Turn Your Dark Basement Into Welcoming Livable Space

Turn that dark basement into welcoming livable space

A lot of older homes have dark unwelcoming basements that end up being glorified storage for all people’s stuff.

Newer homes are designed with larger windows or with walkout basements.

Short or rebuilding the basement walls for larger windows and re-grading the landscaping around the house to accommodate the bigger window wells you will have to renovate the basement in a way that will make it feel light and airy.

There are many things that you can do to make your basement light and airy;

• Paint. Paint is one of biggest things that will affect the feel of your basement. You don’t have to pick white for the walls and the ceilings but a light colour and earth tones will give a warm and welcoming feeling.

• Wall treatments. You don’t just have to paint all the walls and the ceilings you can do wall treatments, wallpaper or textures on at least one feature wall. This will bring a sense of drama and artistic flare to the area.

• Lighting. The more light that you can put in a basement the less it will feel light a basement. Pot lights work really well because they are flush with the ceiling, spotlighting on certain parts of the basement also help. All main through fares need to be almost over lighted.

• Bulkheads. Try to keep the bulk heads that will be in the basement to a minimum. They are a necessary evil especially in an older home but if you can try to keep them to certain area’s or towards the outside walls then they can look more like a feature of the ceiling and less like a bunch of drywall installed to hide ductwork.

• Flooring. Stick to a lighter stained or coloured floor and the ceilings will feel higher and less closed off.

• Storage. It’s a basement you’re going to want storage, have built in cabinetry that matches the wall colours or the wall paneling. It will help give the allusion of being upstairs.

Whatever you choose to do to your old basement you should make sure that you don’t have any water or moisture problems. There is no reason to do any work at all in your basement until those kinds of issues are resolved and resolved permanently.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.