The Cottage Basement: A Refresh for a Fun Family Space

 

I wanted to take a break from all things "heart" and Valentines today. I realized I never shared the basement refresh here at the cottage. Get ready for some photos!

Last spring, when we were all in sheltering in place and my husband was on furlough, he decided to paint the basement. No small job, as this is a pretty big space! It really needed it, though. He worked on it in three sections, painting the ceiling and trim as he went along. And wow, what a difference just painting the ceiling made to brighten the space!

You can see the difference here:

And here:

And voila! Fresh walls and crisp white trim and ceiling!

I chose Benjamin Moore Manchester Tan as the wall color. This is the same neutral color I used to unify the common spaces upstairs, and I knew it would work well. Not too grey, not too tan. Just right!

I love this cottage house for so many reasons, but the number one reason is that we use every square inch of it. No wasted spaces! Our downsize in space has been such an upsize in living.

This walkout basement has become our favorite of all the houses we've lived in. 

We have a great space for watching movies and shows together.

And now, thanks to the gift we gave my husband for his birthday, we are listening to old records again, too! After more than fifteen years in boxes, the record albums have finally been unpacked. It's official now. We are staying here forever! 😁

The kitchen area is where you will find me, whipping up a latte at the coffee bar!

We often use this table space for puzzle projects, games, or just a space to quietly get some work done. Recently, Sam has been using the space to rebuild and restring guitars...something he taught himself to do over the long stay-in-place months.

This nook under the stairs serves as my scrapbook station. I keep finished albums here, along with any works in progress. It was a big job last year to get all of those old photos out of storage!

I like our basements to be colorful, casual spaces. I also like to keep this space a little more "masculine" and contemporary. I think it balances out my typical vintage style and keeps us all in harmony.

Thanks for visiting the café today! Hope you enjoyed the tour!