Extreme Makeover: Mitchell Edition

Whoever named this week off of work as "Spring Break" apparently didn't live at our house. There has been no "break" in sight. Instead, it has been full of craziness, as we have finished a complete renovation of our basement. I wish I had more "before" pictures to show you...but let's just say it wasn't a pretty sight. The walls were stark white, the floor was tacky fake wood linoleum, there were no doors (so the bathroom and all of the utility equipment was exposed) and overall it was cold, dirty, and buggy (meaning that without baseboards, all sorts of creepy, crawly things would get in). Whenever we would go downstairs to watch television, there was always an underlying feeling of unpleasantness. Like, "I can't wait for the show to be over so we can go back upstairs!" So with visitors coming and Baby Girl inheriting the only guest room, we decided this needed to be a priority.

Since we don't have a lot of prior experience in construction, many of the projects were foreign territory for us. We painted walls, built walls, hung doors, built door frames, installed a vanity, installed baseboards...it was madness. However, after 8 days, 2 out-of-town guest carpenters (Grandma and Grandpa Kunold, a.k.a. Baa and Gigi), about 100 trips to Home Depot, and a big chunk of our tax return later...alas, it is now one of the nicest areas in the house!

A before shot...nice floor, eh?

Just what you want to look at while watching T.V.

Here we are in the midst of total chaos

Hardworking Men


Who says home improvement isn't fun?

Finally...a beautiful guest room
(just in time for the Probert's!)

Mark actually built this wall from scratch
and hung french doors...impressive!

Our Africa stuff finally has a suitable home!

Here I am, Mr. Helpful!

As if we didn't have enough to do,
we also tackled the nursery!

We still need to add some decorations,
but at least we still have 12 weeks to go!

Thanks for all your hard work, Baa and Gigi!!!
(It would have been impossible without you!)