Rec Room Progress

I have finally made some progress getting our basement rec room together. Slow progress, but some progress.  It still needs some more toys purged from it but generally it's getting much closer to what I want it to be.  Of course, I should be spending more time on the treadmill and probably a little less time thinking about the decor!

So, here's where I started back in December.  Actually, this picture was from July but it looked the same even in December.

This was way too much furniture for this space.  The red leather chair on the left found a new home in Alex's big boy room.  The chair and sofa were sold via Craigslist.  (Hello $450!)

Next we moved the family room sofa down to the rec room.  Our sofa looked like this...

 Until I got a slipcover for it and then it looked like this...

Next I brought in one of a pair of chairs previously in the family room (the other is still in the family room), moved in some end tables (one was already here and the other was in the attic), and hung a great new canvas-mounted picture of my kids.  Finally my lamps came back fitted out with their $15 Target shades which happened to fit perfectly without a harp.  Hooray for happy accidents!

After a little bit of tweaking, the room now looks like this.  

More accurately maybe like this...

The sofa works so much better here than it ever did in our family room.  Maybe this was all part of my original subconscious plan! 

Those end tables work well here as well.  They were a hand-me-down from my parents and they have lived in my attic for a few years.  They are perfect down here because they have drawers and storage. Need to brain storm the options...

Also, think I need a couple more canvas prints of my kids.  Looks like I'll be back on the Groupon hunt!  This all leads me to my new color scheme which was previously (in my head only) beachy cream, yellow, blue, and green. Now though I think I am heading in a more colorful playroom direction.  I'm not saying wild color everywhere but a few fun pops of color might be in order.  It's time to stop fighting the toys which dominate this space but embrace them and their wonderful color!

Doing any furniture swapping in your house?  Amazing how different and perfect a piece can feel in a different space.

Lamps Transformed

I have had these brass lamps since we moved to Arlington 14 years ago.  They have followed me through several apartments and now our house.  They used to be in our living room but eventually they made it back to the attic where they have lived for several years.

I had contemplating spray painting them for a couple of years.  I finally got up the guts to do it last weekend.  Enter Rustoleum Harbor Blue.

The lampshade is from Target and just happened to fit over the existing lamp works so I didn't have to get a harp.

More to come tomorrow...

Finishing the new basement!

Well, after the sump pump project started being discussed, we decided to go ahead and finish the rest of our new basement so that it now includes a fully finished bathroom, a legal bedroom (with egress window), and playroom. This had been in our original plans but we decided not to do it when we did the rest of the addition because we weren't entirely sure what we wanted and we wanted to cut some costs.

The whole project took about 3 weeks despite continuous snowfall (very unusual for here), and we used Jim Cole again. We were fortunate to get him at a slow point so we feel we got a lot for our money.

We chose the same quality of finishes as we used upstairs but chose carpet instead of hardwood because of moisture issues. Although I have heard that you can use carpet or laminate in basements, we also really wanted the warmth of carpet. We chose a subfloor called DRIcore to use under the carpet. It's a great product which we learned about from some neighbors who used it in their basement. It is basically plywood pieces that lock together and which have some plastic feet-type pieces on the bottom - thus keeping the wood off the concrete. It's much warmer and provides a space for air underneath.

Eventually we will install some built-in bookshelves and a wall-mounted TV, but that is all for the next few months. Right now, the kids are really enjoying the play room (our son started crawling the same week we finished the project) and the extra guest room has already come in handy several times!

I'll post more information over the next few weeks, as well as some finished pictures.