family with new baby in newly constructed basement

When we bought our Seattle home at the beginning of the pandemic, we always planned to “finish the basement”. It was sold to us as having “so much potential” and we could see it! The finished part of our home (the upstairs) was only 2 bedrooms and 1 full bath, and a finished basement would double our livable square footage - so we always had a vision of renovating the basement before expanding our family.

6 Unfinished Basement Ceiling Height.jpeg

We first met with a contractor - Isha Hoffman - about 4 years ago. He had recently renovated a friend’s basement in the neighborhood, and came highly recommended. We fielded a couple of other contractors, but his experience, expertise and personality really clicked with us. Since our basement ceiling height was legally too low - Kevin would bump his head on the beams in some places - He explained that our best option would be to lift our entire house. Honestly, I was shocked - I didn’t know people actually did that! Much less that it would be feasible for us. Or that it would be this extensive to realize that basement “potential”. We knew this was going to be a HUGE project, so having a contractor we could build a relationship with and trust was really important to us.

Designing a Basement for Family Life

We met with an architect that our contractor recommended (again, peace of mind, experience working together, etc.!) to draw up plans for the reno. Honestly, I hesitate to say “reno” because really, we were building an entire second story of our house, and as you can see in the photos, there wasn’t much down there to begin with. Concrete floors, some electrical, and a single toilet - in the middle of the one, giant, room. Our goals for the space were to create: two bedrooms for the kids, an office for Kevin, a full bathroom, laundry room and a playroom.

One thing we didn’t foresee was having to create an extension off the back to house the taller, up-to-code staircase. A bonus perk of this (expensive) piece of the puzzle was creating an awesome mudroom! Which is super helpful for anyone, especially a family with little kids. After we landed on a layout we liked, the designer submitted the plans for permitting, which (again, shockingly) took over a year to get approved. Once we had the plans in hand, we met with our contractor again to talk about cost, and a game plan.

Timing Your Renovation Around Pregnancy

During this already long process, we had done IVF, had our first kiddo, and were planning to transfer our second and last embryo. We made the unfinished basement work for us, hanging curtains and putting down foam flooring to make it cozier for our home offices and a ton of storage space. We had a game plan for what we would do with our space if we couldn’t afford, or the timing didn’t work with the contractor, to “do the basement” before baby #2 arrived, but miracle of miracles we were able to make it happen.

We transferred + got pregnant with our second baby in the spring of 2023, and signed off to get started on construction in the summer. On October 1st, we moved out of our house and in with Kevins parents, because we couldn’t live at home while they lifted the house. Mainly because literally everything got disconnected (plumbing, electrical, etc.) and for a while you couldn’t even access the main floor of our house except by ladder!

Managing the Chaos — Stress, Noise, and Naps

One of the hardest things for me was not having a place to nap during construction. I was 7-9months pregnant during this time and it was so hard for me to get through the day without having a quiet place to myself to rest! I literally napped in our car one afternoon. It was also really hard to not be able to do any sort of nesting - organizing the house, baby clothes, toys, or even meal prepping. We are super grateful to Kevin’s parents for having us for 3 months, but it was definitely a lot! They also live about 45 minutes out of town, so we would spend a lot of time commuting to Kevin’s job downtown, and to drop off Fitz at school. We wanted to keep that consistent for him during this huge change, and especially with baby sister on the way!

We moved back home on New Years Day. I was antsy to get home before baby arrived. Luckily, baby girl arrived promptly on her due date, giving us exactly two weeks at home before I went into labor. Our construction crew was dry-walling the basement while we were at the hospital. Please check out the photo below of the “Welcome Home Baby Ruth” sign they made for us in the mudroom - which of course instantly made me cry.

They paused construction for a couple of weeks to let us get settled as a new family of four. But we got right back to it, and VA slept through the construction noise just fine (and Fitz was at school during the day). VA stayed in her bassinet in our room for a bit longer that I would have preferred because she didn’t have anywhere else to go!

Budgeting for Both a Baby and a Basement Remodel

Everyone always asks… How much did it cost to lift your house? And truthfully, the lift wasn’t that expensive (in the grand scheme of things) - about $25k. It was just everything else that was involved in the project that added up! We also took this opportunity to add things like air conditioning to our house, and update some old knob and tube. We did some things ourselves to try to save some money. Our family helped us paint (the ceilings and walls… it was a LOT of walls…) and Kevin installed all of the laminate flooring.

We phased out the construction to give ourselves some breathing room and definitely chose the cheaper end of finishes and design options. We really focused on this being bonus space for the kids rather than anything matching up to an unrealistic Pinterest board of inspiration.

We haven’t “finished” everything - The main things that are currently still missing are trim + the remaining doors. We chose to purchase and install a select few doors needed for functionality - just the kids rooms and the bathroom. We also have some other items on our to do list that we hope to get to in the future.

What We’d Do Differently

Of course if money was no object, I would absolutely outsource everything and have every last detail complete, haha. But, in it’s current state, it is done enough, and livable, and we’ll keep making progress as we go!

If I were to give one piece of advice for someone going through a renovation, especially while pregnant and/or raising tiny kids, it would be to work with a contractor that you trust. We always knew that our contractor had our best interest in mind, and understood our needs and finances. Yes, you should absolutely budget for more than the estimate, too, haha, but more than anything, this peace of mind was worth it to us. We are forever grateful to Isha and his team!

Final Advice for Expecting Parents Planning a Renovation

All in all, it has truly been an insane process, and Kevin and I still say that we can’t believe we did this. We are so grateful though to have been able to invest in our home and make it work for our family for a long, long time. We know we come from a place of extreme privilege for being able to take on a project like this, and we are so happy to get to continue to be a part of our neighborhood and community that we love so much!

Renovating your home while pregnant isn’t easy — but if done thoughtfully, it can be a game-changer for your family’s future comfort. If you’re pregnant and thinking about remodeling, you’re not alone — and it is possible to do it safely, smartly, and (mostly) stress-free.