Comfortable and Stylish Home: The Basement Makeover

The Basement Makeover

This is the last post about the lovely Comfortable and Stylish Home. We covered the Living Room, Home Office, and Kids Spaces previously and will end where I actually began the projects in this home- the basement.

The Basement: Purpose

The basement serves as a hang out space and also as an extra place for guests to stay. Movies and sports are watched down here, card games are played, and general chatting occurs. We wanted the space to be like the rest of the house- comfortable and stylish.

The Basement: Paint

With some restraint (you know I love a good paint sample session), we threw several options on the walls. We landed on Benjamin Moore Classic Gray and I think it is the perfect warm, barely-there gray. The fireplace mantel and surround also received a refresh with a coat of paint. For this, we added a modern flair by using Sherwin Williams Iron Ore. (Basements are inevitably difficult to photograph so I snapped some with my iPhone- and totally forgot to move the real camera out of the way. Oh well!)

The Basement: The Furniture

When we started the project, we decided to keep the original sofa but as time went on and we shuffled the furniture upstairs, the owners brought the living room sectional downstairs. I think it is the perfect size for the space! The layout changed a few times during the process with the TV eventually ending up on the west wall. The sectional faces both the fireplace and the TV thanks to a great grandpa suggestion!

Above the sofa, the owners chose six photos. The photos are a nice mix of different places they have lived and favorite trips. The black and white thread makes them all cohesive looking despite them being highly personal and interesting.

Below the sofa, we laid an 8×10 rug. This helped to ground the space and create a living room-like zone. The rug is incredibly soft and the colors and pattern are very versatile. An ottoman with storage for extra blankets is a stylish and necessary addition to the space.

We added a game table to the basement and four comfortable, modern chairs. The position of the table allows for game watching on TV and game playing at the table. A great combination for hanging out!

We also created a zone for (more) lounging. The chair was originally upstairs but got displaced when the piano moved to the living room. The flag bought locally helps to define the area while the side table grounds the chair.

The Basement: The Games

We were fortunate that the owners already owned really nice game tables. The foosball table moved across the room and is anchored by the three prints. We found blueprints for each of the kids’ sports of interest and hung them across the wall.

Originally, we didn’t think that we would have room for the ping pong table and questioned the amount of use that it was getting. The family put half of it up for single player use and now use it more frequently. A win-win if you will. Look at how stylishly one of the boys organized the ping pong paddles!

That’s All For Now

This was such a fun project and even better that I get to occasionally go over and hang out in the spaces too 🙂