Adios UFO's

For those of you who might be wanting to see progress on our basement...remember when I spent a week painting the pine paneling back in January of 2010?  Well, the basement reno has basically been stalled since then while I attended to the scads of other project ideas whirling around in my mind.

The catalyst that finally got us moving on our wish list was the sump pump installation.   As you can see from previous photos, the installation left us with a half cement/half linoleum tile floor circa a 1950's grade school cafeteria.  It was fun while it lasted, but that combo had to go. 

Our contractor team is wonderful.  They've been working non-stop since Monday morning and have transformed the place.  It's not finished yet, but so far they've:

-Removed the horrible UFO drop-lights.
-Torn out the recycled paper tile ceilings.
-Installed 13 (it's finally light down there!) can lights.
-Rewired the light switches and installed dimmers.
-Removed existing crown moulding.
-Installed drywall on the ceiling.
-Created a drywall box for some of the exposed duct work (we're leaving some of it exposed so as not to use up any of the precious ceiling height).
-Installed new crown moulding around the ceiling.
-Installed a new entry door, moulding and thresh hold.
-Created a built-in media console in the wall by the fireplace (it's all dead space under the stairs, so we decided to make use of it by building something in, rather than taking up space in the narrow room with a piece of furniture).

Phew. That's a lot.  I'm tired on their behalf.

Today they're going to:

-Paint the ceiling, window casings and crown moulding.
-Remove the current baseboards and shoe moulding.
-Prep for tomorrow's flooring installation.

Anyhow, here's some pictures of the progress.  We rush home every night after work and are consistently blown away by the quality and beauty of their work!  It's like Christmas morning every time we get home and walk down the stairs to check it out. 

I can't wait to show off (I mean, let's call it what it is, I'm totally showing off, but I don't care because I'm sooo excited about it!) the finished product.  You may just die seeing it. 

P.S.  If anyone in the DC area is in need of a fabulous contractor, let me know.  Tony does stuff for Blake's whole family and always does a fabulous job at rock-bottom prices.