Hey friends! I've been busy doing the dance mom thing over the past few days, but now that recital is over I'm happy to get back to blogging business as usual around here. Today I'm continuing with the room tours (get caught up here - entry foyer, living room, dining room, kitchen, screened-in deck, patio, master bathroom), and I'm showing you around our basement or what I like to call "the family cave". Even though it's far from cave-like. In fact, one of the reasons we bought this house five years ago is because the basement is a walk-out with 2 large windows which makes this lower level space nice and bright!
Our basement is basically a big rectangle. Having a large basement living space is so nice, but it did take me a little while to figure out how to make the space work best for our family. I ended up doing what I usually do with a large open space, I broke it down into sections. I created a work/play zone, a movie watching/video game zone, and a casual dining zone - i.e. - the perfect spot to eat a delivery pizza. ;)
Walking down the stairs and turning to the right the first thing you see is my workspace. This is where I blog.
You can find more details about my office/craft workstation here.
On the wall next to my workspace is the game center. Years ago I ditched most of the cardboard game boxes for ziploc bags and made a workhorse out of a red expedit from Ikea. I love LOVE the glossy red! And it's so nice to have all the game stuff organized right here where it's easy to access. Apples to Apples anyone?! :) What's your favorite game? I'm kind of a champ at UNO and Disney's Scene It.......just sayin'.
More details about the game center can be found here.
Figuring out what to do with the staircase wall was a little tricky. It's kind of an awkward wall, but we made it work. I turned it into an art center for my kiddos. I found a couple of inexpensive coffee tables to use as desks, and I created a gallery wall with their artwork. My daughter has kind of taken over this space, but my son does occasionally sit here and write in his journal. More info on the art center can be found here.
The other side of the room is the tv lounging area, a.k.a my hub's favorite spot to relax. This is where we watch lots of movies and UK basketball games! We recently replaced our old (and much smaller) sectional with this large grey tufted number that we happened to find at Macy's. I hadn't ever thought to shop at Macy's for furniture, but the prices weren't terrible (we hit up a new year's sale) and we've been really happy with our choice so far. There is plenty of lounge space on this beauty!
We are "prop your feet up on the ottoman" people, so I didn't want a large tray on top that would constantly need to be removed. I opted to use a small decorative mirror as a tray and it works out perfectly. It's the perfect place to set a drink, and there's still room to prop up your feet.
This mid century piece I made over years ago houses all of our dvd's and a few extra blankets. I'm kind of a blanket hoarder. Please tell me I'm not alone! Ummm, not to brag, but those medals on the wall were hard won when I was on the middle school academic team. I won the gold for essay writing........and now I'm blogger. Although I dream of someday writing a book about a woman who was looking for a place to call home and ended up finding out home wasn't a place after all. Sound familiar? ;)
On the backside of the couch I created a casual dining space complete with a built-in beverage bar.
You can find out all the deets on how I built this beverage station over on The Home Depot blog.
We recently gave the fireplace a makeover, which really updated the whole space and made it feel a lot less basement-y.
We're definitely grateful to have this space to chillax as a family!
When we moved in to this house, the basement was outfitted with a shag style wall to wall carpet. Replacing it with a low pile berber definitely updated the whole room. We also replaced the french patio door with a large sliding glass door which lets in loads more light. I really love all the light we get down here, and walking out the basement door directly on to our paver patio is the cherry on top!
Very soon I'll be sharing the other side of the basement.......the mudroom area!
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