That is a beautiful renovation. I am looking for a wine fridge for my formal living area.. do you happen to remember, or maybe it’s visible, which brand or model that one is in your photo?

Thanks for the info! Agreed, the counters totally look like wood. They’re perfect. Gonna check those out next Ikea trip. I still can’t get over this space. So good!

Doy, I read through your post too quickly (distracted by all the eye candy, obviously), and missed that a new turntable will be a future purchase. My dad left me & my bros thousands of LPs so I’m on the hunt for a decent one. Good to know you like the Rega – it also happens look rad in that spot. :)

Thanks so much, Anne!

Hey Anna, Thanks and good question. Yeah, they are Ikea countertops. After scouring a few lumber yards for hardwood, I decided I’d be killing myself to try and construct countertops without a table saw. So I gave in (thankfully) to the much easier option of getting Ikea countertops. They actually look really great even though they are just laminate – a bunch of my friends were convinced it was hardwood until they touched them These are the ones we went with – I’m still waiting for Ikea to deliver one last chunk of it to me so I can finish the project.

Regarding the turntable, I got it from upstairs ;) It’s just our day-to-day turntable. I’m lucky, my dad is an audiophile and I got this hand-me-down rega turntable about 10 years ago (here’s the modern equivalent of our model). We love it and I’d definitely consider investing in another for the basement OR upgrading the upstairs turntable and keeping this one in the basement. Either way, it’s been great.

Thanks so much, Vanessa!

Thanks, Annmarie! I sure do hope so. Now that things are settling down it does feel very satisfying, and I’m glad we had a contractor that was willing to hand it over to me to do a bunch of the finishing work.

Thanks so much, Laurie! We are happy to have the space too. I didn’t talk too much about it, but it has changed all the ways we use this house – maybe I’ll save that for a later post ;)

Hey Julia! So glad you decided to comment. I had no idea where to start for fridge shopping, I really wanted something a little more narrow, but quickly realized that all beverage coolers were only built to counter depth. I ended up ordering this one through wine coolers direct. This is one of those websites that offers all of the same products under lots of different similar site names so I was a little apprehensive. However, I was coming up with dead ends everywhere else I looked. So, I went for it – especially because they offered such detailed dimensions online which I needed to insure that it fit. They delivered it pretty quickly via freight. Hope that helps!

Hey Kate! Oh, I love tudors, and they are all so pretty over in your neighborhood. Yes, we decided to use Ikea kitchen cabinetry for a few reasons. I had used it before, was probably the biggest so I had experience with the install. Since Ikea updated their cabinet line last spring, they now offer 15″ depth base cabinets, which I wanted – I didn’t want them to seem to kitcheny or take up too much space. Lastly, the new Ikea base cabinets install on a rail (rails used to be limited to only the uppers). This makes it way easier to plumb and level them all. Hope that gives some insight, and thanks!

Hey Jody! We opted to go with a dry wall ceiling. The only item we ever needed to access in the ceiling was the water valve shut off for the exterior faucet. We had the valve moved to the utility/laundry room. If for any reason we need to access anything in the ceiling it should be easy enough (although a small pain) to removed necessary drywall and patch it in after. Thanks!