Basement Remodel Part One: Ceiling & Lights

I started talking about our basement remodel on Facebook about a week and a half ago and I figured it was time to start sharing some of the details here. I usually like to wait until a room is complete before I post it here and then go back and explain how I did it. I don't really know why. I guess it makes the big reveal seem more impressive or something. This one is going to take awhile before it is really finished though so I decided to share as we go along instead! First up was painting the ceiling. As you can see from the photo above - there are a ton of pipes and vents going everywhere so putting up sheet rock wasn't an option. Not only would it be a huge pain to work around all of that stuff but it would end up making our already low ceiling even lower. So we decided to slap a coat of paint on all of it instead.
We painted a basement ceiling once before and used brushes which was a HUGE pain in the butt. Some of the areas were just impossible to reach so we ended up using spray paint in some spots (I don't recommend this). This time we picked up an actual paint sprayer (we went with a Wagner Control Spray Double Duty).
Here is Shelby modeling his paint suit. I guess it is a requirement that you get the crazy serial killer eyes when you do this. Or maybe it was just because he really didn't want to be the one doing the ceiling painting. I made him do it anyway though because: 1. I have zero upper body strength. Its so bad that Shelby likes to refer to my arms as "dough sticks". He means this lovingly, I'm sure. 2. I have asthma and even with a face mask, something about the paint sprayer made it difficult for me to breathe. 3. I didn't wanna do it! I do 95% of the painting around here and every once in a while I like to make him do it just because. Mwuahahaha! Anywho...since I wasn't the one doing this part I don't have any tutorials for you about using a paint sprayer. All I know is that the paint has to be really thin or it won't come out of the sprayer so we had to get a couple of bottles of paint thinner. I know. I'm so informative, right?
It took a couple of coats but it looks awesome! Its so much brighter and doesn't seem as creepy now that you can see what is going on up there. The pipes blend in a lot better too!
We also replaced the bare bulb light fixtures with some track lighting. And by "we" I mean "Shelby" because I DO NOT do electrical work. With the new fixtures you aren't blinded by the light bulbs anymore and it feels a lot cozier. This basement remodel has turned out to be a huge undertaking (it has been four weeks now and we still aren't anywhere near done) but I really think it will be worth it in the end. What about you? Do you have a grungy basement that you don't even want to mess with? Or some other large project that you dread starting? I would love to hear about what you are working on.....or putting off working on as the case may be. ;) This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting Polish The Stars.