Home ownership is a rite of passage for many Americans and with it comes responsibilities of upkeep and improvements. When something breaks, we fix it, upgrade it or redo it all together. After a home reaches a certain age, issues start creeping up and the list of items to fix begin to grow. The question many homeowners' ask themselves is, "Can we do it ourselves?" Due to the high cost of a custom home builder, or contractor and often their inability to complete work with the timeframe the family wants, many homeowners brave the do it yourself concept.

We'd all like to think that we can take on a home improvement project and complete it as professionally as the experts. With an eye for details and the love of the home, who better to work on the project than the homeowner? When our family decided to take on a home improvement project without a contractor, we didn't immediately take the plunge; we slowly dipped our foot in the water of projects fixing broken windows and caulking leaky skylights and worked our way up to the big project.

Our big project began with a big idea. We decided to turn the concrete basement into an office and second living room for the kids to do their homework and use the computer. With the right tools and a little bit of time, we could have the basement fully utilized in weeks. First, my husband had to get the right power tools. He researched; he visited home improvement stores and finally turned to a co-worker to recommend industrial tools that would put our project on track. Next, we had to select lighting because for our purpose, overhead lighting was necessary. Using an industrial band saw for floor cutting, he cut and laid hardwood floors in the basement which gave it a very high end look and seemed more durable than placing carpeting. He also determined we needed a pump in the basement in the event of water leaking from the backyard.

While my husband toiled in the basement putting up lighting, installing electrical power sources and putting up drywall, the kids and I were in charge of creating office space for the parents and desk space for the children.  Building office space and finding the right desks and shelving took time. Mostly, the time was spent reviewing all of the options; you cannot imagine how many options are available for office furniture and shelving. We untimely decided on industrial strength shelving for the family's books and paperwork. For the parents, we got a dual desk with space for a desktop computer and work laptops. We got file cabinets with locks to hold the families important financial documents and records.  The kids settled on a working table that had a computer on one end and room for projects and homework space at the other end.

We used fasteners to secure the desks, shelving and file cabinets to the walls. While the work space is to be used by all members of the family, any area that the kids would use needed to be secured and held together using industrial supplies.

Our family's experience renovating the basement took more time than we thought but we came in under our established budget by going with solid designs and reasonable expenses. By doing a majority of the work ourselves and investing in industrial supplies from the internet, we eliminated buying various tools that might not have done the job efficiently and professionally. My husband is the only member of the family who isn't excited about redoing the kitchen after this experience. He missed many Saturdays, Sundays and evenings working on the basement but since he already has the power tools and industrial supplies to do the job, I know he will change his mind when he's recovered from this project. .