A/V room all finalized

Got the heavy wooden countertop installed in the a/v room. Weeks ago I created a template out of a scrap door that was just a little bit smaller than the opening. I then put scraps of plywood on either side, then scribed the contours of the wall using the pencil inside a washer technique to do so. Then, sanding down the scraps to the scribed lines and refitting them on either side of the door and screwing them into place. This created an exact template of the wall space. Luckily the back wall was straight, so I didn't have to scribe it. I then clamped the template on the wooden countertop and tried to use a router to cut away the excess. As the countertop is oak... it didn't work well at all. After that, a sander took off the rest.

Makeshift template sitting in place.

New table with goods placed.

Not bad on the gap, and fairly uniform.

Carpet installed and Giant TV added

Well. It's all done. Apart from some additional work in the A/V room to complete, the theater room itself is all done. Still might want to get some new furniture for the room, but besides that...

Here's a look at all sides of the room.

Ended up getting a 75" 4K Sony. Very nice.

Carpet is so cushy it's nice just laying on the floor, but I'll probably end up getting some kind of sectional that's easy to fit downstairs and tweak the configuration to the space.

Concrete Fixing

When they poured the foundation, they must have poured additional cement because the 2x4 walls in the basement around the stairs are sunken into the concrete. So, when I cut back the stair wall it left a section that needed filling in. Also the concrete around the existing door opening wasn't completely level. So enters the purchase of a demolition hammer. Renting one apparently costs around $100, but I found a highly rated one on Amazon for just $150. I decided it was worth a shot. Turned out to be a good bet and I was highly impressed it worked so well.

The before. Can see where the 2x4 wall was, but not really the bump.

After the chiseling away with the demo hammer.

Concrete poured and all flat!

The door fits!

After I finished all the walls and paint, I discovered the existing wall next to the stairs was completely out of level. This really complicated things when I went to fit the new knotty alder door and discovered it wasn't going to open properly at all. The existing wall was about an inch out of level from top to bottom, and the other side of the door opening I had redone, and of course, made level. So began the challenge of how do I fit a door to an opening that's completely out of level? What I decided to do was to keep the casing completely level, but cut away some of the wood from one side, and add some additional wood to the other. Thus began the door casing surgery...

I added an additional strip of knotty alder to one side, using biscuits and glue.

After sanding and before any cutting. I set the casing level and
marked the backside to follow the contours of the wall.

Cutting the sides to match the un-level wall.

Nailed into place.

Close look at how far off the wall is, and how much
additional wood had to be added.

Is closes perfectly and is level!

Another look at the wonky side.

A look at the door from the stairwell side.

Moulding and Baseboard

Well, it's reached that moment for finish work, which is nice as I'm sick of all that other stuff. I started to nail in all the door moulding and baseboard in the hallway, tv room, and stairwell. I also installed all of the new solid-core doors. Two in the stairwell and two in the mini-hallway. I also installed the existing louvered bifold door I had for the entrance to the a/v room.

Storage room and laundry room doors all finished.

A look from another angle, showing the baseboard. 

The bifold door to the a/v room all finished out.

New door to the spare room.

Door the exercise room all trimmed out.

New door to the bathroom.

As I somehow screwed up the dimensions for the a/v room opening, I had to shave off 1/8" of each side of the bifold door ( 1/4" in total width wise ) and also cut down some of it for height. Thank god it was made of of solid wood and I could actually cut it down. Thank you 20th century construction... That took hours, but it now fits well after all the tweaking of getting it to sit even in the middle of the opening and making sure it had enough clearance top and bottom.

Almost... there.

I finished up the mudding and sanding for the hallway / stairwell and gave it a first coat of paint.

Finally starting to see the light at the end of tunnel now with all the rooms I've been working on in the final stages of completion.

I haven't really done anything interesting or different work-wise, so I'll just let the before and after photos speak for themselves.

before

after

before

after

before

after

before

after

A/V Nook install

For that A/V gear like playstations, I made a space for a corner nook which used to be unused space underneath the ductwork. To make it I used 3/4" laminate pine. It came in a big 9'x4' sheet and I cut it down to basically create a big box that fit inside the nook space. I used another kreg jig for drilling the holes for the shelf pegs. Those pegs will be in place to hold up some nice knotty alder shelves that I'll create to sit inside the nook.

Drilling the holes with the jig.

Box set into place with power and a/v box access.

Trim added around to finish it off.

Stairs continued

Finished most of the stairs. Enough to drywall the side-wall of the stairs, and realize I don't have enough spare drywall to do so. I'll probably buy some more wood to just completely redo all the treads and risers. With some of them glued together, ripping them out to reseat/reglue them to fix the squeaking can become destructive on the treads.

Liquid Nails everywhere!

Support wall ready for drywall I don't have.

All but one tread all secured.

Give more of an idea of why I did this...

Randomness

I've been working on a bunch of little things, all to get to a point where I can think about installing carpet downstairs. It's still quite a ways off, but here's the little things I've been doing. First off, is completing the window casing and paint.

The before. All bare...

A look at the profile of the casing, with a little accent at the top.

All nailed in and ready to paint.

Painted! Paint color sure looks different in the night compared to day.

So, after a little bit of finish work, I realized I needed to finish off the stairs in order to get the hallway all ready for finish drywall and mudding. Thus begins ripping out the carpet and fashioning an extra support for the stair treads that will now stick out (in place of the wall that I removed). I used my t-square and had to buy a new t-bevel to make sure the angles were all correct for matching the rise and run of the existing stairs. Took a lot of time just to make sure it all fit right...

The carpet tear-down.

All clear for measuring and cutting new angles to match.

Measuring with t-square and t-bevel to proper angle.

Cutting away with my circular saw.

Added a 2x4 to the right for more support.

A look from a different angle.

Roughly adding in the new risers and treads.

Everything is going in ok so far. The treads are... of course... completely out of level, so I'll have to see if adding shims to the right side of the treads will even things out, yet keep the treads secure and squeak proof. I've been adding Liquid Nails Heavy Duty Adhesive to everything so far to make sure everything is solid and doesn't move at all.