The contract is signed! Finished basement project.

Hubby has been itching to finish the basement since the day we moved into our house here in Virginia. Back in PA, he had a pretty sweet man-cave, and I know he misses his space. The pool table, watching movies on the big screen. You know... guy stuff in a guy's place. He has some great ideas about how he wants to design the lower level, and it makes me feel great, that he asks for my input. We have agreed that this basement will have a bit of an industrial aesthetic.

In PA, his basement bar was wrapped in aluminum. I thought that was a cool idea, except the material the contractor used was very matte, in fact, when it was all said and done - the bar just looked like it was painted with grey paint. (sorry, I can't find a better photo, but you can see the metal on the back splash below between the two tiers of black countertop)

So, this time around, we're going to do a corrugated metal wrap around the bottom of the bar. We've been talking about this for so long, and I am super excited to see how this bar comes together.

Below is an example of what we have in mind for the base of the bar...

http://www.nordiccraftsmen.com/cabinets.html 

And we've already purchased some industrial light fixtures for over the bar (I might be most excited about these more than any other aspect so far).

Another selection we've made is the bar's 2-tier countertop...it's sile stone, which I understand to be very durable, strong and stain-resistant. Originally, we fell in love with the idea of a poured concrete top, but have learned that a concrete surface needs to be resealed VERY frequently. Not something we are willing to invest time into. So, here's the look we've chose - a pretty white with swirls of grey.

We'll also be removing a wall to expose the stairway, and have decided to use a cable rail system. Here's an example of what we have in mind...

http://officialllc.net/arch/stair2.html

I think the topping on the cake would be to leave the ceiling beam, and ductwork exposed. But, hubby isn't digging that idea. That might be TOO industrial for his taste. I do think he's going to leave the vertical posts open though - and we'll probably paint them a dark color - like black or charcoal.

I'm sure between now and December, we'll change our minds a few times about nearly everything. It's exciting - like building our house all over again! Stay tuned - I plan to post about the whole process as we move along. Feel free to comment with your suggestions!