So why refinish the basement?

It all comes down to a truce between me and my wife.

Seriously.

We started looking for a house a few months ago.  Apart from setting up realtor.com and trulia.com searches and driving by houses, we didn't get very far.  You see...I'm a slow mover...and I just wasn't getting warm fuzzies about buying a new house.  Blame it on a lack of peace or maybe my newfound interest in Dave Ramsey, but we decided now is not the time.

But my wife wasn't comfortable with the idea of staying in our 1152 sq-ft house either.  We LOVE our house, but our plans for multiple children meant that I either needed to refinish the basement or install padding on every wall.  The basement seemed like the most sane alternative.

Honestly, the fact that we have a 3 bedroom house means that we don't have it that bad. But the arrival of our son Levi meant that guest bedroom became the office and that pieces of the guest bed are now lining a wall in our basement.  It's a mild pain to lug the bed upstairs and transform the office into a guest bedroom when friends and family visit.  It's interesting, though, how much a single rug-rat transforms the decor in our small house.  The nightly ritual is to put Levi to bed and then pick up all his toys.  I doubt it will get any better when a second and third arrive.

So what do we hope some extra space in the basement will provide?

• A more permanent space for Julie's desk and sewing equipment
• An open area for Levi to roam, kick a soccer ball and build a train set that doesn't need to be packed up at the end of the evening.  
• A little bit of privacy for our guests when they spend the night.  
• Maybe I'll actually use the ping-pong table if there is some more lighting and stuff isn't cluttering the surface (will we really be more diligent keeping junk off of it??)
• A retreat for watching TV...if we ever get one!

So there we have it...I think those are reasons enough.  I am not really interested in increasing the value or our house (but it will be nice).  Life is nice when you can face the uncertainty, plan ahead, and have a lovely wife to share it all with.