Geek Chic Nerd Cave -- DONE

We've been waiting a very long time to say this, but our basement is finally done.  For the past few months, I've only been waiting on the finishing touch to our geek chic nerd cave.  I wanted an old, weathered looking painted sign to hang over the wet bar.  It couldn't be just any old sign, though.  I wanted it to look like it had been hanging outside Chalmun's Cantina (the actual name of the cantina in Star Wars).  I decided to make this puppy myself, so if you're interested in how I did it you can see my craft blog. I really do love how it turned out, though.

 

I'm so happy with how our nerdy room has come together.  Since I showed you our nerdy artwork and pillows last time, we've added a few things.  A blanket ladder (which is actually a towel holder I found at IKEA), some fun personalized beanbags for the kiddos (from Land of Nod), and I love the Era C table at Crate & Barrel, but I just couldn't bring myself to pay $300 for one.  I found these much cheaper beauties at Bed Bath and Beyond (and totally used a 20% off coupon!) -- score!

We've accessorized minimally with only a few of our favorite photos in the window sills.  Family photos with Carrie Fisher, William Shatner and Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Billie Piper from our favorite TV show, Doctor Who.

We have had a few months to settle in a bit and I cannot tell you how much we love this room. Friday nights are the best night of the week when we can spend time together down here.  Izzypop and Vulcan's favorite is the fireplace.  They curl up together on a beanbag right in front of it and cuddle all night.

Skeeto likes the popcorn machine, drinks and straws.  I love that all my components are hidden nicely away.  But my most favorite thing about this room is all the fun times we have had so far.  I am so grateful we have a space to laugh and make memories together.

I am also grateful this little adventure is over.  We have loved renovating this house and are so blessed to have had the means to make it what we envisioned, but it has been a long haul.  Our next adventure will be the yard -- it never ends!

Feathers, Vinyl And A Whole Lotta Nerd

There have been a lot of little decorating projects that I have been wanting to do for a while.  We are finally at the point where we can start focusing on the little things, so I went out to my parents' house all day Saturday to get some vinyl cut.  I wanted something to spice up the laundry room and this does the trick, I think.  Now the laundry room is officially done.  We have thoroughly enjoyed doing laundry in this new room.  It is so much more functional.

 

We love how the folding table turned out.  It was the perfect place for that piece of soapstone.  Much better than sitting in the garage.

The second vinyl project was for the trash can we bought for cans and recycles only.  The kids have been putting whatever they want in this thing.  Maybe a reminder will help.

This next project I have been thinking about for a few years now.  I just haven't had the time.  I wanted a "Water Closet" sign for the upstairs bathroom since we put the old door with frosted glass on it.

 

The next project was some wall art for the TV room.  We are going for a geek chic look here, so we picked some icons from our favorite geeky things.

 

 We have the Star Trek command logo, the Jedi symbol, the Deathly Hallows...

 

...the Tree of Gondor and the Zelda Triforce and master sword.

 

You can see from the pictures above that I have also been busy with pillows.  I am proud to say that I made all but 4 of these babies.  Again, we're going for geek chic here so I spent a bit of time finding the right fabric.  There were some great finds on Society6.  I love it when I can find exactly what I want and don't have to put any effort into it besides typing in my credit card number.

The first was "The Chosen One".  Arian Novair has some amazing nerdy splatter art.  It was hard to decide among them, but this one had the color scheme I was looking for and....it's Vader.  We had to have it.

The next is "Star Wars Vehicle Mellenium Falcon".  Again, Nicholas Hyde has produced some really cool artwork here.  Had a hard time deciding between the AT-AT and this one in particular.

And last but not least of the Society6 loot is "the lord of the rings" which features a quote from a family favorite, Gandalf.

 

While these were great finds, I was looking for A LOT of pillows.  Three was just not going to cut it.  And I was looking for something specific.  Unique, nerdy, AND pretty.  Was it too much to ask for all three?  There's nothing nerdy about Pottery Barn, so that was out.  So I went on the hunt for fabric.  Joann's has plenty of nerdy fabric, but none of it is pretty.  So I turned to the internet.  I found Spoonflower and got excited.  I couldn't believe it when I found the first one.  A beautiful damask...but wait....

This damask is actually made up of our favorite Nintendo characters. You can see Princess Zelda, Link, Ganon, Mario, Bowser, Koopa, Navi, Bob-omb, Boo, Cheep-Cheep, the Ocarina of Time, and the Triforce.  Super cool.

The next is this french script-type pattern called "intergalactic scrapbook" .  Its part of a collection of fabrics (including the cheveron print behind it) that look like linen.  Brian and I have spent some time trying to figure out where everything in this pattern comes from, but I guess we're not geeky enough.  So far, we have recognized references to Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, Dr. Who, and Firefly.  

And lastly, I found "tardis toile de jouy grey".  This print features a Dr. Who dalek and the Tardis in a pretty grey and white toile.  Too funny.

I love how the "nerd cave" is coming along.  There are only a few things left we are waiting on.  We'll keep you posted.

Finally, we hung a few other pieces to finish off the area at the bottom of the stairs.

 

And I couldn't have a blog post without including at least one rugrat.  Izzypop volunteered to wash the windows and I happily obliged.  Here she is, way too excited to be doing any sort of cleaning in my opinion, but I will not argue.  And yes, if you're paying attention, that is a signed picture of Adam West and William Shatner in the foreground :).

Bathroom -- Done

Our new bathroom is done.  It's been a long haul, but we got there.  The kids are loving another bathroom to shower in.  Maybe we can keep them out of ours now.

 

 

Toy Room -- Done -- Again

After some technical difficulties, the toy room is officially done.  We had to tear down the hexagons and rip open the wall after we found that our previous contractor sheetrocked the bathroom without hooking up the water.  Since the bathroom was done with wainscot and all, we thought it best to open up the other side of the wall in the toy room.  We had to paint again and put the hexes back up, but we are at least done.  Again.  I do love how this room turned out.

Its a Sweet Life

It is no minor miracle that we are FINALLY enjoying our basement as we have always intended to.  We've got the 65" hung on the wall and the kids are loving it.

 

There have been epic Rock Band battles.

 

Lots of movie treats.

    

And even a couple sleepovers after marathon movie nights (only on weekends, of course).

 

We also finally got the countertops in and I love them. We used quartz to avoid stains since this will be a heavily used area. 

We were able to use a remnant of the soapstone we put in the kitchen for the laundry room folding table.  Fits like a glove.

I cannot believe we are down to just a bit of decorating. 

A Better Bathroom

We are well on our way toward a new bathroom. Most of the tile has been completed and grouted. (We're just waiting on a few peices of bullnose.). The fan has been moved and some of the plumbing has been done. The wainscotting will hopefully go in tomorrow.  

Brian saw this grey ceramic tile that looks like weathered wood and had to have it. It was his one insistence. No argument from me, though.

I chose a light grey linen tile for the walls.

The shower floor is a ceramic brick mosaic. 

It is already so much brighter than what was here when we moved in. The light that is let in by removing the wall of the shower does wonders. Not to mention, no more blue wallpaper with tropical fish accents. No more blue and pink tile combinations. No more standing in the shower trying to figure out where they started tiling and where it all went wrong. No more inch gaps between tile filled with caulk. Even if it weren't actually brighter...it would still feel brighter. 

More bright days ahead.