Our Basement Refresh with Metrie

Spread the love.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Metrie.  Although we were compensated to write this post, all opinions and content are our own, and we stand behind and use all brands and products we endorse on our site.

If you’ve been following our Instagram stories, you know we’re back at it, making updates to our own home. We’ve been staying up late and getting up early over the last couple weeks (before and after client work) to give our basement a little facelift.

We spend a ton of time in our basement. And we also have a love/hate relationship with it. It has a large entertainment center, a perfect space for entertaining, and most importantly a place for our crazy boys to run around and play carefree. It was one of the first things that attracted us to our home.

However, there were also a couple of things on our wish list that it was missing when we bought it, a bathroom and bar. And the biggest thing we weren’t huge fans of was the golden oak…literally everywhere.

We knew we could quickly add a bathroom because the plumbing was already roughed in, build a bar, and eventually either paint or replace the woodwork. We knew tackling the woodwork would be our biggest task! All the prepping, painting and all the details that go into putting up woodwork takes a lot of time.

But then we were introduced to Metrie Complete (happy dance!) and they simplified the steps and process for us. Jamie had the old trim down and all the new trim up in one day.

First, let’s take you down memory lane and rewind to the before…

Before

Here’s what it looked like just a short couple of weeks ago…

Good bones, right?

As you can see there was a lot of beige and golden (what I like to call yellow) oak going on. And we are so not a beige family. We’re more of a gray tone family. However, our minds are always changing when doing client work. Because all of our clients have very different styles and we help pull together all of their ideas and love the projects.

Moving into this home a little over a year ago, we thought our basement would be last on our list to update because we thought it was going to be a big project to tackle. Over the past year, we’ve been partnered with Metrie and quickly realized, it’ll be a quick fix being the woodwork was the bulk of time for our project, and they made it simple.

Trim work takes a lot of time. Any homeowner who has DIY’d or hired it out knows this. It either takes a lot of their own valuable time or a lot of money to hire it out.

Using the Metrie Complete pre-painted products has saved us so much time and saved our clients money. Our estimates are based off how much time it takes us to get the job done. This material, contractor packs, comes primed which ultimately saves on our labor time by cutting out those steps. Material costs are a great price because you can purchase builder packs. They also don’t lack in quality either. They give us quality at an affordable cost, which is exactly why we use them.

You can find more information on Metrie’s builder packs by clicking this link. 

Eventually, we’ll add a basement bar into the mix right here in this area where we’ll repurpose our kitchen cabinets that we demo’d out during our kitchen remodel.

As for adding in a bathroom all we had to do was section the utility room off that was inside that right door, frame it up, pop in a door there to the left and add the finishings: flooring, paint, toilet, vanity, lighting, and mirror. The former homeowners had all the plumbing roughed in so that saved us a lot of money and time.

We loved the overall look of the entertainment center, we could tell it was a well-built custom cabinet, so we didn’t necessarily want to gut and redo. The golden oak wasn’t working for us, and we knew a little paint would do the trick. However, agreeing on a color was another story. We kept going back on navy blue or gray cabinetry. In the end we settled on navy blue with gold hardware.

Let the construction begin…

We started by demoing all of the old base trim and casing and taking down all of the cabinet and interior doors. While Jamie worked on the trim and tiled the bathroom; I worked on wallpapering the bathroom and painting all of the walls and doors.

Painting the walls and cabinets took the longest time. I’m not sure what I was thinking of covering up brown with white. Ha! Jamie got the trim down and up in a day. So, although, we typically like to paint all the walls first before hanging trim, he lapped me. But it also was super easy to cut in since I was painting all the walls white. We went with a primer and paint, off the shelf paint, nothing fancy, and it matched the trim perfectly.

And of course, Beckam was there there helping us every step of the way…

The bathroom we did do in the right order. Paint, wallpaper, tile and lastly, Jamie hung the trim. We went dark in this bathroom bringing in black wallpaper, black floors, and dark green walls. So we loved how the white trim brightened up the tiny space a bit!

Not only do we love the product but the people behind the brand are incredible, and we love working with them. We have a strong relationship with them, so no matter what may happen (like things often do when demoing), we don’t ever have to worry about one thing and know no matter what we’ll have a great end product.

They are a family-owned business based out of Canada. They are also the largest supplier and manufacturer of solid wood and composite moulding in North America, as well as the leading distributor of Masonite interior doors in Canada. Through their global supply network, Metrie offers everything you need for woodwork in your remodel. Just like us, Metrie believes that interior finishings (moulding/trim and interior doors) should be selected early in the design or renovation process; ensuring a professional look that allows for a cohesive feel in a space.

MDF is also very easy to trim to install because of its flexibility and ease of cutting.

We always cope our inside corners to assure a nice, clean corner. It also helps if there is any movement or shifting in the house to keep the corners looking tight. For our outside corners, we always use an angle finder (like the one Beckam is holding) because corners are rarely exactly 90 degrees. Find the angle and divide it in half and that’s your miter cut. And always glue joints when installing trim.

We also love that we can get 16′ long pieces which cuts down on the need to have joints in the middle of a wall run. This makes the install go so much quicker and gives a smooth, flawless end product.

Another key to installing base is to locate your studs and nail directly into them. This will keep the base in place, and it will follow the contour of the walls as they are never perfectly straight.

Using Metrie Complete saved us so much time. It was ready to install, already primed and painted. There was absoloutely no paint prep or paint clean up. This was key for our basement since we weren’t replacing the carpet. And as Jamie mentioned in the video, using Metrie Complete makes us look good. When painting any wood work, it’s always a little nerve-wracking that there will be drips or the risk of overspray in places you don’t want it. Using this product helps us achieve high-quality, factory finished moulding which eliminates the inconsistency of painting from job to job. Another cool thing is that Metrie Complete has special UV inhibitors added to the painting process, which prevents color variation.

If you’re thinking about new woodwork on your home or your clients’ homes; whether you’re tackling a renovation project or building a new home, understanding what either your buyer or yourself want and what they’ll pay more for is crucial. No matter the project, profit maximization is our goal. Read more here about their proven products to increase the value of your home. You can also find where to purchase this product, here.

We’ve been hard at work putting the place back together again, and we can’t wait to show you the final reveal next.