Basement - Kitchenette

as i mentioned some time or other, one of the reasons we bought this house was the potential to rent out the basement.  our two lovely athletes in action interns both agreed to live down below the ground.  the boys think they have two big sisters for sure.  the one problem with renting out the basement was that there wasn't a kitchen.  only a slight problem, because there happened to be a 500 sq ft unfinished portion of the basement that sits directly below the upstairs kitchen with all the pipes and wiring exposed and waiting to be tapped into.  bingo.

we began our adventure of installing the kitchenette/wet bar about two months ago.  lemme tell ya...it's been a looooong two months, and i'm very thankful the girls have been so gracious to share my kitchen some and have men working in their space at (literally) all hours of the day and night.

we've been very thankful for a friend (without kids) (hence, he has a lot of available time) (don't ya miss all that pre-kid free time sometimes?) who does renovations for a living.  he said i was only allowed to pay him with meals and beverages while he was working so we took full advantage of that ;) in all seriousness, we couldn't have done this without peter.  he got all the right permits, drew up plans, took shopping trips with jon to depot numerous times and was a total perfectionist start to finish. 



this is the only "before" or "during" shot that i have really, but i think if you just picture an unfinished cinderblock basement you know what we started with.  the guys did everything themselves from framing, to insulating, to dry-walling, trim and tiling...you name it.  the only things we hired out were electrical and plumbing.



come on downstairs! these go down from the laundry room (on the right) between the kitchen (door to the right) and garage (door to the left).



the door on the left there goes to the unfinished storage room portion and the entrance to the kitchen is where they busted through the wall to create this:



so it was super hard to get good angles and show you the whole thing.  basically we wanted some storage and countertop space for the ladies to live with, but we also wanted it to be able to function as a basement wet bar if we ever sold the house or stopped renting.  just a place for drinks and making popcorn.



we got the biggest (fits a 9x13 pan) (barely) convection/toaster oven possible.  it's a breville from bed bath and beyond.  it got really good ratings...so far so good.



we also got the biggest mini fridge (oxymoron?) we could find.  this one came from lowes.  i wanted the girls to be able to fit a gallon of milk and stuff.  they have a full size fridge/freezer in the storage room right next door.  i really hope that's not going to be annoying.



all the cabinetry came from our new ikea here in colorado.  it's shockingly nice and was surprisingly more affordable than anywhere else.  cause believe me, i looked e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e.  the doors and drawers are all soft close.  you know, where they don't slam.  i went with these little legs instead of the toe-kicks.



the butcher block countertops were ikea too.  the guys gave them a rounded off overhang to make a smidge more counter space and tuck a stool or trashcan under.  it also gives flow.  lovely.



and the sink with the built-in drain board.  the gooseneck faucet was lowes.



light fixtures were from lowes.  the walls are actually a super light gray called "fleur de sel" and the ceiling is a gray/blue "reflection" both sherwin williams.



nautical?  industrial?  we left a large metal vent that runs the length of the storage area ceiling exposed instead of dry walling around it...that's what i was workin' with.  you can see it in one of those pics above.



we put in 4 light fixtures in this small space because it's basically a narrow cave below the staircase.  two pendants, this 3 light thing and one other back by the pantry.



hardware from home depot.



marble 3x6, blue/green glass tile and marble bull nose all from home depot.  bright white grout.



flat floorboards, and allure flooring in "rosewood ebony" all by way of the home depot. 

well no pantry pics cause they were too hard to get, but there's a narrow "room" at the back under the stairs with some shelving.
it's small but lovely :)  let me know what ya think of my husband's handy work!