Basement Remodel

About a month ago we finished our basement remodel.  We moved some walls, added an additional 6 foot wide sliding glass door (there was already 1 from before), and replaced the carpet with hardwood floors, including on the stairs.  Our 'basement' is actually almost completely above-grade, so it was always weird to me that there was only 1 large slider and a few small windows.  It is nice to get more light into the area and have a better floor plan now.

Before, when you came down the stairs, you entered an awkwardly shaped hallway with the linen closet, large storage room, and bathroom on the left (not pictured), and an angular bedroom with no window on the right, along with a hallway leading to a long rec room.   We had the walls to the bedroom removed so that you now enter into one of the two new rec rooms.  The whole basement feels much more open and functional now because of it.  

Before (Right side view from staircase):

After (Right side view from staircase):

View from the opposite side:

Before (view from back of old bedroom):

After (with bedroom walls removed)

The two new rec rooms are open to each other and are 1) part of the old rec room, and 2) the old hallway+old bedroom

One of the main reasons for moving the old awkwardly shaped bedroom was to put it somewhere with a window so it wouldn't feel like a dungeon. We added a second 6 ft sliding glass door and had a wall built between the two sliders to separate the spaces.

Before (long rec room, with 1 slider):

During (2nd slider cutout, wall going up)

After (the new bedroom is behind the door and the slider in the picture is the new one)

Before (view of wall against back yard)

After (view of wall against back yard with new slider and small window)

After (new bedroom with its own slider and window):

We paid someone to add the sliding glass door and move the walls, then painted ourselves and then I replaced the carpet with hardwood floor (with some help from Nate here and there).  After I finished the floor, I decided I did such a good job, that I would replace the old carpet on the stairs too.  Luckily the new natural oak floor matched the existing railing since the hardwood on the main level of the house is also natural oak.

After (stairs below landing):