We’ve slowly been working on finishing our basement. We shared this post with photos prior to painting it with our paint sprayer! Today I’m going to be sharing updated photos, as well as our favorite tip on how to install drywall and avoid the tape, mud, and sanding altogether! We utilized this tip on our diy entryway makeover here as well. This is the easiest way to add texture and dimension to any space without the mess! To remind you, here is what our basement looked like before we began any renovations.

It was your typical cinder block basement. Behind the room divider is our crawl space (which we have had professionally encapsulated). The first thing we did was apply this waterproof paint. Next we installed this insulation. Once that was installed we were able to begin framing with 2x4’s for the walls. From here it was a pretty straight forward process. It just took forever because renovations cost so much.

Below is what the basement looked like last time I shared it.

Here is what the current view looks like with paint.

Isn’t it crazy what the power of paint can do? Now for the best part, our drywall tip to avoid an unnecessary mess. We had a corner in front of our HVAC unit that needed to be covered up. We went over all the different ways we could finish off this corner. Shiplap wasn’t in our budget for this corner, so we settled on drywall. If there was one material I would avoid the rest of our DIY careers, it would hands down be drywall. I despise tape, mud, and sanding. I’m far too instant gratification to embrace and enjoy the art that is drywall.

So once we decided we were going the drywall route, we did some brainstorming on how we could spice this corner up while avoiding a huge mess. We settled on board and batten. For install, we decided on a horizontal seam across the corner. This would allow for us to place the top piece of the board and batten along the seam. You can see what I’m talking about with the photo below.

Once the horizontal 1x4 was in place, we were able to measure and cut our 1x2 pieces for the vertical board and batten. For the corner and far left and right seams, we used 1x4’s. This allowed for the front corner to be two pieces of wood vs. attempting to mud this seam. This entire corner took roughly 45 minutes to complete from start to finish. We documented it on our Instagram, too! You can view that reel HERE.

Here are a few more shots of the basement progess.

Next up we will be installing covers over the soffits. We aren’t lucking out in the wood department at our Home Depot, so we’re just patiently waiting until they have more availability in stock. It’s going to be a game changer when the soffits are covered, though!

Yesterday we ordered a couch, and are looking at tv’s this week, too! We are SO close to FINALLY having a finished and livable basement. Excited is a HUGE understatement!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out our tip for how to install drywall and avoid the tape, mud, and sanding altogether! We hope it makes your next drywall project easier and faster! Pin the images below to share our basement progress.