Betchin' Basement Renovation Mostly Done

Photos of the new basement.

It's divided into two areas, kids play area and the theater.

Here's the before. The carpet was ruined after an animal got inside and the carpet had to be ripped out.

I blogged about the DIY hanging art gallery system shown below here.

The DIY entertainment center play kitchen blog post can be found here.



We ripped out the dated lights on the theater side and replaced them with canned lighting. Also added a remote controlled Lutron light switch ($40), so we can dim the theater lights from the couch.

The sectionals are from Ashley Furniture in Logan ($1300). They have the best prices BY FAR.
We love this couch. The seats are big enough for two and recline.

TV is a 60 inch plasma. We were worried about the size but it is actually perfect for the viewing distance of about 8-9 feet.

The Nintendo case in the entertainment center above is going to house my HTPC and the room is wired for surround sound.

I textured the walls myself. It was a ton of fun!
We tried painting the far wall indigo blue, but the color clashed with the grey and looked awful. The original mud job was terrible and the semigloss showed off every flaw. We had to re-texture and repaint everything.


Things left to finish

Buy and install audio receiver and surround sound
Build HTPC
Buy mini-fridge and stock with Dew!
Touch up paint
Popcorn popper
Movie Posters

Cheap Hanging Gallery System

The hanging gallery system is finally finished and it works great!

The wife and I have some art we are proud of and wanted to increase our collection from some of our artsy friends. The old wood paneling in the basement was hideous and had to be painted over. We wanted a space where we could hang and adjust art easily, without putting lots of holes in the wood paneling that would be annoying to patch/paint.

Most hanging gallery systems are fairly expensive ($100-$200 per 6 feet). Here are some examples of what we were trying to emulate:

     http://www.amazon.com/Gallery-Looped-Picture-Hanging-System/dp/B004CUR0JI
     http://www.amazon.com/French-Gallery-Picture-Hanging-System/dp/B004CUTD98
(the first picture looks like something we might find at home depot)

The other alternative was gallery molding.

(We found this to be a little too dated, but might be a great cheep option if you want something that looks a little more traditional)

We wanted something that felt modern but wouldn't cost $200 or more. Here is the final solution.

Total Cost     $100

Materials for Rail

Aluminum c-channel x 5     $45

     Each rail is 96 inches and $9. You might be able to find a similarly priced j-channel for easier install.
Corner Braces (4 per pack) x 5     $10
     I used about 1 every other stud or 4 per 8 foot track.
Hacksaw
Metal File
Drill
Measuring Tape
Screws

Materials for Hangers

Hanging wire     $10
     We tried 40 lb and 25 lb wire. Both worked fine.
Ferrule and Stop Set (x5)     $7
Metal Mirror Hooks 4 per pack (x3)      $15
Grounding Lugs 4 per pack (x3)     $12
Needle Nose Pliers
Hammer
















Rail Instructions

Screw L brackets spaced appropriately along the wall. One at each end, and spaced every few feet in-between.

Measure, cut and pre-drill rails.

Screw rails to brackets. And done.


Hanger Instructions
Measure the length of wire. I cut them long enough so that we can hang 2 pictures from a wire when we get enough art to expand and double up.
Attach the wire with the ferrules.
















A few taps with a hammer helps the hooks hold tighter.
































For the adjustable hooks we used copper ground lugs, found in the electrical section. They are made for much larger wire but can hold thin picture wire if you flip the center around and give it a few taps with a hammer.

They come like this:















But you can flip them around like this:
















Then bend the bottom to become a hook that looks like this:

If you leave the end straight it is the perfect width to fit under sawtooth hangers.





















You can see the wire is held securely by tightening the screw.


Here is picture of the final gallery. There is plenty of room to expand as our collection grows.