The Man Cave

We have a basement.  When we bought our house we were super excited to have a big finished basement.  It was in rough shape but it was there.  We had big plans.  I painted the walls a light celery green.  I painted the bar a shiny white.  My husband got a small fridge that fits perfectly into one of the cabinets.  We hung up a dart board.  We bought a new TV.  It was great.

Basement Before

Basement After

 We painted the stubby ceiling fan.  Yes, it really is that small.

The basement was looking pretty darn good.  We were fairly happy with ourselves.  Then we got this little guy.  Rowdy was my husband's birthday present last year.  He is oh so cute.  And sweet.  I love him to pieces, however he has wreaked havoc on the basement.

This picture is from when he was still a cute tiny puppy.  He's still cute.  But gigantic.  Last time we went to the vet he weighed around 80 pounds.  Yup, that is a full sized dog.  And he's probably grown a little since then.  Needless to say he's not the most gentle on things.

Our basement floors were not amazing to start with.  They were fairly stained and gross.  But now thanks to Rowdy they are terrible.  There were a few puppy accidents but he learned very quickly to ask to go outside and there hasn't been an accident in ages.  And he's completely kennel trained.  He's amazing.  However, he's a bit of a puker.  He likes to eat dinner, gulp down water, run circles around the outside of the house and then come in and throw up.  Oh it's such a treat.  He puked on the couch once.  Obviously, I was not impressed.  Anyway, our floors are in terrible shape now.  It's just super low pile carpeting that is glued down.

Now we're at the point that the floors are just horrible.  And we're trying to decide what to do with them.  At this point I kind of hate to replace them and spend the money because I know Rowdy probably has more puking in his future.  But the floors are really embarrassing looking.  So we're looking at a couple of choices.
1.  Rip out the carpet and square it off around the bar.  This is where his kennel sits.  Put down peel and stick tile or paint the concrete.  He has warm cozy stuff in his kennel so he wouldn't just be on hard floor.  Don't worry :)
2.  Rip out all the carpet and put down peel and stick tile or paint the concrete.
3.  Rip out all the carpet and paint or tile around Rowdy and put new carpet/carpet tile on the rest of the floor.

There is no clear right answer.  Other than it needs to be cheap.  And our basement is fairly large.  And the floors get super dirty because Rowdy loves to play in the pond and roll in any dirt or mud that he can find.

So, what do you guys think?  I'm not going to show you how bad the floor is, just use your imagination and trust me.  Does your house have a basement?  What's it look like?  What kind of flooring do you have?  Do you love it?  Hate it?