The Matt Cave revealed

Without further ado, I present the new and improved Matt Cave. Except we really can't call it the Matt Cave anymore.



Three months. . . several gallons of paint. . . new baseboard and trim. . . one stacked slate stone fireplace veneer . . . and a smokin' new futon cover, pillows and TV stand later, we've gone from cave to family room. With nary a Gatorade bottle, dirty sock nor cell phone charger in sight.



Good-bye, weird partially white-washed, partially distressed wood paneling. Au revoir, oddly recessed painted brick fireplace. And sayonara, scratched and dirty basement ceiling. Our work here is done.

We've gone from this:

To this:

It's been a pleasant transformation, and while youngest son Matt loses his subterranean grotto, we gain a family room that we can now, with full certainty, proclaim as booger-free. You can't say that about all basements.


Matt, you will always have a place to hang your boxers when you come home to Bermtopia. We love you to death -- AND every minute of your visits. But now, you have new accommodations -- also known as "the guest bedroom."

We love you, Matt. Come home soon.








And, by the way, how do you feel about the color yellow?

The Matt Cave 2

Phase 1 of The Matt Cave makeover is complete. Ceiling painted, primer coat up on the wall, baseboard down and cool accent trim on the walls. Plus a vicious piece of driveway concrete has been tamed. Check, check, check, check and check.

Aside from breathing the noxious fumes that only oil-based paint can produce for about 24 hours, it was painless. (And, well, actually I was out of town so just Brad and Ben were breathing noxious fumes. No worries, though. All survived, I'm happy to report.)Remodeling Dude John (aka, God with a mitre box) was fabulous, carrying out all tasks efficiently, neatly and with the precision of a surgeon. Did I mention we worship the ground he walks on?

Between now and March 11, when the stacked stone goes up on the fireplace (and blue pearl granite is applied to the upstairs bathroom countertop), Brad is charged with priming the accent trim on the walls and doing a little patching.

And I'll be doing what I do best -- collecting color paint chips and plotting our next remodeling adventure.

The Matt Cave

The Matt Cave, aka the basement, is getting a face-lift.

Nothing major -- some fresh paint, new baseboard, and best of all,the fireplace is getting a stacked-stone surface. Hello, 21st century! Meet the new and improved Matt Cave.

About "The Matt Cave" moniker. Let me explain. Sometime when he was in high school, that would be about 5 or 6 years ago, our youngest son Matt sort of decamped to the basement, choosing it as his primary mode of abode. Maybe it was a hot summer night when his upstairs bedroom was too stuffy -- or a late, late night of movies and video games. But at some point, Matt took up residence in the basement and it became The Matt Cave. It all seemed to make sense at the time. It usually does with teenagers.

It's a man pad, all right -- TV, DVD player, foosball table, laundry room (with a shower!) all just steps away. Bathroom and kitchen right at the top of the stairs. Room to spread out for entertaining. (I can't tell you the number of mornings I've tiptoed down to the basement to grab some clean underwear or new can of coffee only to find a jumble of arms and legs belonging to an indeterminate number of Matt's buddies that seemed to sprout up from the basement floor sometime in the middle of the night.)And a comfy futon that nicely accommodates an afternoon snooze -- or long winter night's slumber.

Now that Matt's in college and is only home for holidays, we venture down into The Matt Cave every now and then to host a Gonzaga basketball game or escape a particularly gnarly thunderstorm with dog Ben. It's at these times when The Matt Cave loses a bit of its exotic allure and you see it for what it is -- a somewhat beat-up basement family room that is finally getting a little bit of love.


Somehow, you just don't see that when Matt's home. It's amazing what layer of DVDs, video games, XBox cables, cell phone chargers, sketch pads, textbooks, dirty socks, rumpled sleeping bags and empty Gatorade bottles can do for a room. It's these special accessories that make it The Matt Cave. Every household should have one.

So, with this in mind, I am approaching the basement makeover with some bemusement. It will look awesome when it's done, trust me.

But it won't be The Cave till Matt comes home. HGTV, take note.