Our basement has come a long way since the days of its green carpeting – check out all the progress for our DIY basement renovation today on the blog!

Happy Friday, friends! I wanted to share all of our basement progress so far with y’all today, as this space nears completion soon! It has come a longggg way since the days of wood paneling and emerald green carpeting, and I can’t wait to see the end space. For now, I want to share the progress we’ve made and what is still on our “to-do list”. Read on!

shop our basement

The biggest and most obvious updates are of course the cabinets, carpet and walls. We plan to start a renovation on our family room this year, and this was the precipitant behind us renovating the basement first – the family will need somewhere to hang out while renovations are ongoing upstairs! The green and beige carpet had to go (see the before photos here), and I love the creamy beige carpet we settled on. It’s durable and really brightens up the space, plus we opted for an upgrade on the rug pad which helps to prevent pet stains and odors from sticking around. With two dogs – that’s super important!

To the left at the bottom of the stairs is our home gym. We have some items on our to-do list left here, namely getting new padding for underneath our gym equipment. We brought these current pads from our old house and I don’t love the way they look or fit in the space, so I’ve got my eye on other options! I am also considering adding a wall-to-wall mirror (with a ballet barre?) on the far wall. I love the vintage University of Michigan pendants we framed and added to this space!

Wrapping around thee corner into the main living space is a big area set up for the kids. I have visions of a stand-up piano and possibly a pool table or extra dining space here one day, but for now it makes the perfect backdrop for art projects and play sessions! We put down these foam interlocking mats to help with preventing any spills on the new carpet as well.

The main living space down here is now devoid of any green carpeting and I love how bright and airy it looks now. We added in a set of DIY cabinets from Menard’s with this gorgeous butcher block counter top and a nice big TV – perfect for cuddling up on the couch in front of for movie nights! The last project in this space is to finish off some open wood shelving that my husband is working on to match the countertops.

We still have quite a to-do list down here, but we are about to round the last corner on this DIY basement makeover project! Up next:

• Finish painting the molding (we have about 25% of it left to complete!)
• Build custom doors for the closets under the stairs
• Finish custom shelving around the TV
• Find a cute set of chairs for in front of the fish tank
• Set up a small bar/cocktail area
• Finish the gym – mirror with ballet barre?

Let me know what you guys think of the renovation so far below in the comments! What would you do differently?

shop our basement