Brillant transformation!!! Just wonderful!!!

Many kudos to your talented DH for doing an outstanding job -- and keeping the whole project at a reasonable budget! :)

Very well done indeed! :)

Great job! Salvaging the doors really adds a unique look to the room. How special that you have your late dad's sofa. I also like the daybed for extra guests, if you need it.

We have a finished basement and will be working on making it into an exercise room in 2015.

Enjoy your new space and thanks for sharing!

Great job. I would never peg that as a basement in an old house. You've made it into terrific living space.

Love it. The black ceiling makes it.

wow, lotta work done there. Way to go! It's good to reflect and give yourself credit for completing projects. Thanks for sharing.

Congrats! Lots to be proud of. Enjoy your new space in the New Year!

Congratulations on completion of a great job! The doors are wonderful and the entire area looks spacious and inviting. I cannot believe your husband did all the work himself! Isn't it wonderful how much living space that lower level provides? Enjoy it in 2015!

What a great transformation of that room/space!! It looks terrific!

DH is beginning work on our basement now.
Love yours!
Nice work!
Was the floor difficult?
Are you happy with it?
I wouldn't have thought of a black ceiling, but yours looks great!

Who would've thought that dingy, dirty basement would turn out to be the place you want to be in? What an attractive, cozy space for chillin' at the end of the day! Congrats on a job very well done, and wishing you many happy, relaxed moments there.

Fantastic transformation! Great "found" space. Fabulous job.

Polly that's a great idea with the black ceiling! Love it!
Amazing what what basements can become.
Great job.

Our basement is finished but needs updating. I am so intrigued by the black ceiling.....conventional logic suggests white(what we have now) to make the space appear larger and more open, but surprisingly the black works!

Great job all around...enjoy your new space!

Melsouth, the floor wasn't difficult, it was just tedious, and the smell was pretty bad. If you notice in the pic, DH had a fan ventilating to the outside. It took a few days to cure. It chipped in a few spots when heavy objects were dropped, but DH says he can patch it up easily.

We opted not to tile or put any sort of flooring down for two reasons. One was to save money as we have several other huge projects (new main bath) we would rather spend money on. Second is we live in a flood prone town. We have been here 7 years and did not flood with storms Irene or Sandy, however we didn't want to take a chance. Once our drain the the sewer backed up and we were able to easily clean up. The floor is pitched towards the furnace area where are sump pump is.

We opted for a black ceiling after I started taking note of how many people simply paint their ceilings black. DH found the black ceiling tiles at HD and thought that would be easier. Since he was installing it, I wanted to do what was easiest for him. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

He also put a full bath in down there. Our main 2nd floor bathroom had a major leak and needs to be completely redone. Since we are mostly DIYers, it will likely take time and now we have a 2nd full bath in the house. It's not quite complete yet.

Wow, what a great transforamation! WtG for you and your DH!

Outstanding! The black ceiling is great. Wonderful job turning a dingy basement into a nice living space. I am so impressed (and envious!) with the DIY skills!

Wow! Great transformation! Is that efflorescence on the before walls? What kind of prep did you need before the dryloc, and did you tint it or paint over it? I like the cheeriness of the yellow!

Great job! You are both very skilled! Enjoy your new space!

What an awesome space! Thanks for sharing the inspiring pictures :)

The before walls had lead paint on them. The lead paint was peeling badly. Originally when we bought the house, the walls were all paneled, we did not discover the peeling lead paint until we removed all the paneling, which seemed to have water damage at the bottom. There was no sump pump in this house when we bought it, DH installed one several years ago. So back to the lead paint, we have small children and wanted it gone since it was peeling, so after the paneling was removed, he had sealed up the room, wet the walls down to minimize dust and scraped all the loose paint. What you see in the before pic is how the walls looked after scraped all the paint, the walls were like this for several years. Then when he was ready, he used 2 coats of drylock on the walls and the yellow paint over it. If I'm not mistaken the yellow was also a dry-lock product, we only had a few different colors to choose from and that was one of them.
Thanks everyone for your kind words. I'm so happy with how it turned out, it's so nice to go down there and not see a "dungeon" anymore. And even nicer to sit on the couch and fold laundry downstairs, this way everyone carried their own folded laundry up to their bedrooms.