Week one of the one week challenge is upon us and I am beyond excited to start the largest project in our home renovations, our Art Deco-Speakeasy inspired Basement.
A little background on our house: It is a 101 year old craftsman located in the heart of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania filled with some classic charm and lots of unique quirks that you would only find in a vintage home...which can be great thing, with the beautiful moldings, and antique built-ins--while also causing a mind boggling conundrum with the craftsman hatred for all things symmetrical. Over the last three years I have slowly made my way through the upstairs spaces and do what we could to bring a lot of the old charm back and wipe out dark scary 80s updates.
We have had our fair share of challenges while working on the upper floors but none compare to the monstrosity that we will be undertaking in the basement. When this house was built, the basement was not created to be a livable family space, it was there to store coal, to do your laundry, and to most importantly to punish your husband by forcing him to use the infamous Pittsburgh Toilet.
The previous owner was very proud of how he updated and "finished" this space---aka slapping some of that oh so pretty 80's wood paneling and partnered with a plywood bathroom and about one over head construction light used to luminate the entire 800 square foot room.
Aside from not being aesthetically pleasing it also has some major constraints due low ceiling height, a very deadly set of uneven stairs (which I fell down four times prior to their replacement),and floors that resemble the rolling hills of wv. So before the official kick off we had to address these issues. In order to gain the head room, we moved the furnace to the other side of the room so we could tuck the duct work up into the ceiling. We also ran new electrical around the room and through the headers so we could have more than just a beer sign lighting up the room.
Here is the space before we moved in...
Hopefully those images didn't scare you off too much, and you are still here to see the good stuff!!
The plan is to transform this Dracula cave into a 1920s speakeasy lounge/family room----complete with extensive molding, ornate paintings, secret doors, and large scale chandeliers! As beautiful as I want this space I also need it to be a functional living space where we can hang out and watch our favorite movies and veg out with bruiser.
To Do List:
*Install all the Box Molding
*Paint the room a moody Grey
*Install secret doors
*Finish the bathroom
*Install wood floors
*Add baseboard
*Find the perfect leather sofa
*Build Art deco Bar
*Build built in bookcase
*And the list goes on!
At the end of the week, I am hoping to have the floors down, and the molding wrapped so we can focus our energy on the bar and built in.
I am beyond excited to participate in my first official One Room Challenge alongside so many amazing designers. Follow along to see the transformation of so many unique spaces!
http://www.oneroomchallenge.com/orc-blog/
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