basement idea boarddoor // sofa // canvas // canvas

Yesterday I shared some photos of our depressing, falling apart basement. And how I still have hope for it. Today I want to share some ideas that I’ve dreamed up so far. I started with Pinterest–creating a board of what seemed to feel right for our basement. I’ll continue to add things over time. Then, I went to my keynote app on my mac and created the collage above.

Sometimes our basement feels absolutely overwhelming and hopeless.

It has ONE redeeming quality that makes it not a dungeon–a door!

This one door is the most important door/window in the entire house because for the basement–it’s the only natural light. We want to use the basement as a hangout room to watch movies and a bunk room for friends so, controlling the light, but also having a bright space that doesn’t feel depressing is important.

These Ultimate Swinging French Doors with large panes of glass make the most of our limited natural light, along with some white walls and lamps, a dark dungeon can feel bright! These custom-made doors are my basement’s hero!

I LOVE drapes hung over a pair of doors–as if one was dressing a beautiful window, so …

drapes on a door

Look at the difference a pair of drapes can make!

I’m ALWAYS surprised at the way drapes change a space. And in a room like this basement, where there’s only one door that serves as both a door and windows–treating the door like a queen and draping her really softens the room.

Let’s look at the power of draped doors with the bunk wall. I’d love to have four built-in bunks on the back wall of the basement, and I found my best inspiration from Michelle’s bunks here. I did a little photo magic and doubled her two bunks to four and added in our inspiration, a light filled pair of doors…

bunks

..and below the doors all cozied up with drapes!

bunks2

Ta-da!

The trick to draping doors is to hang the rod high and wide. I don’t want to cover any of the beautiful door or that precious natural light, so ideally, I want the drapes (when not pulled together to block light so people can sleep or watch a movie) to hang so that they cover the wall right NEXT to my door. That way they don’t interrupt with opening and closing the door, but are available to use if we need to close them. They serve two purposes–softening the room, and controlling the light.

I hope you’ve started to get to work on that overwhelming room you’ve been dreaming about. Step one–build a Pinterest board! And dream. Permission to dream and come up with crazy ideas right now, because you never know what great idea they might lead too.

To find sources for my basement idea boards in this post, check out my basement Pinterest board.

This post created in collaboration with Marvin Windows and Doors.

If you are looking for custom-made windows and doors that are hand-crafted just for you, look no further. The right windows and doors act as good bones for a room–which set the stage for whatever style you are after. I’m finally learning the value of starting with good bones–and doors and windows serve a bigger purpose than opening and closing–they really can double as a style setter. Two birds, one stone!

 real style