When we finished installing the floor in the basement the last thing I wanted to do was cover the whole thing up with a giant rug.


While I would love not having to buy a rug or to sweep it, it's definitely a necessity down here where the temperatures are a lot cooler than upstairs.  It's also needed to break up the dark floors and dark couch.


During the planning process I knew I needed something that was inexpensive, very durable, (it's a basement after all), and also looked good.  I've been having major buyers remorse over the rug in our living room upstairs for some time now, (hating the swirls and color), and I wanted to take my time picking something for this new room that I would love. 

When we moved in, the basement was covered in carpet squares that were originally glued to the concrete, but had lost their adhesion years ago.  They were gross and shifted when you stepped on them.  As far as a dingy basement they were great, because we spilled things on them, Benelli marked a couple, and we wore our dirty boots all over them without care.  When they got too gross, (ahem, Benelli), we would throw them out.  They were nice for working down there so that we didn't hurt our backs walking on the hard concrete.

Even with the nightmare of the gross carpet squares that we inherited, I couldn't help but notice all the bloggers who were falling in love with FLOR capert tiles.  I liked the idea of being able to wash a square if there was a mess, and the fact that I could simply buy a new square if it was totally damaged was also a win.  With a kegerator not 10 feet away, I figured for my piece of mind, and against Mike's protests, I would add them to my potential rug options.

After pricing out a 13' x 9' rug, (ridiculous!), I turned to FLOR and decided to get some samples to see for myself if they could work.  I picked out 6 samples with free shipping for $10.



I was surprised by the quality of the samples and then did the slip proof test by removing the sticker from the back of one and stepped on it.  The backings aren't sticky, they just have a slight rubber feel, but when you put your weight on it, it doesn't move around.

While I like most of them, (Finer Things - Flaxen was too green, and Family Tree - Stone was not doing it for me at all), we narrowed down the 6 choices to 2:


Both Mike and I picked Twill Ride as our favorite, but I was worried about the white getting too dirty, and I also was worried that the white/silver was too similar to all the colors we already had going down there.  I liked the chevron pattern of the Suit Yourself, and the texture was a little more comfortable than the dense Twill Ride.  I hoped the subtle green and creams would add a nice texture layer. 

So, in the end I was going to sit on my decision for awhile, but when I saw a free shipping promo on the website I decided to bite the bullet and get 41 tiles to make a 8' x 13' rug, (5 tiles x 8 tiles with 1 for stock).  At $10 a piece it wasn't a small bill, but it was a reasonable price for the size.  The free shipping was also nice.

Style Name and Color

Qty.

Price

Total

Suit Yourself - Linen	41*	$10.00	$410.00
Subtotal Shipping Tax Order Total			$410.00 $0.00 $26.65 $436.65
*The following product(s) are currently backordered Suit Yourself - Linen (41) Backordered products will ship as soon as they arrive in our warehouse.

What wasn't nice was the backordered asterisk.  I ordered them on March 26th and after a phone call was told they wouldn't arrive to the warehouse until April 22nd :(  To my surprise I got an email last week notifying me that they shipped and would arrive on Monday!  So, Monday night I raced home to find 4 boxes on the porch.  And, like any good instagrammer, immediately took a photo.  


I shleped them downstairs myself, but waited for Mike to come home to help me move the couch around.  I love that darn sectional, but man, is it a bitch to move.

There are tons of tutorials, but essentially we moved half the couch, then laid out the tiles, then picked up the corners and added the stickers.  Once we got to the other half, we moved the couch around and finished it off.  It was really easy and was done in about 30 minutes, (including moving the beast of a couch around).  I had bought 41 tiles for a 8 x 5 tile grid, but as Mike pointed out, we didn't need them under the back part of the couch where it would never be seen, so instead of 1 extra, we have 7.  I suggested returning them, but Mike liked the idea of having all the extras for insurance down the road.

Mike is indifferent to things like rugs, but I love it.


I was hoping the color would be different than the wall color, but in mass it looks very similar.  It's okay though, after living with it so dark down here for so long, I don't care if everything is light.  I love the pattern and texture though.  We chose a parquet pattern and rotated every other 90 degrees.


We have to live with it for more than 72 hours for the real test, but so far so good.  We don't mind the unfinished edge, but Mike's a little wary about it showing abuse from walking.  We'll see how it holds up over time.

From a comfort level its great, even though it's been warmer here, it's still a lot cooler downstairs in the basement and standing on the floor vs the rug is a huge difference.  It's also the perfect layer to start adding more textures and patterns into the room.  Throws and pillows here I come!

Last week I showed the family room as we're using it now.  We've still got a long way to go, but we'll be doing it in stages and I'll be sure to share everything along the way.

The first thing I wanted to do was explain the big hole in the wall.


Technically, there are two big holes, but the bottom left, (the clean-out for the sewage drain), got an access panel cover and is covered by the sectional, so I don't have to worry about that one.  The other one is a little more noticeable.  It's a weird placement, but it's actually our circuit breaker box.


When we moved in it was actually completely covered with a wall to wall built-in.  I'm not sure how they ever reset any breakers, but I'm 100% sure it wasn't up to code.


While I liked the idea of never seeing it, we do need to access it.  Mike wanted to create a hinged door, but I had a better idea and asked him to just frame around it and leave it.  He wanted to add some insulation since that's an exterior wall and decided to get all MacGyver and create a little piece that could easily be pulled out.


First he cut a piece of rigid insulation down to the size of the hole, then cut a recessed area in the center about half the thickness of the insulation.  Then he screwed a handle onto a piece of wood the same size of the recessed area.  On the back he added another piece of wood and screwed the handle screws through.  It should be noted that he figured out the total thickness first, then found screws that were long enough to screw through it all.


That's why I keep him around since I knew how I wanted to conceal it, but I never would have thought to insulate it.  I probably would have always wondered why the spot on the couch underneath would have been cold all the time.

After we moved the couch downstairs I was itching to do some decorating and figured it was about time to get rid of that eye sore.

I decided long ago that I would create a gallery wall above the couch on that wall and would strategically place a frame over the opening.  Well, last week I bought some frames from Target and got to work.  The only frame I specifically needed was one bigger than 17"x21", the size of the opening.  For the rest, I just bought some I liked.  The other element I knew I wanted to add was a metal letter 'M' Mike salvaged for me a while back from an old building, (along with some other letters).
 

Since both our names start with the same letter, I thought it would be cute to use it downstairs on the gallery wall.

All we've been doing for the last couple of weeks is patching and filling holes in the drywall downstairs, and I hated the idea of putting more holes in the walls with all my pictures.  I was also worried about the picture over the electrical box, since it needed to cover the hole and I couldn't worry about where the nail needed to be.  I had so much success with the command strip hanger that has been keeping my sunburst mirror from killing us in our sleep, that I figured that would be the best option for the gallery wall as well. 

Like I usually do, I first laid all the new frames out on the floor until I came up with a configuration I liked.  Then, I snapped a quick photo with my iPhone because I knew 3 seconds after picking them up I would forget that configuration.


I left some space between the frame on the left and the two smaller frames for the metal 'M'.

When it came to actually attaching the pictures, I started with the big black frame, since that would dictate the rest of the frames.  The frame was only about an inch or two bigger than the opening so there was little drywall space around the opening for the metal hanger, so I used four strips of velcro.  I figured this would make it easier to take off and on when we needed to.

I first stuck the command strips onto the velcro, then put two pieces of velcro together, and slapped it onto the frame.  I should have thought for a second before doing it and placed them a little closer to the edge of the frame since they barely fit on the drywall, but thankfully they worked.  Then, I removed the paper backing to the other sticky pieces and using a level placed it right over the opening.

After that frame was up, I cut some kraft paper the same size as the other frames and the metal letter and just taped it up on the wall where I liked it.

 
Since I was just using command strips nothing had to be too perfect and I just eyeballed it.

The other frames all had those little sawtooth hanger things on them and I had planned to get more of the metal hangers, but found these plastic sawtooth hangers at Target, plus they were all on sale!


I drew where the sawtooth hanger was on the kraft paper and poked a hole through the paper and lightly indented the wall.  After I took the paper down, I stuck up the command strip and was good to go.

For extra strength I did use the metal hangers for the letter M.  It's probably only about 5 pounds, but scared me more than the frames.  Since the letter originally was fitted to permanently hang on the exterior of a building, it didn't have any sort of hanging system on the back.  Mike cut a couple pieces of scrap metal to fit the top points and used epoxy to adhere them together.  We waited a full 24 hours before hanging it just to be sure.



Since the instructions on the command strips say to wait an hour before hanging we went to hang out with my sister and hung everything after we got back.


I love the gallery wall.  Like, more than I should love any frame collection.  While I still have strong feelings for my corner wall shelves upstairs, I like this collection better because it feels more collected over time.  I also like the mix of wood and metal.

I almost have all the frames filled, (which is a miracle in this house since our dining room frames have sat empty for years), and my biggest critic, Mike, loves them.

Starting at the right I remade a vintage looking poster from the prohibition days.  I had to remake it to fit the frame we wanted, plus I wanted to add a little personal touch.


Our godson's name is Marshall, so I purposely misspelled 'United States Marshal' as a nod to the little guy.

 
The little frame to the left has the international signal code alphabet for Mike's grandfather, who was a signalman in the US Coast Guard during WWII.


And finally, Mike's favorite, the Humulus lupulus botanical print.  Better known as hops for those who don't live with a nanobrewery in their basement.


For the last frame I'm thinking of a construction blueprint, either photoshoping one of Mike's project prints, (since we don't use blueprints anymore), or copying one of the blueprints from the storage room in my office, since we have prints from a couple buildings my boss owns that are well over 50 years old. 

I've never filled frames up this quickly, but I think once I was able to think of a couple things that were sentimental to us, it was easy.


I've got something big planned for the wall behind the couch, and I just received an email letting me know that it shipped on Friday, so I'll let you know when it arrives!  

The basement will probably not be "complete" for a while, but as long as there's a toilet, TV, and couch, it's far enough along for us to start using it.  The entire project has been scheduled by predecessors, meaning we complete one project because it's necessary for the following project to start.

The end goal for the basement was always to get the sectional back downstairs.  We did each project in succession basically for a couch.  Since we bought a sectional two years ago, long before we started this project, (although sometimes it feels like it's lasted that long), we had to relocate the couch upstairs while the basement was worked on.  The only space it would fit and still allow us to function normally was in the dining room.

 
For the last 6 months or so, the dining room has looked like this, (the table and chairs were moved into the living room):



It was weird at first, but I kind of liked all the seating.  Not to mention eating my breakfast on the couch.

Even though it became the norm, Mike and I were both itching to get it back downstairs.  So, we decided that we would finish any cutting necessary, including finishing the stairs, and cutting and installing the trim and after the trim was all painted we would move the couch downstairs.  Since we'll never have a completed room without any furniture, I figured I would take some photos to show you the space before we started making it the family room.


      
As you can see I still have some paint touch-ups to do and outlet covers to install, but we finished everything that would be blocked by the couch and figured the rest could be worked around.

As soon as we brought the couch down we mounted the TV.  I convinced Mike that we needed to bring the sectional down before I committed to where I wanted the TV placed.  It literally took hours for me to finally decide on a placement.  It took so long that Mike actually caved in and promised he would build me a TV cabinet for the wall next to the laundry room door.  I'll share my plans for that later.

We finished it all the weekend before Easter and promptly set up the dvd player to watch Skyfall, (Mike's birthday present this year, along with the sunny weather and beach trips since it was during our vacation).

  
This is my bliss people: the cat, my guy (trying to be goofy for the camera), and a movie night with cuddling.  Even with a metal chair and only a couch and a TV, I can already tell this room is going to be used a lot for friends and family, and lots and lots of movies.