2009

Monday's Eats and Basement "Before" Pics

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you will know that the hubby and I have been finishing our basement. We bought our house 2 years ago ... and let's just say that it was quite the "fixer upper." We completely gutted the main floor (right to the framing) and replaced all the drywall (including ceilings), electrical, plumbing, kitchen, bathroom, flooring etc.. That was a 3 month project with non-stop work, that we mostly did ourselves. Pictures of the main floor renos will come soon.

We waited 2 years to start working on our basement. Before I get to the "before" pics of the basement ... I want to tell you about my eats.

Last night I had a snack (yes, in addition to the Nanimo square - 'tis the season) :-) I had a small handful of salt and pepper chips with some helluvu dip:



And an orange:



This morning I boosted my immune system with a Green Monster (1 scoop chia seeds, 1 scoop amazing grass, 1 cup almond breeze, 1 T almond butter, 1 banana):



Lunch today was some leftover lasagna (looks nasty cold ... but it was really good once I warmed it up). I had another orange too. And a couple bites of a butter tart (not pictured).



Dinner this evening was a quick and easy sammie with tomato soup. My grilled sandwich contained Gruyere cheese and apple. If you have not tried apple on a grilled cheese yet, you must! It is delish!





Now for the "Before" Pics of our basement!!

When we bought our house, the basement looked like this ...





I know that you are thinking, "that is one sexy basement ... I wish I could move in."
Hold back your excitement guys.







As much as we loved the shotty frame job, and 1/2 done green wood paneling, we just had to tear it down to see what was underneath.

Lovely.



In April we hired general contractors for WAY too much money to "finish" our basement. They told us it would take 6 to 8 weeks. They just finished in October.

You do the math.

The contractors braced the walls, and did some preventative stuff so that we would never get water in our basement (interior weeping tile, dimpled membrane, etc.). They framed, dry-walled, mudded and taped. They hired a plumber to rough in our basement bathroom, and an electrician to wire the entire basement with lights, plug-ins, phone jacks etc..

Here are some pictures of the cement floor mid-jackhammer stage:





Awesome.

After the contractors worked their "magic" the hubby and I were left to take care of the following:

- Ceiling
- Installing toilet and sink
- Carpet and flooring
- Paint
- Baseboards and Trim
- Doors
- DECORATING!!!!!

The hubby did all of these except one. Bet you can't guess what I was in charge of ;-)

To see the FINISHED product ... you have to check back tomorrow (Tuesday)!!

I am off to watch Food Inc. with the hubby. I will give my review of it tomorrow.

Have you ever done renovations? Or, would you ever?
I totally did NOT want to do any renos. The day we bought our house I seriously had a lapse in judgement - a single moment of weakness in which the hubby was able to swoop in and exert whatever influence he has over me. The things you do for love hey!




12 comments:

Dione said...

Oh, Kettle Salt and Pepper chips...I love those. I now buy the Baked Kettle chips from Costco instead and they are great to satisfy my chip craving...but still not as good as the nice deep fried salt and pepper ones. I wish Costco would get the baked salt and pepper ones too. Ah, chips are my biggest weakness, so I can never have them around.:)
Give the baked Kettle chips a try if you haven't because they are ALMOST as good as real chips. Made from real potato slices and nice and salty.
Now I want some salt and pepper chips with Philidelphia Herb and Spice dip...yum.
PS: I am in Edmonton and have been reading your blog for a few weeks...I really like it:) Nice to see a Canadian healthy living blogger our there eating foods I can actually get.

Jocelyn said...

whoa mama..can't wait to see the after pictures! You guys musta done a buttload of work.

Oh and be prepard to not eat meat for a lil while after seeing Food Inc. I could not stomach it after lol

Unknown said...

awwwwwwwwh what a teaser!! :)

We are seriously trying to decide if we want to do (major) reno's (en suite, making room bigger) or buying a new place!! I don't think it's a healthy idea for our relationship!! haha...

Looking forward to the after pictures, it was definitely a doosey!

kalin (eating machine) said...

can't wait to see the results!
my parents are renovation fiends (they just redid a bathroom, put in hardwoods, and changed some walls in the past few months), and when they came to help us move they put remodel ideas in the fiance's head... i'm scared for that! mostly about how much it could end up costing...

Yelena said...

You are such a post tease! Can't wait to see the pics!

I love apples with cheese- perfect combo. We did some renovations when we first moved in. They lasted 6 months and it was hell. We still have to do a new kitchen and bathrooms...but we have no money for that!

Anonymous said...

Can't wait to see the "after" pics! Just the thought of remodeling makes me shudder!

Simply Life said...

Wow, what a project! I'm so impressed you even know where to begin!

Anonymous said...

you can't leave me with no after pics! That should be illegal! BTW grilled cheese + soup=sooo comforting

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to see the after pics! The husband and I have done minor renovations, but big renovations freak me out! I don't think I could do them!

Veggies, Cake & Cocktails said...

I can't say that I like doing renovations. With that said, I do like picking out all the items after the construction part of the renovation ;)

Low said...

I love the sound of helluva dip haha! And I can't wait to see the after pics!

Anonymous said...

OMG. Just looking at the pictures make me cringe...I wonder how you managed to renovate it yourselves! I can't wait to see the "After" pics!