Budget Basement

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When we moved into our current home, Thanksgiving week of 2019, for the first time ever we had a sauna in the basement. Not a love of saunas I immediately wanted to get rid of it. However it was large and was built in the basement, very well constructed I might add. Fast forward five years, after multiple quotes to removed said sauna for way too much money, I decided to do it myself. Wow is all I can say. Was the hardest thing ever! I successfully removed the door, the heater, benches, and front and side walls. That was all I could do.

This is the only picture I have of it. Was VERY well built
but way too large for this basement and the two people that lived here.

Thankfully a friend and her husband came and tore down the other two walls and room paying them with the free cedar. Then my dilemma was what to do with this space. We priced out having the shower removed but after the cost and the fact that the sewer and pipes would still be left behind, we decided to keep it. Honestly it has only been used a couple times but decided why pay to have it removed? So we left it. My goal was to update this area and get rid of the dingy basement vibe for minimal cost and effort.

The start of something, but what?

Another before.

After painting walls and base coat to floor,
started stenciling.

Stencil progress. This was laborious!!

Shower area. Used a curtain in my closet to cover storage area.
Bought the shelf unit for $30 and painted with leftover paint.

Added family photo gallery and picked up this
cabinet off of Marketplace.

Chairs were previously in living room and
replaced with new chairs.

Close up of completed floor stencil.
You would never know there is a floor drain!

We did not do anything for a ceiling treatment but are still pondering idea. We do have a couple lights to get installed but total for this room was just under $400.