This was a super fun project that had amazing results. It added a lot of texture to the space and gave it a rustic unique feel. Our son and daughter in law did a major renovations in their basement. Monte was able to fly up and lend them a hand on this project that became a bigger ordeal then they originally thought it would be.
Their basement hadn’t had much attention if any since their house was first built in the 70’s. They were originally just going to spruce things up but decided to do a more intense renovation that involved updating and moving the bathroom plus adding a couple walls to make the space more warm and functional.
They already had two bedrooms in the basement that were good size so they were going to leave them and just spruce them up a bit. Unfortunately in older homes it is common to find issues that make a renovation more involved then you were hoping.
They discovered some water issues coming in from a couple cracks in the exterior walls so they needed to deal with that before they really got going on the project. That kind of stuff usually means a lot of headache trying to figure out what needs to be done to make the home safe to live in. Luckily Monte and our son have a good head on their shoulders and were able to deal with the unforeseen problem. Unfortunately it involved digging around the exterior foundation and adding some weeping tile to drain the water away from the house and also adding a blue skin coating to the exterior of the house so no water makes it way into the house. These bumps in the project always hit the renovation budget pretty hard. They cost a lot and you can’t visually see any improvements. It’s all part of the journey when you start a remodeling project.
After the water issues were taken care of our daughter in law was able to have some fun with the design of the two bedrooms. Our son does metal cladding for a living so he is a pro at installing the galvanized metal. Not only is he a professional he is also a perfectionist when it comes to his work. They decided to add a product they love and work with to each bedroom and give it a little texture and uniqueness.
In one of the rooms they decided to add the galvanized metal to the ceiling. Installing the metal is not super difficult but it needs to be done well so it looks square and straight. They were working with large sheets of metal. It’s also important to line the screw up that they used to hang the metal so it looks professional. He used a trim around the ceiling and wall to finish it off. He also trimmed out the light and heat vent that are in the ceiling.
It is a really unique way to add a little something extra to a space and it looks amazing. It is a really pretty industrial look that went up fairly smoothly. I love the character and charm that it added to the ceiling.
The original plan was to add the galvanized metal to the ceiling in both rooms but realized that would be a real headache because the second bedroom had a header running through the room that contained the heat duct and plumbing. In most DIY shows they would spend the money and raise all of this into the basement ceiling running it through the joists. Because that wasn’t in the budget they were just going to love what they had and work with it.
Plan B was adding the galvanized metal to an accent wall instead of the ceiling. He followed the same steps for installing the galvanized metal to the wall as he did on the ceiling. Because of the header he had to work around it drops down a bit in on one side of the wall. I think it just adds a little character and charm to the space. There was also a pony wall they decided to leave instead of closing it in and framing out the window. There are a couple of plugs that he framed out similar to the ceiling light and heat vent in the first room. He also added trim around the whole wall, it gives it a completed professional look.
I think it ties in nicely with the wood flooring, paint and baseboards. This design would look amazing in an office, family room or a bedroom. It is a very versatile design.
Because he had some extra galvanized metal he was able to build out the fireplace. Since it is an older home they didn’t plan on using the wood fireplace but plan to eventually turn it into a gas fireplace. The gas fireplace insert isn’t in they budget at the moment so they turned it into a decorative piece for now. They could have pulled the fireplace out but decided to leave it because the fireplace would be workable without too much effort. They set it up to hang a TV about the fireplace.
Our son used to work for a company that took him all over the frozen north. At one project in the Yukon he was able to bring home this beautiful granite that he decided to put in the fireplace for decoration. The finished project is absolutely stunning and also an amazing reminder of time spent in the Yukon.
The thing I love about these kind of projects is making your home unique to you. You will see yourself in the design and it will reflect your style and personality. Because our son works with galvanized metal it was hard to put a price on this project because the product he used was left over from previous jobs. So without investing any additional money he was able to add unique character and charm to the space.
