The Facelift of Our Basement Family Room
I want to start this post by saying thank you for the positive response you gave me on my “Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful” post! I always LOVE to read your comments and emails, as well all the love you show over on Instagram! Does this little mustard chair look familiar??
Today, I’m showing you one glimpse of what our basement family room looked like before we gave it a pretty little face lift. A photo can speak for itself.
Well that’s a humdinger, right?! We actually were in the process of building our bar (Bar Makeover HERE) so that explains why everything is just kind of randomly scattered. When we built the home six years ago, we pretty much just through some carpet in a big room and filled it with our older furniture. You can see that those yellow walls were on their way out already when I took this photo. The grey paint that we have now repainted our entire home in is Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore. I actually had this color mixed in a Valspar paint through Lowes. They can color match any color as long as you have the name for them to look up on the computer. I went with Lowes because it’s right down the road from us, so obviously that is super convenient. Take notice that the walls were still a little boring even with the new paint going up. The carpet was in excellent condition and was only two years old, however, with all the entertaining we do down here I was beginning to cringe thinking of what carpet harbors. I wasn’t a big fan of the brown carpet either, but it did serve us well by hiding any spots.
So what does new paint, new floors, and a whole lot of board and batten do to a room?
This!
Is this even the same room? Yes, you’re seeing the view from the fireplace looking into the bar area. If you look closely you’ll see my office tucked off to the right there. What I really want to point out is the board and batten on the walls. Remember this photo from our bar area?
The large archway separating the family room and bar area was just boring. We added the trim and molding detail on each side of the arch and carried it from one side of the room to the next. Now the two areas feel defined but not separate. I love to beef up the architectural details in a home to make features stand out.
We carried the board batten throughout every wall in the family room and accentuated the arched hallway entrance going into the guest bedroom/bathroom area.
What I love about board and batten is that it holds its own in making a statement on a wall. I don’t feel the need to decorate my walls with anything more because I really think that the clean lines and layered look are just enough. Sure, it would also be pretty to layer some nice art for more visual interest, but for me, I’m loving this minimalist look. I think those chairs are bold enough on their own so I don’t want to rob them of their glory.
We installed the board and batten when we built the bar over two years ago, but last summer we decided to remove the carpet and add hardwood. I went with a darker color just to be consistent with the hardwood floors in the rest of the home. The floors we went with are Kingston Oak by Shaw. I love the 8″ wide planks and the hand scraped finish. I’ve had several ask where they can source my floors from. Apparently, this floor may be discontinued now. I’m not exactly sure, but when I do a google search I can’t find the exact one. I have no idea why it would be discontinued since it is a great floor, but things like this happen sometimes.
We use our new family room quite a bit. It’s my favorite space in the home and proves that you can have both style and comfort in one room.
It looks amazing Shauana. I would not have guessed the floor weren’t hardwood if you wouldn’t have disclosed. Great job with the decor too. BTW, is that chalkboard paint in your stone niche?
Hi Angela! Thank you! The floors are hardwood actually, in the family room. Now in the bar area, those floors are a grey washed “wood look” tile. We love them both! The paint in my niche is not chalkboard but is in an eggshell finish so has very little sheen. Thanks for stopping by!
That is quite the transformation of a basement. It looked great before, but the after took it to a completely wow room!! Did you put wood on top of your drywall for the board and batten walls? Do you have any tutorial for board and batten? I would love to do this in my home.
Thank you Diane! We did apply the wood right over the drywall. Unfortunately I don’t have a DIY since we actually hired this job out to a trim carpenter. That’s the one thing my hubs doesn’t want to tackle! We did do an easy DIY board and batten however in our guest bedroom and I’ll be sharing that one on the blog soon! If you look on pinterest, there are tons of DIY’s out there. Different types of wood and MDF are used too. Just with all the cuts and curves with our arches we knew that the trim carpenter would do it flawlessly. Good luck with yours!
It’s gorgeous, Shauna! I wouldn’t have known either that the floors weren’t hardwood…they look amazing!! This space truly is cozy and stylish and I’m so glad you shared the details with us!!
Thank you Bree! The floors are actually oak hardwood ;). Now our bar area floor is a grey wash tile that looks like wood. We didn’t know we were eventually going to be removing the carpet in the family room area when we built the bar, otherwise we probably would have done hardwood in there too. Oh well, the tile wipes up easy and is better for spills I guess when the party gets crazy…lol! That would be never..haha!
xo
Wow! Looks like a different house altogether. Just stunning!
Thank you so much Rhonda! Have a wonderful wknd!
That looks great! I love the couch!
Thank you Heather!
You should be quite proud of your wonderful concepts & bringing them all to fruition for your family. Your home looks warm, inviting & with just the right amount of luxury. Pls share your source for the sofa. If it’s as comfortable as it is beautiful I really want to get get one like it! Downsizing fr 5000 sq ft home to apt. Yikes!
Thank you! My sectional sofa is the Bernhardt Brae sofa. We’ve been very happy with its comfort and durability. Good luck with your downsizing! 🙂
The room is beautiful. Can you tell me the source of your sofa? Thanks.
Thank you! The sofa is the Brae sectional by Bernhardt.
This is so beautiful! Can you please share the source for the lantern sconce at the foot of the stairs? I’ve been looking all over the place for one just like it.
Thank you! The lantern is actually an outdoor lantern from Lowes. 🙂
Thank you! The lantern is an outdoor lantern from Lowes. I bought it six years ago, but I bet they still have it!
There’s certainly a great deal to learn about this subject. I love all of the points you’ve made.
I know all about flooring being discontinued! We had a nasty windstorm last December, and one lonely branch pierced a hole in our roof and caused water damage in the dining room. Builder told us that the flooring wasn’t available anymore. Ugh! The flooring was one of the things that we loved about this house! It was hand-scraped. We hadn’t even lived in our house for two years! It took me months to find something that I liked. We had come across a Shaw product (ours had to be solid and 3/4″ thick) that we loved. I believe the color was Waldron Trail (yours look real similar in color). However, when we ordered a sample box of the flooring, it came with lots of boards that were way too “distressed” and we snagged our socks on it. Ugh! Back to the drawing board. My hubby brought home a sample of one by Old Towne, which had the wire-brushed look and slight hand-scraping in Urban Barn and 6″ planks. Well, it wasn’t the 8″ planks that I liked about the Shaw product, but we found a color!! The new flooring was installed four weeks ago! We actually like them better than what we had before 🙂
Hi Shari! You’ve been through quite the ordeal with your hardwood floors! So happy you found something that was worth hunting down! I’m sure they look beautiful! 🙂
Very Pretty! Do you know the color on the stair rail? The dark color. Would you mind sharing if you know. Thanks so much! ????
Hi Kandi, I wish I could remember the exact color of stain we used. Ugh! It was seven years ago. I do remember that it was actually a paint/stain mix to give it a rich color. Sorry I’m no help here on this one. 🙂
Can you share the gray color on the walls.
The color in my home is Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore. I had it color matched at Lowes in Valspar. 🙂