Remember how I mentioned last week I came up with a design for the basement that would fulfill both Daren and I’s wishes? A compromise, if you will, of dark and light. Today I will be unveiling the riskiest room. If you’re in a rush, you can see a quick run down here.
The main theme in the basement is contrast. We have done this before. The majority of our home has a balance of white and dark. However, our upstairs overwhelming favors the bright. This time we’re flipping it. We plan to paint an entire room dark gray…including the ceiling!
Is this a design risk? Probably, but here is how I think we can make it work.
The above floor plan shows how we have broken down the space into two distinct areas, separated by a large, open walkway. The entertainment room will be dark and moody, while the bar will be mostly white. We affectionally refer to the areas as “the dark room” and “the light room.” Painting a large area white will hopefully keep our design risk from being overwhelming. This is what we have planned for the dark room.
The entertainment room meets a variety of needs, one of them being open play space. Since the play space is attached to the family room, I wanted the design to not be super kiddy, but also to give E a unique place where she can be creative. I hope the reading nook becomes her special place, where she can hang out, read books or just relax. We will also be building our own open shelving, so E’s favorite toys can be within easy reach. The design is kid friendly, but will transition easily as our family matures.
I am most excited for the family room. I can’t wait to cuddle as a family on an oversized sectional. I’ll admit, our decision to put a TV and a pull down movie screen in the room is a little odd. The reason we decided to splurge is that we loved the idea of having a screen for movie nights, but I hated the idea of E and any future kids watching normal tv on a humongous screen. Our media consultant thinks I’m nuts, but during the day I wanted the focus to be on playing, not watching movies. Plus I really don’t want to watch the news on a life size screen!
I’m a little torn on if we should do cork floors because I have maintenance concerns, but I love that it is soft underfoot. I want this space to be the run around zone. Falls are going to happen, but as a parent I try to minimize risks when I can. With that said, I have a child and if she is going to be able to peel up pieces of the floor, it is not going to happen! I’ll let you know what the flooring expert says when we pick our materials.
I’ll be sharing our plan’s for “the light room” on Wednesday.
What do you think of our plan? Do you think we are taking too big of a risk by painting a basement room such a dark color?
Also, I’m thinking about offering vision boards like this one as an online design service. Is this something you would be interested in?
