1) What was your main goal in renovating your rec room?
We love our neighbourhood and our home, but we needed more space for our two young kids to play – plus we were tired of using our dining room as a playroom!
2) Was the room initially a finished or unfinished space?
It was unfinished; a single-car garage with no entry into the house.
3) Did you use an architect or designer, or did you plan the room yourself?
We started by getting three quotes from contractors, each of whom had different ideas on what we could (and couldn’t) do with the space). This process was really useful as it helped us to think through exactly what we wanted. In the end, though, we decided to do most of the work ourselves – partly because we didn’t want to wait for the contractors to be ready, but mostly because we wanted to save money. (Maggie’s note: And partly because we had no idea how much work we were in for!)
4) Did you hire a contractor or was this a do-it-yourself project?
See above answer. We had a good idea of the main components of the work, but we didn’t have any drawings done and some of the areas took shape as the project progressed. We did, however, bring in contractors and experts to handle the removal of our existing garage door and installation of our exterior French doors, plus moving and rerouting of gas lines, as well as all of the electrical wiring involved and the drywall work. Oh, and in the middle of the project our furnace died and we had to have a new, larger high-efficiency model installed!
5) How long did you Great Rec Room take to complete?
The whole process—including the building of a small shed on the side of the house to store some of the stuff that was previously in the garage, and the construction of a small patio area outside the French doors—took almost eight months, with a few delays here and there.
6) What was the total cost of your project? How did the final cost compare with your original budget?
We spent around $17,000, including a new TV (nothing fancy), a new front-loading stacking washer/dryer combo, a new futon couch, and a few accessories (including a slipcover for our old couch, fabric for pillows and wall canvases, and a small coat rack). That cost does not include the $4,000 we had to spend on our emergency mid-winter furnace replacement. We would have spent twice that to have had the whole job done by outside professionals.
7) What is the single most expensive item in your project?
Hmmmm… not including the furnace, it would be the washer/dryer, at just under $2,000 with tax. The triple French doors might actually work out to be a little bit more expensive, actually, with the installation.
8) What is the favorite part, or item, in your new Great Rec Room?
That’s a tough one. We love having a small beer fridge downstairs, we love the new washer/dryer, and we love the amount of natural light that now comes into that part of the house. But ironically, for us the best part of the new Rec Room is eating dinner as a family at our brand-new dining table and chairs upstairs – without tripping on toys!
9) What is the best way, or favorite way, to show off your new Great Rec Room?
Play dates – and lots of them. The puppet theatre (which we constructed to deal with a low overhead venting system in that area) is a big hit—we keep puppets in the small area behind the curtain, as well as dress-up costumes. Our beer fridge and freezer are tucked back there, too!
10) What is the one key piece of advice you would offer to others thinking about the same kind of project?
If you want to do it yourself, expect to spend a huge amount of time working on it—then triple your estimate. We practically lived at the big box hardware stores, and every night all winter my husband was down there doing something. If you have kids, try to schedule a few “work weekends” or at least blocks of work time where you get a sitter (we did this Saturday mornings all winter) or send them to their grandparents (we did this a couple of times, too) and just blast through a lot of the work.