Warm and Whimsical Basement Remodel
When we moved into this house in March 2019, we had a two-month-old baby boy who—looking back—we’re convinced had colic. We also had a jealous cat, an energetic dog, and loads of construction work to tackle right off the bat. We purchased this home knowing we’d want to renovate and refresh every inch of it, over time, while living in it. Mix all of the above together, and you have a stressed-out kitty “acting out” (read: it was very smelly) on every non-furnished inch of carpet throughout the basement whenever we ran the table saw or the baby cried, and as a result, a basement that nobody enjoyed being in.
For two years, we let the cat-pee smell fade away, but I couldn’t put it out of my memory for good until we had ripped out that nasty old carpet, replaced the baseboards, and Kilzed the subfloor before installing a new LVP (luxury vinyl plank) floor in the space. Not to mention, we had a second child, and we had a basement the size of our ranch-style home’s main floor that was sitting there not being used. We never went down there to play or hang out prior to this renovation, so it was about 1500 square feet of wasted space.
With baby #2 learning to scoot around and crawl just in time for the approach of the cold Colorado winter months in 2022, we knew it was time to make this part of our home not only clean and livable, but also enjoyable.
The New Basement Plans
As do most of my clients, I like to look at the bigger picture before I start selecting details such as finishes, furniture, and decor for any space. The basement was no exception! Ultimately, if Jason and I were going to put a certain amount of time and money into making this space enjoyable, we wanted to be sure to do it right! So I built the above concept board to see how all of my choices would look when pieced together. Does this match the end result? No, not exactly, but that speaks to the idea of enjoying the journey, not just the destination ;)
The Floors
There’s nothing like ripping out 20-year-old, cat-pee-infused, beige carpet to get you excited about never-again having carpet. Plus, many of Joe’s (3 yrs) and Everleigh’s (1 yr) ride-on toys were difficult to maneuver on the carpet, so Jason and I selected a high-performing, wood-look LVP flooring product from LL Flooring. The product is called Duravana, and the color is Bay Bridge Oak. It has a Dual Defense waterproofing technology, easy locking installation, and resists dents and scratches like no other. Yes, we actually had the kids give it their best effort to dent and scratch the samples we got before committing to ordering this product for the whole basement, and it held up to its praise!
We had gotten a handful of color samples, too, before selecting the one for this remodel, and we were torn between Bay Bridge Oak and Chapel Bridge Oak. The reason we decided to go with Bay Bridge Oak was truly just that it was warmer-toned, and we felt the basement needed that.
Interestingly enough, Chapel Bridge Oak is very similar to the color of flooring that we used throughout the main floor of our house, so it’s not that we didn’t love it; we just loved the warmer toned option for the basement. Since finishing the basement, LL Flooring reached out to me to conduct an interview about this project and my design process. Check it out!
**Also not to be missed: The peel and stick wall mural we ordered from Koko Art Shop on Etsy! It’s made this little camp-out area feel so much sweeter :)
The Fireplace
I cannot say enough about how much of an impact this fireplace has made in the high-end style and cozy feel of our basement’s living space! Not only does it lend a certain ambiance that simply didn’t exist in this area before, but also, it literally warms the whole space! We selected a 50” electric fireplace insert (it’s the Allusion Platinum Electric SimpliFire Fireplace from Heat n Glo), and it’s the most beautiful (not to mention easy-to-install) space heater I’ve ever owned. I’ve written another blog post about our experience using Heat n Glo’s SimpliFire electric fireplaces in our home projects, and I encourage you to check it out! It’s such an easy, cost-effective way to totally transform and cozy-up a space.
The Decor
While we did our best to shop our home for a significant amount of our furniture and decor down here, I’d be remiss not to thank Safavieh for their generous sponsorship of the play area’s wool rug, all of the new lighting, our accent tables in this space, curtains, and wall textiles. I’ve been a fan of Safavieh since before I got into interior decorating and design. I’ll never forget the time when, very early in my career, Safavieh reposted a few of my photos on their Instagram account—totally out of the blue. My jaw hit the floor. To have been noticed and appreciated by a brand I had loved since my college years when I first learned about them and their chic, reasonably priced home products, it was a very special moment for me. Their products are always on-trend, look more expensive than they actually cost, and last for years! When they reached out to see if we could partner on one space in our home, I was thrilled to reply right away with a “YES PLEASE!!”
Take a look at some of the beautiful products Safavieh sponsored for our basement remodel, and click the links in the caption to shop!
Safavieh products I love, as seen in the above images:
Layland 1-panel window curtain, Floor lamp, Floor pillow-round champagne, Floor pillow-square striped, Wall hanging 1, Wall hanging 2, Wall hanging 3, Blush table lamp, Flush-mount ceiling lights, Chandelier, Concrete-look console table, Cotton and Wool rug, brown
The Flower Boxes
We’ve received SO much love on these flower boxes, and they weren’t even part of our original plan! The original design included some IKEA cabinet bases that we were going to hack and turn into built-ins, with floating shelves over them and some arched enclosures in the top.
When supply chain issues continued to delay our project with one “out of stock” item after another, despite signing up for email notifications when the products were back in stock and not being quick enough on the “purchase” button to snag them, we decided to move on and change our plans.
My husband Jason remembered that I had been wanting to make a little garden game for our children, where we’d have plywood boards with holes drilled in them, set on a slight incline (similar to “corn hole” or “bags,” depending on where you grew up). In those holes, our children would be able to plant and arrange my collection of faux florals that I’ve amassed over the past 10 years or so. Jason sketched-up his idea to do that, but built into these recessed walls we had. I love that it was his idea to put a mini picket fence in front of each garden box :D.
To achieve this look, you simply use wood 2x4s to frame out the base of each garden box. Make sure the back is slightly higher than the front so that the flower holes in the front appear lower and allow children to see and reach the holes in the back. Next, cut a thin plywood board to the shape and size of the top, accounting for the wall-to-wall and front-to-back dimensions, not just the opening of the framing. Use a few different drill bits in varying sizes (we used 1/4” and 3/4” bits) to drill holes into the plywood board, then affix it to the top of the framework using nails or screws (your preference).
The picket fence did require a little bit of skilled cutting, but you can spend twice as much and avoid the cutting. At less than $4 per 6-ft board, it wouldn’t put you out too much. I didn’t want there to be any sharp edges, so I asked Jason to round the tops with his jigsaw rather than leaving them as they were when we purchased them. With each board measuring less than 3’ H, Jason simply cut all of them in half and used half for the left-side planter box and the other half for the right-side boxes. He then rounded all of the tops and nailed them to the top and bottom 2x4 framing boards. It only took a few hours start to finish and cost a heck of a lot less than the original IKEA-hack built-ins plan.
Texture and Continuity
A year prior to this renovation, we had our second child, so what was once the guest bedroom became her nursery. We created a new guest bedroom in the basement out of a storage space that happened to have a window in it. In that space, Stikwood was so kind to have sponsored their product (color: Hamptons) to give the main wall and ceiling some much-needed texture and character. We loved the look so much that we wanted to bring it out into the main play area in the basement. On the wall surrounding the windows and the IKEA-hack Nordli built-in window seats (we did our own rendition of Kelin from Hydrangea Treehouse’s DIY tutorial), you’ll see the same beautiful Stikwood product in Hamptons, lending a cottage-style feel to this well-lit reading and floor-play zone. To think, this area was once a billiards space when we moved in!
Enjoying the Fruits of Our Labor
As a family, we’ve spent exponentially more time down in the basement in the past two months than we had in the past three years. It’s crazy how much we truly love playing and relaxing down here now! On hot summer afternoons, we bring the children inside and play down here to cool off, and on chillier days, we crank up the heat with the electric fireplace. The wood floors allow for Everleigh to effortlessly push her walker and toy shopping cart around, while Joe enjoys riding his scooter and training bike all over the place. Even Jason and I will bring a bottle of wine and a bowl of popcorn down here on a Friday night once the children go to bed so we can enjoy a movie in the cozy living space we created. We feel like we’ve truly doubled the usable square footage of our house now that this space is being used!
I’m sure I missed some major details. Please leave your questions and feedback in the comments below… Thanks for following along!