Renovating a basement is no easy task, especially when you’re paying for it out of pocket. Step by step, slowly spread out over a few years. At times it feels defeating with our “slow” progress, but then we realize just how far we have come. That small progress is actually HUGE progress. We are doing all the work ourselves when it comes to finishing out basement renovation. So it’s basically a game of save, project, save, project, save…save…save you get the idea! It’s not cheap, we already don’t have a lot of time, BUT it’s coming together! We have to keep going back to our expectations and reality check list and remember that it will all be worth it when it’s finished!

Our basement used to be wide open and awkward. It now has rooms that serve a purpose. Over the weekend we installed a pocket door and guys, it’s’ absolutely amazing. It took 30 minutes from start to finish to complete and is a game changer when it comes to the small space and it’s design! We knew that standard swinging door would not be accommodating or practical for where we needed it. If you follow us on Instagram then you saw our short IGTV video we made of the install. If you haven’t’ seen that yet jump over there and give us a follow! The new pocket door and wall and completely transformed these two rooms, making them feel complete. We now have a designated office space, as well as a designated home gym that don’t flow into one another anymore.

Before the current photos of the new wall, I wanted to share a fun throw back video from 2018 when we were installing the insulation. The end of the video also gives you another view point of the basement before we did any framing! Are you following us on Youtube? It’s definitely not our main stream media outlet and our aesthetic on that end is vastly lacking, however we’re making it a goal to at least upload the same videos we upload to our IGTV. 2020 will definitely be a video learning curve, but something we’re really excited about exploring! Follow us on Youtube here.

Ok now on to some before and current photos of our basement. We love that the gym is it’s own separate entity now. While the pocket door doesn’t lock, it makes us feel better about the home gym with smaller children around. The pocket door was necessary added security and peace of mind on top of the rules we already have in place when it comes to how dangerous weights and gym equipment can be.

Here is a photo of what the office space looked like two years ago after we had already framed out the wall, along with what it looks like now with the same viewpoint. It’s a similar layout to our kitchen, long and narrow!

Here’s a time lapse of us building the new wall and installing our pocket door!

I couldn’t find any other comparable vantage points, so here are a few photos of what the wall currently looks like with the pocket door. We were able to install the drywall yesterday and get some mud on the lines! I plan on finishing those, along with the paint and trim this week! (Will be doing behind the scenes on our Instagram)

Can you believe how different that looks? I love the clean lines of the pocket door, and can’t wait to get some trim up and painted to really enjoy this new view!

Here is a view from the hallway if you’re standing on the basement stairs. I just love the door being flush with the wall. Literally cannot love pocket doors more! Have you ever installed one?

We plan on putting floors down in the basement, but for now I did a coat of paint on the floors until we decide on the flooring. We want to make sure we love the flooring, grab some samples, work with the light we have in this room AND save up enough to have extra for the future!

I haven’t sanded or touched the drywall in the gym. We will eventually do that, but for now we’re just focusing on other things like you know…waking up at 4:50 everyday to workout! Ha!

What do you guys think? If you don’t have any pocket doors in your home, do you want one now? I want to replace every door we have with one! Think I can convince Scot? Ha! Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out our new basement pocket door! We hope these photos inspire you to tackle one in your own home!