Home Series: The Before--The Basement

Have you been keeping up with our home tour?  If not, you can catch up here and here.

One of the requirements on our list when house shopping was a basement.  Living in Southwest Missouri my whole life, tornadoes were something that we had to be aware of.  My parents' house doesn't have a basement, but I never felt scared.  We couldn't even hear the tornado sirens because we lived so far out of town.  I went to school many times and my friends were talking about waking up to sirens in the middle of the night.  I slept right through them.

Fast-forward to May 2011...I was home when the Joplin tornado ripped apart their town.  My hometown is just north of Joplin, but I have family and friends that live there.  The day after the tornado, we went down to see how we could help.  What I saw that day, I will never forget.  The stories that I hear are forever ingrained in my brain.

Fast-forward again to May 2013 when a tornado went through St. Charles and north St. Louis.  Many of our friends live in the path of that tornado and we saw the devastation from it.  

I knew that we had to have a basement in whatever house we decided to buy.  It was a non-negotiable for me.  We got lucky and found a home with a finished basement.

The air hockey table came with the house...and it's really nice!  It has been very fun to play! :)

We also have a full bathroom in the basement.

The people who lived in this house before us have always lived here.  They really liked brass and the nasty orange colored walls.  I can't wait to paint them. 

Not pictured:  the dungeon (our unfinished storage area).  It's scary.

Well, there you have it!  Those are the pictures of our home on the day we got our keys!  I hope to be back soon with some "after" pictures! Hope you enjoyed the tour! :)  Come visit sometime!  We would love to have you!