Updates to the Bonus Room

The last time I posted about this room which we have referred to as the bonus room (that is what this room was listed as on the real estate description) was back in February of 2013 in this post. In that post I talked about how this room was more about function than aesthetics for me so I hadn't done a lot of design updates to it.  This is changing now though because of 2 unfortunate springs of water damage to the room.  I don't have any photos of the water damage but the carpet was ruined. Thankfully the exercise equipment, TV, and futon didn't suffer any damage.  We decided that this room would probably continue to risk getting water in it so we had two basement companies who install drain tile come in and do bids for the room.  We ended up going with the same company that did the drain tile in our main basement and we decided to have the company do some updates in flooring and add a drywall railing to the stairs while they were working on it.

To install drain tile they cut out the bottom portion of the drywall and removed the concrete floor around the wall.  They were able to put a sump pump in the closet under the stairs. The other company wanted to put one in along the walls so we would of lost floor space in the room.

We decided to put laminate flooring in instead of new carpet.

As you can see from this picture of our cat, the staircase used to be open on one side and there was no handrail on the other side.  It wasn't very safe and it would be impossible to put a gate at the bottom of the stairs.  Since we intend on using this room as a playroom for Lyla that was a big problem.

We had the workers build a drywall railing on the other side of the stairs.  Here is what the room looks like after the workers finished up their part of the work (we still have a lot to do down there).

Our next job in this room is to paint and install the baseboards.  You can see the baseboards that we picked in the last photo.  The paint has been selected and purchased as well.  I have also bought a new futon and a rug for the room.  We will still need curtain rods, curtains, and a piece of furniture to hold the TV and to use as storage.  We also need a new door for the closet under the stairs because the one that is in the room now doesn't shut.  It will be hard to keep the baby out of that closet unless we have a door that shuts!  I will keep you updated on the progress of this room.  I am excited with how it looks so far!