Welcome to part 4 of the basement renovation project, where the space really starts to come together.

By the end of part 3, the walls were enclosed with proper framing and drywall, and they were ready for the mudding process. Well, since it was Summer at the time, my wife and I got a little busy with outdoor activities such as going to the cottage and working on our yard (future blog post ;) ). As a result, the basement’s progress was at a standstill for about… 2 months.

I know, I know… We put the Christmas deadline on ourselves and still decided to spend our time doing other things. In my defense, it was a good Summer and those first steps were very needed for the backyard project. Nevertheless, here we were at the end of October and there was still much to be done.

So, with the walls ready for mudding, we got to it! Luckily, a friend of ours is a very experienced contractor who still has many of his old tools, including for drywall mudding. So, a huge thanks to him and his son for all the help in teaching us these techniques and lending us the tools for this stage of the project.

Turns out, slapping drywall mud on the walls isn’t difficult. What is difficult is actually doing it well to end up with a smooth wall. I got the hang of it after a decent amount of practice, but my wife got it basically right away. A quick introductory lesson and she had the technique.

Below, you can see the first layer of mud. It involves going over all the holes, cracks, and seams that exist on the drywall. Between each drywall sheet, there was a seam, but there were also a ton of holes as a result from removing the nails that were originally holding the panelling to the walls.

After letting it all dry for a day, we could proceed with the second layer. This one involved basically the same thing, but with wider coverage. With every new mud layer, more and more of the walls get covered with the intention that eventually you’ll end up with a smooth, consistent finish. You also have to sand the walls between each layer to ensure no bumps start to build up in various areas.

Below, you can see our second layer:

Repeat the process, and here’s the third layer:

Ok, good progress! They almost look like proper walls… almost.

The next step was to coat everything with primer.

After protecting the lights, the windows, and the beam with bags and paper, we rented a spray paint machine. This thing was fun to use and made painting the entire space very quick. Not only were we painting the walls, but the ceiling as well. We felt it would tie the space together and help brighten the space. This being a basement, light was precious.

Here’s a before and after comparison.

I think the picture below really shows the difference between with and without primer on both the walls and ceiling.

With the walls actually completed (wow, it’s nice to be able to say that), it was time for flooring!

The floor was originally concrete covered by thin linoleum tiles. Not very comfortable to walk on, and it was always cold.

Time to change that.

My parents came to help with the flooring, and I have to say a huge thank you again!

We started by laying down a vapour barrier on the entire floor’s surface. With such large plastic sheets, it made it a challenge to shape them to the room. But, we got there in the end.

Once a large enough area was covered, we got to flooring. How exciting!

While not complicated, it is tedious and tiring. As you can imagine, flooring work has to be done at floor level. That means you’re on your hands and knees for the duration of the process. I recommend using knee padding and taking many breaks to stretch your back. Also, pay attention to your hunger, thirst, and energy levels as these will eventually start affecting people’s moods. We all worked well together, and luckily got the flooring done in one (long) day, but there were a few times where we were getting frustrated just due to our aching backs.

Almost ready to bring in the furniture! But just one thing left to do.

The reddish/brown beam needed a fresh coat of paint. We still had some of the black metal paint that we used on our stairway railing, so let’s use that here!

Much better.

Ok, with that, let’s see the results of this basement renovation.

And with that, the basement renovation is basically done!

These final photos were taken on December 3, 2025. We still have enough time to get it ready for our Christmas deadline! Success!

The next basement post will show what we did with this updated space.

Thanks for reading!