Eye on the Bonus: Basement Update Inspiration

Here are some tips for how to find inspiration for updating a basement. They include space planning, where to find decorating ideas and more. Read on for more info.

Last weekend, the walls finally started coming down in the basement. I hadn’t pushed or pressured Ken to get this phase started, honestly. But after all the cleaning, de-cluttering and yard work we accomplished over the three day holiday weekend, Ken must have felt up to the task because the next thing I knew, he was hauling drywall pieces out to the dumpster.

Finding Design Inspiration for Basements and Other Larger Area Remodels

Renovating a larger area like a basement takes a little more planning because the space may have several uses. Taking some time to consider what you’re going to use each area for is a great way to start.

While waiting for Ken to finish prepping the open beam ceiling for paint,  I pulled together some ideas for the range of style I’m aiming for in the basement, albeit on a much smaller scale than these inspirational room ideas allow.

1) Designate the general areas you will be focusing on for your basement update:

When finding inspiration for any large area decorating plan, it’s very helpful to designate what areas you are going to be updating. You want to make these areas cohesive to each other, but you also want to define them as their own.

We have four main areas four our renovation plan.

• the TV area
• the laundry room
• the game room
• the bonus room

2) Gathering decorating ideas and inspiration from online, books, magazines, and more

Using Pinterest, Houzz, and other home decor online apps is one great way to gather inspiration. I also find that tearing out photos from ad mailers from home improvement stores works good. Paint stores often have inspirational photos, and don’t forget taking a photo in your friends home, if you love what they have done. (I actually took photos of a garage makeover at a graduation party once, with permission, of course).

For the purpose of the basement update, I found some inspiration online to start with.

3) Making notes of what you like about the room

Once you peruse the various places you can find inspiration from and find some you like, you’ll next want to take notes about the features you like. 

4) Deciding what aspects you will incorporate into your makeover plan

Read below to see how I gathered notes and the links that follow through to how I was then able to put them into the plan.

5) Narrowing down details for each area

TV area

• The soft color on the walls
• The warm and cozy casual feel
• The darker wood tones and simpler furniture that give a touch of a rustic/mission feel (to me, anyway)

How to create a stone look on cement walls with texture paint

Laundry room area

Coming back down to earth, this laundry room is more on par with what I have to work with. I will be sure to keep the following in mind as we complete the laundry area:

• Beadboard wainscoting
• Basic, chippy laundry table
• Hanging cabinets for extra storage
• Shelf over washer/ dryer
• Wall mounted storage bins
• Painted laundry tub – see our spray painted laundry tub project 

We are already using beadboard paneling over the new separation walls, so if I can grab a piece or two extra, I might be able to add a bit of wainscoting in the laundry area. (Our final design did not include bead board walls).

I currently have excess scrap wood, and my brother agreed to help me build a few basic tables for a few strategic places in the basement. In the end, I got creative and made this canoe rental sign inspired wood table from an upcycled work table I found on the curb.

My next plan was to start hitting thrift shops and yard sales now, for a cheap hanging cabinet. With a few coats of paint it will do just fine. 

Read: How we gave our basement laundry room area an open floor plan design.

Game room area

I know what you are thinking, “where’s all the games”? Knowing what I have to work with and all of our gaming machines, I wanted to keep my aim on simple for everything else in this area. See the basement makeover final reveal for how we incorporated our gaming machines into the space.

Incorporating the same wall/ceiling color as the rest of the basement will keep it simple. (Our final plan did include painting the walls and ceiling the same color).

Adding a few vintage/game room type touches worked in our case. I completed an update on an old route 66 shelf and made this canoe rental sign inspired wood table

Bonus Room

The bonus room is such a curious name for a room, isn’t it? Do they call it bonus because you’ve earned the extra space, or because it doesn’t qualify as any other kind of room due to the dimensions. Or because someone was feeling fancy when they gave it that name….? Anyhoo

Due to the way we are reworking the walls, we will have an extra room that will be used as a combination storage/ work shop and goodness knows what else.

It will be painted the same color as the rest of the basement, so it will have a similar appearance to the game room area, but it will have to house a variety of our not-so-often used belongings.

Read how we turned our bonus spaces into a small basement workshop and a craft area with an upcycled door as a craft table.

I ear marked this inspiration room to remind me that we have camping gear and fishing poles galore that need to be stored, somehow.

This fishing pole rack might be just the thing that we can give Ken to work on while my brother and I build the scrap wood tables (we can’t have him feeling left out).

• View our upcycled painted laminate cabinet for camping gear storage.

When we originally de-cluttered the basement, I put aside several shelves and decor pieces that I knew I would re-paint and re-use once the basement is done. Those are all waiting in the wings for now.

• Update – See how we re-used and upcycled 20+ items from our home for our basement makeover.,

Designating areas; finding inspiration; making notes of what you like; and then deciding what aspects will work in your space. These are all great steps to follow to when coming up with ideas for a large area renovation. Following these steps can help anyone to stay focused on their room plan, in our case the basement update design, rather than veering off on other ideas.

How do you stay committed to your decorating plan?

See the final reveal: $1200 Basement Makeover with an Open Floor Plan