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One Room Challenge Week 4: A Deliciously Dark Basement

Hello my friends! Today is the day my mom and dad married, 49 years ago. I’m so grateful that I lucked out with them for parents! Isn’t my momma a beauty??….and I love my dad’s trademark look in all photos – *smiling on the inside* 🙂

This week marks WEEK FOUR in Linda of Calling It Home’s One Room Challenge. I’m thrilled to be a linking participant in the challenge because it has inspired me to get moving on our basement, which we finished 2.5 years ago and I have yet to decorate!

First off:  bear with me during this challenge because a room with almost no natural light is proving to be beyond my photographer’s capabilities. The colors look a bit off and the leather couches look *really* shiny thanks to all the overhead lighting, but hopefully you can get a sense of how this is all coming together.

Now that we’re at week 4, let’s review.

This basement playroom/rec room/kids’ hang out space is basically a big square cut in two by the beam and pillars.

One half is the TV area and the other will eventually house a pool/ping pong table, but for now it serves as a knee hockey arena.

When the basement was finished, I had the walls painted Edgecomb Gray. It’s a really great GREIGE, and I wanted a blank canvas to work with.

My main goal of the ORC is to focus on the TV wall, while keeping in mind furniture that will migrate into this space down the road. Eventually there will be 2 large brown leather couches and two brown rattan chairs in this space.

For the ORC, I want to make the TV wall a gallery wall. Since I need something to offset all that BROWN and beige,  I painted just that wall a deep dark charcoal. As you walk down the stairs you can see it….

And I am LOVING the color!! I love how it works with the browns in the room – the warm/cool balance feels so good and it’s the perfect backdrop to the colorful travel photos that will be hung on this wall.

This door leads to the breakers and water shut off valve (all the other utilities are in the unfinished part of our basement but it would have been a huge headache to move these, so they stayed.)  I decided to paint this wall and door, and the jury is still out about this choice. What do you think?

A little trick I just learned for painting baseboards, or in this case, door trim, that abutts carpeting:
Press packing tape on the carpet, right up to the trim, 
then use one of these scraper thingys to push down the tape & carpet, and paint.
When the paint is dry remove the tape. Packing tape has a better tack than painter’s tape and doesn’t have bleed through. This trick worked like a charm for me!

Last week I shared with you a coffee table and end table I painted for the space.

Oh so sadly, when I dragged the end table down there I realized the light gray was totally wrong for the room. There is already so much blahness going on down there, the table just got swallowed up by the sea of beige. 
If at first you don’t succeed…….
paint, paint again.
The coffee table is getting some special loving, more on that next week!
The gallery wall is in the works…..pictures have been ordered, and I’m playing around with frames I already have before I hunt down some fillers with my 40% off coupon at Michaels.
Next week I’ll show you how I framed this huge nautical map on the super-cheap!!

That’s it for now. Check out all the other linkers’ projects over at Calling It Home!

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Comments

  2. Kim @ Plumberry Pie says

    Happy Love Day to your parents! That's awesome! I keep going back and forth on that door too. Maybe bring the room together and see what you think then. All I know is that the gallery wall will be stunning against that delish dark wall!

    Reply

  4. Dana Frieling says

    I'm a fan of the the painted door and frame. The color is yummy! Such a blessing that you and your kids have an amazing example of marriage in your family.

    Reply

  5. Jenny says

    Loving the framed map! I have wanted one of those for the longest time, but haven't figured out where I would put it!

    And, it's a goof thing I didn't know about your painting trim with carpet installed trick sooner – I would have been a maniac painting all of the trim in our old house! I just never knew how to do it (and had just discovered DIY blogs prior to moving). 😉

    It's coming together beautifully!

    Reply

  6. pam {simple details} says

    What a beautiful bride and great photo of your parents! Charcoal is one of my favorite colors, especially with your leather, so pretty! Bummer about your table, I had some color matching issues this week too, not fun when it doesn't quite live up to your vision but I know you'll come up with a winner! Hope your hockey players appreciate how chic their space will be! 🙂

    Reply

  7. Kris @ Driven by Décor says

    I love your black wall – looks fabulous! And totally jealous of your map – for some wacky reason that's always something I've loved the look of but never got around to doing. Can't wait to see your gallery wall go up!

    Reply

  8. Linda {Calling it Home} says

    Happy Anniversary to mom and dad. Your mom's waist looks about 18", boy is she stunning. I love the dark wall and the door painted the same color works great for me. Sorry that you need to paint the tables again. This is looking great. Great tip with the tape, too. I want to read about the framing on that map.

    Reply

  10. Vel Criste says

    love the charcoal on your wall Lisa!!!!perfect for TV watching too since light won't reflect on it! I'm in love with your map as well, super perfect, have to check out the tutorial for sure since framing something so big is always so expensive!!!! Can't wait to see it all done dear!

    Reply

  11. NanaDiana says

    Wow- You are really moving along with that project. Everything looks great.

    Your parents are gorgeous in their wedding picture. Your Mom is so pretty and your Dad is very handsome. Happy Anniversary to them-xo Diana

    Reply

  14. Traci Hutton says

    Love the accent wall! It's so warm and cozy…a great space. Loving the map as well…

    Happy Anniversary to your parents!

    Reply

  16. Lisa - A Room with A View says

    Great progress,Lisa! Happy Anniversary to your parents and that photograph is beautiful; great poise and so elegant. Your gallery wall looks amazing and will be even better with all the frames. Shame about the table but I am sure you are figuring it all out.

    Reply

  17. Cathy Wall says

    Such a nice shout out to your folks, hope they enjoyed anniversary #49!
    I like the dark door and wall off the main accent wall… LOVE the nautical map and the gallery wall with the TV. Your family is gonna love this space!

    Reply