A friend of mine once sent me a meme that said:
“Good friends discuss their sex lives. Best friends talk about poop”
O – M – Geeeee! We’re not the ONLY weirdos out there to do this?!?
Since we are not all best friends here, I won’t talk about poop {too much}. I will, however, talk about some awesome friends who let me remodel and organize their basement family room.
The Story
Before I dive into the renovation, I have to back up and tell you how this all began. My friends have this room, they call it the “purple” room… because it’s purple, and it’s their catch-all room. You know the place, we’ve all got one (ahem, my laundry room). Only it’s been catching a lot of stuff for a long time. So being the enterprising friend that I am, I offered/pleaded to organize it for them, promising to take only an hour of their time each week. This was probably weird and boundary crossing, but they let me do it anyway. I think they were still coming down from the vacation high of our trip together a few weeks prior. After my first one hour session I came to the conclusion that the stuff needed a new home and their basement family room needed some love. The math just made sense.
Like any logical person, they agreed, and you better believe I was off to Lowe’s for floor samples before they could change their minds. They might argue otherwise, but I really didn’t intend to pull a bait-and-switch on them. If I did, it was purely subconscious and I can’t be held accountable for that.
Fast forward to the renovation. On a scale of ‘1’ to ‘Death by Bear’, my friends would rank home projects right up there with being gnawed on by Pooh Bear (see what I did there – it always comes back to poo). What’s not to love about destroying your house and putting it back together?
The Plan
We needed new flooring, paint, furniture and lots and lots of storage. Here’s what we came up with.
For the floor we went with laminate since it is in the basement and will be much more durable than carpet (looks great too). I had the entire drop ceiling sprayed white, without the dark ceiling grid it really felt brighter and bigger. The paneling was painted a soft gray and the doors and trim went white.
I love me some IKEA, especially this Besta storage system. And the best”a” part is they have an online planner where you can customize and visualize exactly what you want. Once you’re done designing, the planner will create a shopping list you can save or email. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Now this piece, I really love. They had an old cabinet with some wear and tear. To add a fun pop of color to the room we decided to paint it a bright green color, along with a wine rack I had laying around. I found a great furniture refinishing tutorial and it turned out beautifully.
A bunch of stuff from the purple room found a new home in the basement too. The most important thing you can do for any organization project is to take an inventory. Better yet, measure it. It’s not enough to know you need storage space for 25 books, but how much space those 25 books actually take up.
The Reveal
Now for the big reveal ~ before and after photos:
While I may not have done the job I set out to do, I think they ended up with something great. There was even extra storage space we hadn’t even touched yet. Say whaaaat?!? So I’ll get back to the purple room some day, but for now I think I’ll give them a little space to recover and fill up their tolerance tank for me again. Heck, I may have to take them on another vacation.
Love home projects? Check out this post on making the most of your floor plan.
This is simply amazing. The transformation is so motivating. I say this because my basement looks like the before picture with the dark ceiling grid and panel walls. You did an amazing job! Now only if you can come do mine 🙂