What have I been doing lately....continued

This weekend I made some great progress on the basement and am happy to report that the home theater ceiling is done. My plan for a simple perimeter of Armstrong ceiling tiles around a curved tray ceiling turned out to be much more work than I thought. Part of that difficulty was due to this being my first experience with any sort of suspended ceiling system. Once I got the hang of it, it wasn't so bad. Then I put some crown molding on the inner edges of the two long sides of the tray ceiling with rope lighting hidden behind. This should cast some soft light up on the curved ceiling for a subdued lighting effect when watching movies.
This first photo is looking down the room from where the TV will be placed. On both sides you can see the in-wall speakers for surround sound, as well as the sconce lights from Ikea. The ugly door will be repainted another color, or possibly replaced.



This next photo looks down the opposite direction and shows where the TV & entertainment center will be placed. The opening is sized just right for our existing entertainment center, which will sit flush with the wall for a built-in effect. You can see the access from behind via the small closet under the stairs.



Here's a closer look at a little area on the right side of the home theater room. The basement wall has this small inset area under the front porch. We decided to add some storage with the two large Ikea cabinets below, and "day bed" type area above it where we can take a nap, read a book, or whatever.



Over on the other side of the basement is a larger room which will become my wife's sewing & crafts room. This room is over 25 feet long, so it has plenty of room for all her fabric. The perimeter wall molding is installed for the suspended ceiling. Next weekend I plan to finish this ceiling - thanks to the longer holiday weekend.



Here's another view of the sewing room looking in the opposite direction. The double doors at the back lead to my workshop, which is pretty much complete except for the suspended ceiling (See other blog post here). The small door you can barely see at the back right side is the access to the closet under the stairs. The two French doors you see leaning against the wall will be mounted in the passageway between the home theater and the sewing room. These will be mounted on a sliding rail system in a bypass door configuration.



Assuming I get the ceiling completed next weekend, we will go out to purchase the flooring the next weekend. We are looking at an engineered bamboo that can be used in a floating floor installation. If all goes well we will have the floor installed by the end of July. After that, I estimate 2-3 weekends of work to connect the main electric service, install all the outlets & switches, and install the remaining lighting. Our goal of completion by the end of summer looks very attainable at this point.

What have I been doing lately?

I've been working pretty much every weekend on my basement with a goal to complete everything before summer is over. A lot of progress has been made lately, and a lot of money has been spent. My astro equipment has sat idle for many months but I hope to get back into it once the basement work is finished. I'll post more progress photos and details sometime. Here is a shot taken today of the home theater room:





Painting is 99% complete with just a little touch-up required here and there. The ceiling will be the next part to complete, then the wood floor. Electric service is still pretty limited in the basement but I plan to connect the basement subpanel to the main service panel in the coming weeks. That's all for now...

P.S. - I also keep busy taking product shots of my wife's handmade bags, wallets, & pouches for her Etsy shop. Check it out here.