You are going to have a lot of problems. You're sealing the concrete wall with the insulation? "I started with 1 layer of the 4” XPS over the ceiling and then covered all the walls with 1 layer of 4” XPS foam leaving 1’ of bare concrete at the floor on the exterior North and East walls)." What's on the other side of the concrete? Dirt? Or is it an attached house like a row house? If it's a detached house and it's just dirt on the other side, which seems to be the case because you said it extends 7 ft below grade, you will have a great deal of condensation and eventually mold. The concrete walls are not completely dry and sealing them the way you did allows no place for the moisture to go. Don't seal those walls off. "As for venting, no. It is a fully inclosed concrete box. Monitored humidity is a constant 70%." So the ceiling is concrete too and your entry stairs are over that? If so, no wonder you have condensation. On the other hand, you have the makings of a great wine cellar. I wish I had that. Depending on where you are, the soil temperature can vary quite a bit between winter and summer but you're in a cool area so you should be fine. If you have 70 percent humidity in the concrete room, why are you insulating with a vapor-proof material and then sealing off all possible avenues for the moisture to escape? You can't do that. What happens to the temperatures if you don't seal the ceiling and concrete walls and just insulate the walls exposed to the basement? I think you'd be far better off with that approach. If the concrete walls give you a stable temp, why insulate them? Also - the door is R10 and the rest of the insulation is R20? If you really want R20, put insulation on the door too. Otherwise, you have a huge section of your wall that has a lower R value than everything else and you will effectively have insulation of R10. To start, I would take down the insulation from the concrete and monitor the resulting temp in the room. It seems like you can actually get a pretty good temperature and perfect humidity with what you have, doing minimal work. Good luck.

Moni, You are going to have to give us a Summertime shot of that same view! I understand the lower yard concept. How deep is the stairway, and can you reach the upper level from below? Springtime, before things are growing certainly isn't the best picture. Are those yellow flowers daffodills? It looks like you have a fun back yard. I could enjoy coming over to play!!! Yah, it's growing time and I don't have a garden. I should be able to visit Munsinger Gardens often -- and watch others doing the work, -- hummm almost as good.

@barncatz.....I got yelled at for using orange peel sprayed-on texture instead of skip-trowel on a basement I'd volunteered to finish....free of charge. What YOU used is called skip-trowel. The lady said she hated orange peel texture and she'd had it ALL removed & skip trowel put in. To this day she hates me...over my choice of wall texture. :0)

Jmm - that's a beautiful room. Is the upper floor accessible to library users? I worked at a government library with a similar upper level and only library staff were allowed there, to retrieve requested items.