"Stick with Stick-On!" (tales from the Midnight Mimosa Club)

It was supposed to be a quick trip to Buffalo to borrow some furniture for our apartment, and to do a quick paint job to spruce up my mother-in-law Kathy's basement...


Finnegan and I drove to Buffalo on Saturday with the intention of coming home on Tuesday... and ended up staying until Friday!!  The week was full of looong days and late nights (each ending with a mimosa, of course) but it was SO worth it, because the basement turned out better than we ever imagined!!


I forgot to take some "before" photos of the basement, so I've dug up some photos from this past Christmas for reference:

Notice the old gray-blue colored trim, floor, paneling & stairs (with old green carpeting)

Notice the sponged walls & old paneling with unpainted trim piece

Notice the unpainted door between the bar area and Kathy's office

Notice the paint color (yellow with tan sponged accents)

Notice the color/finish of the old bar countertop

Notice the old flooring and unpainted office door in this photo of Finnegan 

enjoying some champagne this year at Christmas :o)

I arrived in Buffalo on Saturday night, so we didn't begin working on the basement until Sunday morning.  It would take me days to recount all of the events (some very funny, others very frustrating!).  It took us over 5 hours just to prime the old paneling on the first day, then a few days to get everything painted, and then the flooring...YIKES!  For the record, snap-together laminate wood flooring is NOT for amateurs, no matter what the guy at the Lowe's store tells you!!  Hence my new motto: "Stick with Stick-On!!"

And now, the glorious "AFTER" photos (which really don't do the room justice; it is SO beautiful and warm in person!)

We painted the paneling, trim and doors a warm ivory color, which makes the room look so much bigger!

I installed this fantastic vinyl tile, which has the same appearance and texture of real stone

Refinished bar countertop using the same tile as the floor (complete with mitred wood trim pieces!) 

We painted the office the same warm tan color, and rearranged the furniture to better utilize the space!

The view of the updated family room from inside Kathy's office

(the paint will be scraped off the glass on the office door once it has dried completely)

We ripped the carpet off of the stairs, which will be painted brown 

and then carpet treads will be added for traction

Believe it or not, I also managed to visit with some of my favorite people while I was in town!  I got to snuggle our adorable niece Samantha, catch up with Brian, Steph and Julie, have lunch with Jack, Tracie and Rylie, and I even got to ride on Grandpa Joe's snazzy new lift chair :o)  Finnegan also did some socializing while he was in town; he ran around in the mud with his doggy cousin Brady McCann, went for a walk with his new buddy Charlie Brown, and played outside with Mc and Morgan!  It was so nice to catch up with them after the craziness of the holidays and moving.

The very best part about my visit, however, was being able to spend so much quality time with my wonderful mother-in-law.  We make a great team, and it was really rewarding to do something nice for her in return for all of the wonderful things that she does for us.  I am SO lucky to have her as my mother-in-law, and I look forward to making memories in the basement that we created together :-)