A Basement Bathroom and a *finally* finished Basement!

Remember back in 2019/2020 when we worked hard to finish our basement? Our dads came and helped us on a weekly basis to teach us, bring tools, and do work on our behalf! My dad singlehandedly laid the bathroom floor for us on a week that we were particularly busy plus helped us drill a hole through the outside of the house (which was fun) when he installed the vent fan. Cal was incredible as he planned and carefully framed each tricky area and did all the waterlines. They both did more for us than I can even list here: installing the tub & surround, figuring out how to make a drop-ceiling, framing, electrical, water lines, drain pipes, oh so many things! We are so blessed to have dads who are so willing to teach us and help us with this huge project.  

We probably mentioned this when we wrote about finishing the basement, but with even more time between now and then, I can say with much more perspective - finishing the basement when we did was such a HUGE blessing. At the time we started, Lucy was only about two months old. Starting a huge project like that with a tiny baby seems like a wild idea but it felt like the timing was right. With both of our dads donating their time and diligent effort, plus the decision to hire out hanging the sheetrock and painting, we finished almost everything RIGHT before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down. (I remember going to Home Depot by myself in the evening that first week of shut down to get the wood for our storage room shelves because we weren't sure that stores would even be open and we didn't want to not have the wood to finish the project.) We didn't know it then, but having a finished basement would be a miraculous boon for our family in a year when we really couldn't be anywhere other than our own house. Having the finished basement was a blessing that we couldn't have forseen that we would need but made a huge difference to us. However, COVID-19 brought additional stress and our mental energy was needed elsewhere and we ended up locking the bathroom door and deciding to come back to it later. 

So, spring of 2021 we unlocked that door and decided to put in the work to finish it out. The biggest hurdle was the backsplash because the backsplash we ordered with the vanity didn't fit together right. (That's one of the big reasons we locked the door and walked away in 2020, we just didn't have the mental capacity to make a decision about how to handle this.) 


We found a peel and stick tile that matched the vanity decently well and decided to just go for it. Perfection matters less than having a finished bathroom (and a huge check mark off our to-do list). We installed it and slowly but surely started making way through the final details that always take much longer than you think they will. Shelves, towel rods, caulking, adjusting doorframes to fit better, etc... 

('m really happy with the way this turned out!) 

Then summer hit and the final few things got put on hold, because who wants to be inside doing house projects when you could be outside living your best summer-life?? (ha, I say this a little facetiously because I should have finished it this summer. It really shouldn't have taken the extra four months to finally finish. But... #summer.) 

Finally over fall break this last week - I took a day (one day was all it took!) to come downstairs and finish the final details. Finishing all of the caulking, fixing a chip in the tub, painting the yellowed caulk (from using the wrong tube in the spring), and hanging the shower curtain. 


And just like that, it's finished! I'm so happy with the way it turned out and just so incredibly grateful all over again for our dads who made this a reality. I can only vaguely remember when this space was storing two sets of washers/dryers and a ping-pong table. Now it's a fully functional bathroom and it's beautiful. We can now officially say that our basement is FINISHED! (Other than the few holes in the sheetrock from some energetic playing that we need to patch, but that's life.)