Saturday, November 21, 2009

week 34: final inspection

We have been moving things from the main floor and garage into the nearly completed basement. We cleared out the basement prior to construction and lived among boxes stacked waist–high and things piled on the floor while the work was being done. After eight months, I was glad to have things finally put away in their proper places. Now, if I could only remember where I put everything!

One of the things that struck me this week was that it is key to include storage space when remodeling a basement. We saved one small corner of our basement as an unfinished storeroom. Many times, clients want all of their basement to be converted to finished space and forego storage, and then get into a bind when there is not enough places to put their belongings. I was a bit nervous during design when we made the storeroom smaller and moved the furnace and sump pump into it. I feared that we had made our storage too tiny. However, with shelving racks from Storables, we were able to maximize and make our storage room extremely efficient. We have one half-height and five ceiling-high racks, with space for one more full-sized rack.


Now that the project is mostly complete, there are a lot of blank walls. We are redistributing what little art work we have, but will soon need more art. I framed more diplomas around the corner at the neighborhood store, Pratt’s Custom Picture Frames. We also need more furniture. I hope the sectional from Z Gallerie arrives soon.



I thought some plants might help the new spaces feel warmer, lived in and less bare. I visited Garden Fever for some plants and pottery, and came away with a Christmas plant, an airplane plant and a croton. More importantly, they told me how to care for the greenery.




I also found this fabulous little table and bucket at Shogun’s Gallery. They had their warehouse clearance sale this weekend.




The big to-do this week was the final inspection. Our contractor is a member of the FIR program here in Portland. Our inspector came by the house and checked out compliance for all egress doors and windows, electrical plugs, other items pointed out earlier during construction, as well as the head height, width, and the rise and run of the stairs. After about an hour, he signed off on the final permit. Thankfully, Erik, our contractor remembered to secure the gas hose before the inspector arrived. Hooray!




Tune in next time for the last of the plumbing, cabinetry and painting!


1 comment:

  1. congratulations! enjoy following your blog from here in seattle. -jon

    ReplyDelete