Basement remodel rabbit hole... - YouLookFab Forum

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Basement remodel rabbit hole...

nemosmom

Veteran

What started out as a simple task of re-painting our very dated, wheat-colored basement walls has become a giant black hole (well, wheat hole) remodel. I could really use your advice...

I had our basement paint choices narrowed to three colors. The weekend I went to get paint, DH decided to remove some built-in shelves down there, which revealed a major gap in the carpeting. So, now we need to choose flooring. Fine, BUT -- the basement carpet is also on the stairway up to a wood landing that opens to the main level. There is no door going downstairs; anything we change down there will be seen upstairs.

So, I brought in a decorator for a consultation. In less than an hour, she convinced DH that we should completely change the scope of work. In addition to the basement changes, we apparently also should get new kitchen cabinets, countertops, living area carpet, and fireplace surround, as well as paint for the entire upstairs ("oh, and have you thought about adding a dramatic color or wallpaper in the bathroom?"!?!?). I want to scream!!

I need to rein in this project before it gets completely out of control (and breaks the bank) and I want to finish the basement before winter. Have any of you finished or refinished a basement? What kind of flooring did you use? Should I pick the flooring before or after selecting a paint color?

Or, should we just move? (HA! joking... sort of...)

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35 replies

Latest reply was from nemosmom

rachylou

Veteran

Lol, nemosmom. That certainly exploded! Looks like you have a pretty open, contemporary house. What’s in the basement? Does it get cold and/or damp? I’d probably decide flooring first... but I come from people that actually start with gestalt visions...

rachylou

Veteran

...eccentric gestalt visions... like, *we live in the tropics so let’s do a fake-fireplace, layered plaids Ralph Lauren thing*...

nemosmom

Veteran

LOL @ the visions of Ralph Lauren in the tropics, Rachy!

The basement is empty, except for the carpet and a couple boxes of toys. It's where the kids hang out and play in the winter.

It gets damp and cold down there in the summer but is warm and dry in the winter.

Anonymous

It does not look that bad- eye roll! She's working on commission!

The Cat

Veteran

Oh, dear. While it can be great to get ideas and advice from a decorator, don't allow her to decide everything.

I would pick the flooring first. The paint colour is easier to change. Find a paint colour that looks ok with what you have upstairs, too. This shouldn't be too difficult, as there are usually plenty neutral shades to choose from. If you don't want to change your kitchen cabinets etc. by now, then just don't do it.

nemosmom

Veteran

YES, suntiger! RIGHT?!!

TheCat - thanks! I brought her in to help determine a starting and stopping point - but she never got to the stopping part!

greycat6

Veteran

Geesh! Try another decorator that doesn't work on commission. Clearly, this one has a listening issue.

Perhaps ask a friend whose taste in interior design you admire for help. I find color can be tricky and you don't have to be a decorator to have a good eye for it.

If you are uncertain about where the flooring should start/stop you could ask for input from an experienced flooring sales person (not on commission!) They often have a good understanding of what will work in a situation.

Agree with others that you should start with the flooring, then paint.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

So now your husband wants to redecorate practically the whole house & you’re putting your foot down? Love that switch in traditional gender roles!

FWIW, I don’t think the basement flooring and stairs need to be the same, especially if you do a runner on the stairs. Can you get the same kind as on the other stairs, or one that coordinates well? (Do not show that question to your husband—he’ll want to replace the other one, lol). Do you expect to use this room for anything other than a playroom? You might want to think about something like Flor tiles so you can easily replace one without doing the whole thing. There are so many removable wallpapers these days—that’s where I’d start. Even if you leave it until the kids are teens (how old are they now?) you’ll probably change it eventually. Might as well make it easy when the time comes. If that one wall is the reason you wanted to repaint the whole basement, but the walls aren’t funky or actively hurting the kids, you could always just make it an accent wall and leave the rest. So: Flor tiles, removable wallpaper on that one wall, stair runner, done.

What’s wrong with the kitchen? If it’s purely aesthetic, then don’t waste your old cabinets; get new doors, or have the old ones painted/refinished.

Before you launch into redoing the mantle, I suggest you (have your husband) take a look at the saga of Emily Henderson’s mantle, which gave her several blog posts, including this one https://stylebyemilyhenderson......tain-house

rachylou

Veteran

The tiles are a good idea. There’s something called Thermal Dry carpet tiles too... for damp that ruins carpet and certain types of flooring... Mold and warping... I’d maybe do the tiles and throw a big rug over for looks/added warmth.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Further down the rabbit hole with inspiration from a favorite of mine.
https://www.apartmenttherapy.c.....oom-199628

https://www.apartmenttherapy.c.....her-249462

Neither of those have spectacular flooring or wall treatments—it’s the playthings & way they’re set up that matter.

Here’s another. https://www.apartmenttherapy.c.....era-169782

Hubby can go hog wild organizing and setting up kids’ stuff without redoing the whole house.

rachylou

Veteran

Emily Henderson was exactly who I thought of too. I like that second Apartment Therapy link esp for what I imagine from just looking at the stairs, lol

Runcarla

Veteran

My inclination would be to have the stairs done in wood to match your upstairs flooring and use the carpet from the stairs to patch the spot revealed by the removal of the shelves. Consult your flooring guys. Good ones can do this for you.

We just redid our rec room. We have worked with a decorator, and he was excellent. He melded the different aesthetics of me and my DH and worked with our budget. We started as a fee for service consultatIon, which was later waived because we did order custom made furniture through him and his shop. We set our budgets (first job 2014 involved paint colour for main floor common rooms and furniture for family room. Second job 2016 was furniture for music room (my room), and third job 2019 was rec room remodel which involved a contractor as well.)

Don't let the decorator boss you around!

FWIW - this is our retirement house so DH and I are a little bit YOLO about our choices. We went for upgraded underpad and wool carpet. I love it, but care is special and it has cons as well as pros.

NancyW

Veteran

Isn't this the way it goes? You want to change one thing and suddenly everything is up for discussion! Runcarla is so right: Don't let the decorator boss you around. You are paying the bills and you are living with the choices. I have been reading Maria Killam's blog for years and suggest you take a look. She maintains that there are no true neutrals (we bought a house with green gray tile and blue gray countertops - from this experience I saw her wisdom! )She will also say to choose the paint last as it is inexpensive and you don't want to choose your carpet around it. She does offer e-consults but has plenty of free content for you to read, some of which may help you to talk your husband away from a bank loan and six months of construction! Good luck
https://www.mariakillam.com/

RobinF

Veteran

That is quite an expansion from basement floor and paint to remodeling a kitchen! She needs to go and fast.

I would do a neutral carpet, and pick the paint based on that.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Rachylou, that EH fireplace story is a bit of a disaster in my eyes. She kept coming back to it, thinking she'd gotten it right and then starting all over. I don't know if she does that often, but she did the same thing in the kids' bedroom in this house, and I think on the high ceiling too. Just seemed bonkers to me.

JAileen

Veteran

The decorator is like a carpenter with a hammer. The carpenter thinks everything needs to be pounded. The decorator thinks everything needs to be changed. Rein her in, fast!

I like the idea of carpet squares. We had them where I worked. If one got stained, you could trade it with one under a piece of furniture. At home, you could replace it. A friend has Flor, and she has had a lot of fun arranging the squares.

nemosmom

Veteran

Thanks, everyone! The FLOR squares are a great idea; we use them as our entry rug! I haven't had a chance to look at the blog posts, but will try to this weekend.

We painted our San Fran house before we moved and that was a fiasco, too. The wrong undertones and room lighting can make SUCH a difference.

Thank you for the advice to start with floor and THEN pick paint - that helps a TON.

Barbara Diane

Veteran

Yes, pick the carpet first, put paint before the carpet is put in, if possible. Don't ask me how I know.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Yes, definitely floor first. Because just as light (natural) and room lighting can make a differene, so can the tones reflected off the floor itself.

Good luck with this! It's okay to go step by step even if you do decide to follow much of her advice in the end.

cindysmith

Veteran

I remember when my parents finished the basement of our house. They added 2 bedrooms and a full bath plus a monster playroom for us three kids, and built a closet under the stairs for toy storage. They put carpet throughout, except the bathroom and I can't remember what they had on the floor in there except really furry bathmats (it was the late 70s, so all the bathrooms had really furry bathmats LOL)

nemosmom

Veteran

Sorry to have abandoned this thread. Saturday started out with a quick project of purging old toys and tools in the garage. I took the kids to drop off a load of stuff at Goodwill and run errands, and we came home to find the rest of the stuff out on the driveway. Hubs was on a ladder, re-painting the entire garage.

He is still painting. It is Monday.

Thank you all for weighing in on flooring and when to pick paint. I really appreciate it!

Helena

Veteran

Such a timely post, as we are looking at redecorating our basement ... which is a result of us installing a pool and the access is through the basement walkout *sigh* ... talk about scope creep!

I agree with the consensus that this decorator does not sound very helpful! She should be helping you with your stated objective (freshen the floor and walls of the basement), not piling on a bunch of projects that you weren't interested in!

I also agree definitely start with the flooring and then do paint ... paints the easiest bit and there are so many colours you can definitely find one to go with your flooring choice. I think you don't need it to match to upstairs per se, but you definitely want flow if the two spaces are visible to each other ... so a stark shift in colour or tone will be a bit jarring.

As to flooring material, I think your babies are younger than mine - to date, we've gone with a rather industrial-strength berber in the basement. This kept the floor warm (our basement being a walk-out is cold in the winter) and more absorbant of kids running around, tumbling, etc. and have barely worn and it must be close to 10 years old now.

We are going to change to a laminate when we re-decorate, since it is equally durable (and better for wet pool feet). There are some super-nice laminate options out there so that's another option to consider if you like to look of hard-wood but don't want to worry about Hot Wheels car scratches, etc.

Your blonde hardwood and the clean simple finish of the railing post etc. makes me think Scandinavian ... you could look up Scandi design for inspiration if that style floats your boat! Light and bright for a basement, which is also nice in the depths of winter!

Keep us posted; I love this stuff!

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Nemo, thanks for the update after the long weekend. Maybe it was a dose of reality for him to diy that?

TG, when my parents put in a pool, they also put a shower stall in the downstairs bathroom. Smart, although just how smart didn’t show up until years later, when overnight guests/husbands/grandkids really use it.

Sheila

Veteran

I totally second the idea of having Maria Killam do an eDesign for your project. She is an outstanding problem-solver and the absolute Queen of Color Undertones. She will be spot-on with the color choices, nobody better in the business. I hope you will take a good look at her services.

KikiG

Veteran

Another vote for Maria Killam. I've been reading her blog for years, and every choice I've ever made with her in my head, was 100% correct. She is to color and home stuff what Angie is to fashion. You just save so much valuable time if you decide that Angie and Marie are right and follow them.

nemosmom

Veteran

Thanks again, everyone! I checked out Maria's site - wow! What a wealth of info! I could see how hiring her for an online consult simply for paint color would be money well spent!

Jenni NZ

Veteran

This was a good read NM! I enjoyed FI’s link of the mountain house mantel as well- what a fuss! Hasn’t DH already decided the paint colour though?- or is he just undercoating?

nemosmom

Veteran

DH just painted the garage white (and the bottom half of it dark grey). It was the basement re-painting project that started the shenanigans!

Another funny - last week he was grumbling about the terrible shape of our deck, and saying if the weather was nice he would tear it out this weekend. Well, I rented a power washer and cleaned it all up Wednesday and yesterday and now it looks nearly new (before and after pics below; the after shows it still a bit damp). I was afraid he would end up resurfacing the entire exterior stucco or knocking out the fireplace or goodness knows what!!! So I tackled it before it got out of hand.

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Runcarla

Veteran

THAT is impressive, NM!

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