Basement Glow-Up Part 2: Our New Favorite Game Room

(June 2026)

If you read the first part, you saw what the basement looked like before — the tired carpet, the wires everywhere, and Everette supervising all the chaos. Well, the transformation is complete, and we absolutely love it.

This space has turned into a fantastic game room that we spend a lot of time in now. It feels warm, inviting, and actually finished — exactly what we needed for this stage of life.

Before. 

 Got Games?  We do, and we play them. 

 This might not look like much.  It is shelves but we also have a hidden room!

Whenever we host parties, the men often disappear down there to play pool, throw darts, play cards, or just hang out listening to music and picking up the guitar. It’s become their favorite spot in the house. When family is around, we all head down to play board and card games together. And for bigger parties, the transformable table gets a workout with pool, ping pong, and air hockey — the laughter carries all the way upstairs!

It’s such a joy to have a space that works so well for both everyday evenings and bigger gatherings. Matt and I find ourselves going down there even when it’s just the two of us. This project was worth every bit of the effort (and the wait).

The best part? It feels like the house is finally complete in a way it wasn’t before. One more project checked off the never-ending list, and one more reason we love calling the Wooded Roost home.

Update: We’re Still Here – Chipping Away at the Wooded Roost

(June 2026)

Hey everyone,

If you’ve been following along since the early days, you might have noticed the blog went pretty quiet after 2021. Life got full in ways we didn’t quite expect, and the writing took a backseat while we kept right on living this adventure.

In spite of the silence, we’ve been busy chipping away at every part of this house. We’ve changed rooms around, created spaces for our kids as they grew, and tackled project after project — some big, some small, all of them turning this place into more of a home.

And now? Our kids are all moved out. For the first time in a long time, this house is mostly just for us. It’s a strange and wonderful shift — quieter in some ways, but opening up new possibilities for how we live in these woods. Matt and I are still here, still loving the rural life, still finding new ways to make the Wooded Roost work for this next chapter.

I’ll be adding blog posts about some of the other projects we’ve done over the last several years — the good, the messy, the “what were we thinking” moments, and all the little wins that made it worthwhile. The basement glow-up we just finished is a perfect example, and I’ll share more of those stories soon.

Stay tuned if you’re still out there reading. The adventure didn’t stop… we just forgot to write it down for a while. 😊

More to come — including plenty of photos, of course.

Basement Glow-Up: From Tired Carpet to Our Dream Game Room

(January 2026)

You know how it goes with these old houses — one project leads to another, and before you know it, you’re staring at a space that’s been stuck in “good enough” for years. Our basement has been that way since we moved in. Functional, but… tired.

Back in 2020 (COVID) we did make some real progress. Matt built that beautiful reclaimed barn wood accent wall, and he installed LVP in the main part of the basement. We painted the ceiling completely black and the walls gray, and that was about it. At the time it was mostly a hangout space for the kids, so we kept it simple.

Here’s what it looked like more recently, before this winter’s big refresh:

 Looking down the carpeted stairs from upstairs. Everette wondering what the humans are up to now.

The middle area between the stairs and what would become the game room. More carpet, more wires, and Everette supervising as usual.

Another view down the stairs with Everest standing guard. You can see into the other part of the basement where we were still working on things.

This January we finally decided it was time to take it to the next level. We hired a contractor to rip out the remaining old carpet, add fresh LVP throughout, install some doors, and put up proper railings on the stairs for safety.

Now it’s a real game room and hangout space for our adult kids and all the adults. We’ve got the mini fridge stocked, the pool table ready, the big TV, and a game table — it’s getting used so much more, and it feels like the house is finally matching the life we’re living out here in the woods.

I’ll share the after photos in the next post (or keep scrolling if I manage to upload them all at once). It’s such a fun transformation!

More to come — including how Everette is adjusting to his fancy new hangout spot!