Kenny has been hard at work down at our basement . He started framing the walls at the beginning of October and as of last night, finished the dry wall installation . He did the mudding and the sanding of the walls and according to him, we should be able to start with the painting  by this weekend.  Finally, there's something I could do to help out. We already picked out the paint color last week, called Caraway from Behr.  The entire basement area looked so different and improved from weeks ago. It's an entirely new and livable space that's just waiting to be tweaked. It will be a combination of storage, work space and entertainment area. Although it would mainly be Kenny's domain, he said he wants it also to be a place where I'll feel comfortable and cozy hanging out with him. Such a nice sweet guy, huh? Here's some pics of the work in progress:

As I've told him last night, he has worn a lot of hats in our house since we bought it. He has done the painting, sound system set-up, floor demolition, plumbing, electric circuitry, carpentry, dry walling and soon,  laying out of the carpet and covering the ceiling. Some of those stuff he already knew and have done before but a few he learned on his own by  reading up on the subjects and  through trial and error. Although I've lent a hand from time to time, he did most of the muscle and brain work. One friend lamented  to me that she wanted to get a lot of work done in her house but her husband don't feel at ease and confident enough to do it on their own. As anyone probably know by now, labor is not cheap  here in the US. Kenny and I definitely saved a lot of money by not hiring anyone else for the above tasks. With the exception of hiring a contractor for installing the hardwood floors, we pretty much did most of the improvements in the house. By doing so, we take much more pride in our homeownership and we feel that it is really OUR home, reflecting our tastes and personality.