Building a Room in the Basement for Under $1K; Part 2

It is so rewarding to have a project finished! Below is the photo journal describing how we finished the closet in the basement bonus room plus all of the finishing touches. If you did not get the chance to read Part 1 of Building a Room in the Basement, click here.

We added sheetrock plus mud and taped the seams to close in the wall next to the stairs.

Believe it or not the space underneath the stairs will become a nice closet...

After I sanded the joint compound, I primed the wall.

We then trimmed the doorway with pine boards that I would later prime and paint. I usually prime lumber before we put it up using a primer that seals the knots from bleeding. However, since the adjoining walls are white as well, I didn't bother this time.

I also trimmed out the window. In this case I should of primed and painted first, but I wasn't in the mood for painting. So I had to be more careful when I did paint the trim around this window.

Since there was a 2x4 going across the stair supports we decided to elevate the floor in the closet. A frame made with 2x4s was placed on the floor. Then when my husband attached the plywood he was able to attach it to the 2x4s that were drilled into the concrete. We then insulated the closet walls and put up sheet rock.

Next came the flooring. Each stick on square was only 25¢ at Marden's. We figured it wasn't a huge investment so we could change our mind any time.

I primed and painted the walls and then started laying down the tiles. They were quite easy to cut and shape for a space that was not very square.

I carefully primed and painted the window trim.

We purchased a wall heater on-line from Home Depot. This item is not sold at our local Home Depot. It heats a room without drying it out, however you do have to turn it off when the room reaches the desired temperature.

After all of the messy work was done, I was able to put the final coat of paint on the floor. I used paint that is made for cement floors. 

After all of the painting was done it was time for us to attach the baseboard trim. We purchased waterproof trim just in case the floor was to ever get wet in the basement.

We used liquid nails along with the self stick backing that is part of this baseboard trim to attach the trim to the walls. So far it has remained attached well to all of the walls.

We built a sliding barn door just like the ones that we built for our camp. This is our third door so far and it gets easier with each one that we make. For more information on building your own barn door visit my article, Sliding Barn Doors Rock!

The home stretch! We trimmed out the closet and added shelving.

This is what the room looks like now from the outside.

A Dresser Becomes a Kitchen Island for Under $25

If you know someone getting rid of an old dresser, you are in luck. You can turn something that is falling apart into a useful addition to your kitchen. We got an old dresser from my husband's grandfather. The supports for a couple of the drawers were missing, but other than that the rest of it was in fairly good condition.

I forgot to take a picture of the dresser before my husband cut it and I primed it. Hopefully this picture will help a little. The top portion is what it looked like before we started. There is a drawer off to the side because it no longer fits after I added support for the new top. 

The back of the dresser turned kitchen island.

After my husband cut the top off I used a primer that allows for us lazy folks to not have to do any sanding to remove the previous finish. The kind I use is Zinsser BIN. It is a little more expensive, but well worth the time saved. This was also the only expensive part of the project and I already had this primer around because I use it also to prime pine boards so that the knots do not bleed through the paint.

Once the dresser was primed, I added 1x3 support pine around the entire top of the dresser. This is in preparation to support the boards that will be the counter surface of the island.

I painted the island with old paint I had lying around and added hooks to hold towels or other kitchen utensils.

I also added wheels to the bottom that I purchased from Harbor Freight for a very good price.

I used 1x12 pine boards for the top. I sanded and stained the top with a Minwax blend of Early American and Ebony. I attached the top using L brackets and Liquid Nails.

The black paint on the island is chalkboard paint so that we can leave messages or children that visit can use it.