Introduction
With elevated real estate prices, we decided to add additional living space to our house by transforming the basement storage into usable rooms. This article shows examples of this work, and details are given on what was needed to accomplish the transformation, including itemized labor and material costs.
The Original Basement Was A Big Storage Area
With years of being antique dealers, we had collected too much furniture, artwork, and other surplus items. Our initially empty basement had progressively become a messy storage area, and my disorganized woodworking shop had been there since we built the house in 2008. Although room walls were partially framed, basement plumbing drain pipes were installed, and partial electrical services were already in place from when we built the house, we knew this job would require time and a lot of money. Let me say it took longer and cost more than we thought.
When our first contractor visited the basement, he told us we had to clear the space before any construction could begin. After those words were spoken, it took us 13 weeks of dedicated work to empty the space and get ready to start the projects. We took items to auction (three truckloads complete!), donated items to charities, and made tough decisions on what could stay and what had to go. Please don’t underestimate the effort and difficulty it takes to prepare your space for a project like this.
1 – The Kitchen – Before and After
Our original concept of the Kitchen was focused on being more of a kitchenette than a fully-functioning workspace. We chose to forgo adding a dishwasher due to a lack of space. Instead, we added an oversized Kohler farmhouse sink to make dishwashing more enjoyable. We considered it a decision that took us back to our earlier days when washing dishes by hand was a family chore. We completed the space with a beautiful Italian backsplash called the Venetian and floating shelves made from a beautiful hardwood you have never heard of.
Each upcoming section has a link to an interactive visualization or two showing a before and after picture of a specific basement area. A slider with a yellow ball allows you to swipe left and right to see the space before and after the work was completed. Once you view the image, click the browser back button to return to this article. These visualizations were constructed using D3 and Python. Unfortunately, the interactivity does not appear to work on iPhones but does work on iPads or desktop browsers. I’m not sure if they render on Android devices.
2 – The Bathroom – Before and After
Our original concept of the bathroom was focused on being a place where we could move from the pool into the house without tracking water everywhere. We wanted an oversized shower designed like an old-world spa. Due to pre-set piping locations, we had to create the shower, toilet, laundry appliances and sinks according to where the drain pipes were.
3 – The Bedroom – Before and After
Our original concept of the bedroom focused on the room becoming a place to host guests. We reduced the workshop area by 1/3, eliminated the workout center, and added a closet to complete the room. We added insulation on all walls and the ceiling and framed in the heating and air ducts. We made the room as comfortable as possible with translucent glass doors (another Italian product) that allow light transmission from room to room.
4 – The Baby Bedroom – Before and After
Our original concept of the baby bedroom focused on the room becoming a space for my Daughter’s baby, Brady. We wanted some room for him to sleep and play. We planned to use it as a workout center on the back side of the room.
5 – The Long Hallway – Before and After
Our original concept of the long hallway focused on it becoming a storage area for food, supplies, and other frequently used items. We also wanted it to be used as an office working space if desired. This hallway leads to the workshop, bathroom, and storage area.
6 & 7 – The Lower and Upper Staircase – Before and After
Our original concept of the staircase was to transform the space into a finished area commensurate with other areas of our house. This meant we needed hardwood stairs, a landing area, and stair trim. Doing this type of work can be very time-consuming and painstaking and requires several tricks of the trade to perform correctly. The time needed for wood finishing steps (sanding, staining, polyurethane, sanding, etc) should not be underestimated.
8 – The Bedroom Opening – Before and After
We initially framed the door openings for double doors because the woodworking shop was originally used for this space. Back then, I wanted easy access to this space for moving raw materials and finished products from that area. Rather than framing the opening down to single doors, we chose to keep the openings wide and installed French doors. This was to make it easier to load furniture into the rooms and to allow the translucent windows in the doors to transmit light into the basement rooms. This part of the plan worked great!
9 – The Storage Opening – Before and After
We initially framed this door opening wider than usual for moving raw materials in and out of the storage area. To enclose this space, we had to order a 36-inch wide door. We covered the 12-inch thick poured concrete walls with furring material and drilled through the walls to install lighting in the storage space. We now have a much better storage space equipped with variable-setting LED lights turned on by motion detection.
10 – The Baby Closet – Before and After
We created this and the bedroom closet by framing the space and planning for French doors. The tricky part of framing basement walls is height variability throughout large spaces because of concrete floor cracking and differential settlement. Care must be taken to stick build these walls and small areas to ensure orthogonal openings of uniform height. When creating these spaces, lasers should be used to shoot straight and perpendicular lines. Also, always use pressure-treated lumber anywhere you place wood in contact with concrete walls or floors.
11 – The Bedroom Closet – Before and After
The bedroom closet size was created to support French doors. We also installed dual-intensity lighting so the closets can act like night lights (due to translucent glass) or higher-intensity lighted areas if desired.
Project Economics
We converted about 1200 square feet of unfinished space into usable living space between September 2022 and September 2023. As shown in Figure 1, the total project cost was approximately $90,000, with the cost of materials being $46,682 (52%) and the labor cost being $43,254 (48%). The average project cost was $75 per square foot using these totals.
Some costs have not been accounted for in those totals. We performed plenty of unpaid labor, meaning the labor charges would be greater than the product costs if we had paid ourselves for our time.
The items included in the unpaid category include painting all rooms, finishing the hardwood floors, installing floating shelves, some drywall finish work, installing insulation, the time spent shopping for materials, performing design work, and performing general contracting activities. The unaccounted-for costs are at least $15K. This means the project cost was about $105,000, or $87.50 per square foot.
As shown in Figure 2, the project costs are broken down by room/task. The bathroom consumed nearly 20% of the budget because it was a custom design with a large amount of glass, very nice fixtures, and fabulous custom tile work. The finish and trim carpentry took over 14% of the budget. This included floor moldings, window casings, and other trim work. The following three major expenses were the Kitchen (cabinets and other materials), the Pergo flooring, and the drywall services. Plumbing and electrical were roughly equivalent at about $7500, with the remainder of the expenses being framing, appliances, painting, and lighting.
Final Thoughts
About half of the products we used to complete this project came from Lowes. We got a 10% discount (special coupons) or a 5% discount (if a Lowes credit card was used) for all those purchases. With over $24,000 spent at Lowes, we saved approximately $1500 on materials simply by opening and using a Lowes credit card.
We were very fortunate to have excellent contractors for each project phase. We learned many tips and tricks for this type of work and made several new friends. There are many things I could expand upon in this article, but for now, I’m just glad to document what we accomplished. Thanks for reading!
