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Step 1 - Design the space:  This is the area I will be occupying at my parent's house. (Yes, I am over 40 and living in my mother's basement.  Get all the laughter and jokes our of your system...)

It is basically designed to be similar to an "in-law suite", having a sleeping area, living room/office space, kitchenette, and a nice bathroom.  We also wanted to make sure that there was adequate storage space left in the utility area of the basement. 

-Since most of the time spent in the bedroom will be with your eyes closed, locating it with good light is not the highest priority.  But one thing that is important is being isolated from sound when (not if) I have a migraine and need to escape during the day.  That made putting the bedroom in the corner under the formal living room seem like the most practical solution.  It would allow the use of the existing built-in closet, two small casement windows, and be under a little-used portion of the upstairs portion of the house.  The other end of the basement under the bedrooms would probably have less traffic during the day, but that is the end where the patio door and large window are located, so we wanted to keep the everyday living space at this end.

-The bathroom location is somewhat restricted by the availability of plumbing.  In this house that limits the location of the bathroom to along the short NW wall between the furnace and the large basement window near the sewer & vent pipe runs.  Putting it near the outer wall would allow natural light into the bathroom, but would then block that light from the living area.  So it was decided to put the bathroom closer to the furnace and I eventually designed a pair of glass block windows into the wall of the bathroom to allow natural light into the bathroom even though it is an interior room.  The bathroom floorplan underwent several changes as we decided on tub/shower/vanity/toilet locations.  The final arrangement ended up with a pipeless whirlpool tub with a separate shower stall.  The tub is wonderful for soaking in to ease some of the discomfort from my injuries, and is easy to clean since any area that gets wet can be reached for cleaning.

Here is the final plan of how the basement layout ended up:

Step 2 - Build the Bedroom:

The bedroom was the first section to be built.  And as you can see, construction was actually going on around my bed...  Construction started in June of 2005, and the Ceiling was finished in September of that year.  The last two photos in the slideshow let you see how it turned out.  Not bad for "homemade" handiwork...

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Step 3 - Build the Bathroom:

The bathroom was the second area of focus, but due to trying to figure out exactly how we were going to work around the existing plumbing, what fixtures we wanted to include, and finding a plumbing contractor; it took us a little while to really get rolling on this.  The contractor installed the major fixtures in March of 2007.  By Christmas 2007 the rest of the work to complete the bathroom was done other than a few minor details.   To save money, the plumbing was the only part of this project which was contracted out, mostly because the local codes require a licensed plumber to do the work, and my cousin-in-law the plumber is not licensed in Wisconsin.  The electrical and framing only needed inspection and approval before closing the walls, so we were able to do all of that work ourselves.

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Then some time passed...

Step 4 - Demolition:

Then came the Spring of 2010.  The basement project had sorta stalled after the bathroom had been completed... TOTALLY my fault...  In the intervening 2.5 years I had been working on motorcycle projects, taking a couple of longer tours, and just sorta "tolerating" the state of the living area in the basement.  It wasn't ideal, but it wasn't a cave...  But now it was time to finally get serious and push through on finishing up this space!

After how well the bathroom came out, we decided that the cheap paneling and the really lousy excuse for a cabinet that the previous owners (POs) had done just HAD to go...  The cabinet was also in the way of any decent furniture arrangement.  Once we got into the demolition, we found that it was a good thing to be doing as there was some moisture in the insulation in part of the wall due to the incorrect usage of vapor barrior.  Also, they had tried to compress standard 3.5" batt insulation into the space created by thinner 2x2 stringers.  That overcompressed the insulation and reduced its effectiveness.  So, everything was torn out and discarded; all the way down to the bare cinder blocks.

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Step 5 - Get a new door:

If we are going to all the bother of remodeling the basement, then it only makes sense to think about replacing the leaky old patio door that was down there.  The seal on the thermopane has long-since given up and there was cloudyness between the panes, the weatherstriping was shot, and the sill below was rotted away on one end.  It was time. 

Of course, they no longer made patio doors this wide as a standard size, and a custom size was going to be expensive.  One option would be to buy a standard size door and frame in the opening.  This would have reduced the amount of light entering the basement, and the additional cost would have brought the standard door nearly to the price of a custom sized door. 

In the end it was decided to order a custom door.  At the same time, we chose to change the direction in which the door opens.  This will open up the traffic pattern in the living area and make furniture placement easier.  This was one of the single largest expenses for the whole project.

The installer was from one of the former Soviet states and was a real character...

 

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Step 6 - Frame the walls, install electrical & new sheetrock:

New 2x4 studding replaced the PO's 2x2 studs allowing proper insulation.  New electrical was strung with all new boxes/outlets/etc. including adding a new outside light fixture and wiring switches for several areas of overhead lighting for separate task areas in the living spaces. Once the electrical was completed 1/2" sheetrock was installed and taped/mudded.

Step 7 - Install the Ceiling:

The ceiling system that we chose to use is one which is similar to a suspended grid/tile system, but in which the grid mounts directly to the joists above providing maximum headroom.  The tile chosen is a 2'x4' unit, but with a profile which makes them look like the smaller 2-foot square tiles.  This gives the ceiling a nicer look with less work and lower cost.  Waited till it went on sale at Menards, don'tcha know...  ;-)

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Step 8 - Get new carpeting:

After all of the construction work was done the final thing to do was decide upon a carpet to install.  We could have done the same as what we did in the bedroom area; a do-it-yourself attached-pad foam-backed carpeting, but with the size of the main living space there would have been at least two seams, and there would have been no way to keep them from showing with that sort of carpeting.  After all the work that had gone into the space, we felt that it looked too nice to cheapen it with that sort of shortcut.  So we opted for a professionally installed frieze carpet in a nice neutral tone.  After the first vacuuming I honestly cannot tell you anymore where the seams are.

Step 9 - Move in and enjoy!:

Finally after all of the hard work the space is basically complete and ready for furniture and to be enjoyed.  Thanks for reading!

 

So, there you have it!

Other than some of the plumbing and the installation of the patio door & carpet, we did it all ourselves and managed to save LOTS of money by doing so.