So it’s time to refresh this project……since I didn’t quite get off to the best start with it. The two-year-old pictures below are still pretty much the same aside from the fact that I’ve cleaned most of the stuff out of it that I was storing and moved it to the garage. Time to give it another shot. A big pre-thanks to Stay for all the help with everything.

The Plan
Home Office - A place for my desk and computer to get it out of the corner of my bedroom.
Home Theater - Surround sound, computer control for music/video serving and just a general place to relax.
Bedroom - Somewhere other than my living room couch for people to stay when they’re over. It’ll probably be a couch for them to sleep on there too, but it’s still more space.

The Progress
Click on any of the pictures to see an enlarged view.

• 5/4/2006

  
  The basement in it’s original and current unfinished state, serving as a big closet for me.

• 5/31/2006
  I finished ordering all the parts to build the server for the basement. I’ll go ahead and work to get it up and running so we can test it during movie nights and see if anything on it needs changed before I put it in the basement.
• 6/5/2006
  The server is built and up and running, I still have a lot of cable management and setup to do on it, but at least it works.
• 6/6/2006
  The cable management is done and the server is completely together now. I’ve begun transferring most of my media to the server and we’ll give it a test run at movie night tomorrow night.
• 6/26/2008
  Here we are, two years later, time to start working again. Stay and I spent a couple of hours this evening laying out plans for the basement wiring. Electrical, cable, network, audio. Now we just need to acquire the parts and get started.
• 6/27/2008
  Stay and I made a trip to Home Depot today to start acquiring parts for wiring. I’ll make a parts list here soon of what we’re using, but we’re all set to get started with wiring. We’re still debating the closet door but I think we’re getting a lot closer to having it figured out.
• 6/28/2008
  Another planning and acquisition day today. While thinking about the room layout so that I could order parts that we didn’t get at Home Depot, I realized that my original plan for wiring the network in the room wasn’t going to work as planned so I had to head back to the drawing board. I think I have a plan figured out now however that will work as desired. I ordered a majority of the remaining pieces for the wiring tonight as well. Most of that should arrive later this week, but there’s plenty to stay busy with in the meantime.
• 7/2/2008
  Tonight we got most of the outlet boxes installed. I think there are still 3 more that need to be put in, but they require some additional framing and cutting the drywall a little bit to get them put in. I’ll be swinging by Home Depot in the next couple of days to pick up the next round of supplies to work on getting the rest of those in. All of the electrical wiring has been pulled now as well. I still have to terminate those to the electrical outlets and clean up the wiring a little bit. Still waiting on the shipment of everything for the audio system but hopefully I’ll get the CAT5 cabling done beforehand.
• 7/4/2008
  Took a few hours after the Braves game tonight to get some more work done. All of the CAT5 cabling is now run from the area for my desk and the in-room data jack into a single-gang outlet box in the side of the closet area. Also got the drywall cut and the outlet box in for the right rear speaker and framed in the necessary spots for the front speaker outlet boxes.
• 7/5/2008
  Today was mostly a cleanup day but I did a little bit beforehand. I ran most of the cables that Stay and I ran into their respective outlet boxes. Also shimmed the stud in the closet area that has most of the internal outlet boxes attached to it. It was off by about 15 degrees which wouldn’t have held up well once the drywall was in place but the boxes seem to be a lot straighter now. I took some pictures, I’ll get them up soon.

  

• 7/6/2008
  I made a couple more orders today for different cables and components that I want to add to the basement. Namely, a cable run for audio from my desk back to the receiver in the closet as well as for the video cable runs to the center of the closet. Hopefully all of that will be here before next weekend. I should get my first order in the mail tomorrow so I can go ahead and get the speaker wire run and start cleaning up and stapling the cable that is already in.
• 7/9/2008
  I took a couple of days hiatus from the basement to celebrate my birthday (not to mention that I was waiting on things to come in the mail). Tonight we got all of the speaker wire run as well as the RCA cabling for the sub in the closet area. A lot of the cabling is cleaned up as well now. Back to waiting for a the rest of the supplies to get here which is scheduled for Friday. By the end of the weekend, hopefully we’ll be ready to go for drywall.
• 7/11/2008
  After I got home from work this evening, I ran the RCA cabling from my desk area back into the closet. This’ll allow me to hook my computer up to the speakers in the room to listen to music and such. It took a lot longer than expected so it’s all that I really got done.
• 7/12/2008
  Some more good progress today and we’re getting to the point that it’s about time to shift focus to drywall. I ran the HDMI cabling today and replaced one of the warped studs in the back half of the room. It looks like there’s another stud that’s bowed pretty badly so I’ll get a replacement in for that tomorrow. All that’s really left at this point is to finish up a couple more cables, relocate the thermostat, relocate the light that’s in the room and install a junction box for it and that should pretty much finish up everything before we get some walls up. Spent a little time looking at paint and tile today. Soon enough.
• 7/13/2008
  I finished up the HDMI cabling as well as the rest of the AV cabling for the TV area today. I’m pretty sure at this point, all of the cables that need to be run are in. I bought the stud needed to replace in the rear of the room today but haven’t had the chance to put it in yet. I need to get the tires moved into the garage and that’ll make it a lot easier to work back in that corner. All the boxes in the closet are good to go now with all of their wiring. I also got the thermostat wiring relocated to the wall by the door to the garage so that it won’t be on the front wall of the closet area. I may need to look into moving the alarm panel now as well. It’s always something.

  

• 7/14/2008
  I finally got all of the tires out of the basement and cleaned up the back corner of the basement where my desk is going to go. I removed the other warped stud from that corner and replaced it with a new one so that corner should be ready to go now as well. I think all that’s left before the walls is to move the light and install a junction box. I have some work travel coming up but hopefully walls can start going up next week.
• 7/17/2008
  I’m back from my quick trip to Indiana and Ohio and everything is on track for the drywall to go up next Tuesday and Wednesday. I have a few last minute things to take care of this weekend between moving the light and installing a junction box as well as getting the room cleaned out and ready for the drywall. I have some other things to take care of around the house with Kristi moving in in a couple of weeks, but this is the next big step to getting the room done.
• 7/20/2008
  Stay and I made another trip to Home Depot today and acquired the primer for the drywall as well as some of the paint for the room. We got the flat black for the closet and a gallon of the tan paint that I’ll hopefully be using in the rest of the room. I’ll probably try a little of it on the walls down there later on today just to see how it looks. Next up, drywall. That’ll be going in on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Everything’s cleaned up and ready to go now and the new junction box for the light has been installed.

  

• 7/22/2008
  Just a quick update with a few pictures of drywall day one. All of the drywall is hung except for the inside of the closet area. The first coat of mud is on and drying. Tomorrow, the rest of the drywall will get hung and a second coat of mud’ll go on. Everything should be sanded Thursday morning at the current pace. The TV came in the mail today.

  

• 7/23/2008
  The rest of the closet has had drywall hung and mudded. Everything is drying to be sanded tomorrow morning and then we should be done with the drywall process. Might be able to get started priming by the weekend.
• 7/24/2008
  Everything has been sanded now and is ready for priming and painting. I’ll probably spend a little time checking all the outlets and seeing if there’s anything I want to fix before I get moving on it all, but we’re ready to go. I have the primer and can hopefully get to work on that by the weekend. Who wants to paint?!I spent a little time tonight touching up a few spots where the mud cracked or had air bubbles while drying. I also closed in the edges of one of the outlet boxes that was cut a little too large. I did a little sanding as well and will sand all of my touchups tomorrow and then it’ll be time to start priming. I picked up a quart of dark-tinted primer for the closet area today at Home Depot so we’re ready to go.
• 7/26/2008
  I noticed last night while showing off the room that there was one box had been drywalled over. So this morning, using some of the old pictures and a measuring tape, I punched a hole in the wall and found it. Thankfully, hit it on the first try and got that cut out and ready to go. A little more sanding and some priming today. The white primer for the room has the first coat and then a coat of dark primer in the closet area.

  

• 7/27/2008
  Today was a painting day (as will be the next few). The first coat of black is completely done in the closet. It looks pretty good but I’ll do a second coat just to make sure it’s even and looks complete. I’m really happy with how that turned out. I spent a couple of hours doing the trimming in the rest of the room before calling it quits for the night. I’ll be splitting time the rest of the week between the basement, the Braves, and getting Kristi’s room ready so we’ll see how it works out. For now, I’m off to try to get the two gallons of paint off of my body.

  

• 7/31/2008
  I haven’t really gotten too much done with the basement in the past few days. Today, I patched some of the outlets that were cut a little too big so hopefully those’ll be ready to be sanded on Saturday and repainted.
• 8/5/2008
  Another round of patching outlets today. I put on some thick layers so I’ll be giving them a few good days to dry before I sand them. I also recoated one of the corners in the room just to smooth it out a little bit.
• 8/9/2008
  I got everything sanded down on the outlets today. Should be ready to go with a second coat of the black paint in there. The front and rear speakers came in the mail today as well.
• 8/12/2008
  The second coat of the black paint is up in the closet now. I touched up my recoat in the room and a few other spots and I should be able to sand that Thursday most likely. The receiver came in the mail today as well.
• 8/22/2008
  Stay and I did a coat of the tan paint throughout the room tonight. We went through the first gallon of paint so I’ll have to go pick up some more this weekend.
• 8/24/2008
  I worked on some of the closet jacks tonight, getting one of the HDMI plates hooked up and the component plate for behind the TV set up. I also touched up some of the rough spots in the black paint.
• 9/7/2008
  I made a full run through of the room to patch some of the holes and such in the wall. Once that dries, I’ll have to get them sanded and then we’ll be ready for the second coat of paint in the room.
• 9/23/2008
  I sanded all but one of the patched spots tonight until I had to stop from all of the dust. I’ll get that last spot sanded in the next couple of days and we’ll be ready to do some more painting. I’m hoping to have all of the painting done this weekend. Some much needed photo updates:

  

• 9/24/2008
  Everything is sanded now and ready for paint. There were a couple of small spots that I patched up a little more tonight and got ready to go. Looks like we’re still on schedule to get some more painting done this weekend.
• 9/26/2008
  Stay and I put a coat of paint on the ceiling tonight. It still needs to dry so I’m not too sure if we’re going to need an additional coat of not. Hopefully with the primer that was on there, we’ll just have to touch up a few spots and that’ll be done with. Now we just need to throw a second coat on the walls and I think the painting will be done with.
• 10/1/2008
  Tonight we finished up the bulk of the painting for the basement. We got the second coat of tan on the walls and trimmed around the ceiling and doors where it was needed. I also got all of the trim that was already installed by the builders removed to start getting ready for tile. There’ll need to be a couple of touch-ups on the paint of course, but we’re pretty much ready for tile. I’m thinking I may go ahead and get a light fixture or fan installed down there to start getting the lighting and electrical wrapped up now that the paint is mostly done.
• 10/4/2008
  A lot of good progress today. I went to Home Depot this afternoon to pick up a few things as well as get some tile samples to start trying to get the flooring figured out. I bought a fan for the room as well so I can go ahead and get that installed sometime this week hopefully. Tonight, I spent a couple of hours working on some of the finishings around the room. I reinstalled the ceiling air vents, smoke detector, thermostat and alarm panel. I also terminated and installed the binding post plates for all of the speaker jacks. It will take a little while to get all of the jacks in the room done, but getting those few done is a good start.

  

• 10/5/2008
  Stay and I installed the ceiling fan tonight as well as the new light switch to control it. I opted for the same switch that I have upstairs that controls both the fan speed and light dimmer from one switch. There’s finally a decent source of light in the room now so that will help with choosing a tile for the floor.

  

• 10/8/2008
  It’s finally starting to get to the point where the list of things to do is getting smaller and smaller. For a long while there it seemed like a never-ending project was in front of me. Tonight, Stay and I focused on terminating the outlets that are throughout the room and getting them tested. I took care of the ethernet cabling while Stay finished up the electrical and speakers (as well as some of the stubborn audio panels in the closet. I need to make a trip to Home Depot to grab wall plates for the electrical outlets and then all of the cable finishing should be done. Looks like it’s almost time to choose flooring.
• 10/9/2008
  I stopped by Home Depot at lunch today and picked up the wall plates that can hold both the outlets and keystone jacks. This should be the last thing that I need to pick up to finish everything up before we start tiling. I have a few spots on the ceiling that need touched up with plaster and paint, but I’ll get to that soon. I have a work trip coming up next week so it’ll probably be a few days before I have the chance to get anything done and updated.
• 11/6/2008
  So I haven’t done much in the past month as I’ve been out of town for work pretty much the whole time. Tonight I patched a couple spots in the walls and ceiling that still needed some touchup work. One of the outlets wasn’t closed up quite enough so I went ahead and taped and patched that as well as a few of the nail pops on the ceiling. I’ll get those sanded down sometime soon though.
• 11/9/2008
  Stay and I made the trek to Home Depot this afternoon to pick up the tile and all of the supplies needed to lay that. A friend is graciously loaning us all of the tools we’ll need to complete the job so that’s a big financial saver. We go the tile, mortar and grout. I’m out of town most of this week but everything’s looking on schedule to get the tile started next weekend.
• 11/14/2008
  I made it back into town this morning and spent the evening getting the basement ready to start tiling tomorrow. I sanded the patch on the wall and gave it a coat of paint. I spent some time scraping the floor and vacuuming up the past couple of months worth of dirt and trash that had accumulated down there. Everything’s been moved out of the room now so we should be ready to go to start tiling.
• 11/15/2008
  We got started on the tiling today. A big thanks to Jay for the guidance on how to get started and then for sticking around and helping us out for a couple of hours. Also thanks to Stay and Trout for coming to spend the weekend at my house to lend a hand. Definitely wouldn’t be this far along without you guys. Oh, and thanks to Lindsay for her awesome “non-micromanagerial supervisor” role. We got all of the whole tiles laid today and we will focus on the areas that require cutting tomorrow. We should be able to finish laying all of the tiles tomorrow and that will let me get them grouted one night this week.
• 11/16/2008
  We made it through all of the tiles that needed cut for the edges of the room today. Everything has been mortared down and, aside from chipping one tile right as we finished up and having to replace it, the day went pretty smoothly. For having a collective zero hours of tiling experience before this project, I’d say we did a pretty good job. I’ll hopefully get everything grouted one night this week and then we can move on to trim.

  

• 11/18/2008
  I started on the grout for the tile tonight. No one told me that it was going to take so much energy to do the grout, so I got worn out pretty quickly since I had just come home from the gym. I think I’m about a third of the way through now and I’ve got the hang of it so one more night should finish it up.

  

• 11/21/2008
  Tonight I finished grouting the floor. I’m definitely glad that that’s over judging by the toll it took on my hands and arms. It needs to sit for a day or two before I can get the floor cleaned up and seal the grout. The list of things to do is starting to get a bit shorter.
• 11/30/2008
  The grout is to the point that I should be able to clean up the tile and seal the grout. That should finish off the flooring and I can move on to trim and the last few finishings in the room.

  

• 12/7/2008
  I did a couple of passes of cleaning the larger spots off the tile tonight. I still need to do a heavy scrubbing in some areas to remove some of the grout residue however. I also got the grout sealed. Aside from cleaning, the floor is done. Jay loaned us all of the tools to do the trim in the room so that’s the next step.
• 12/19/2008
  I came home from a week on the road for work today to find the trim in the basement had been done and all of the paint had been touched up. It seems that Stay got motivated to give me a Christmas present while I was gone and got all of this done. The only things left to do now are a few more outlet covers and hook up the power to the outlets in the room. Then on to making the room ready to set up electronics and my desk. I’ll get pictures up as soon as all of the piles of stuff are out of the way.