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TanCalGal I like exposed ceilings, see here (also some lighting ideas) http://www.houzz.com/exposed-ceilings

Choose a wall color taking into consideration the colors in the floor tile that is staying. Not sure what lightest color of tile is? Perhaps a very light gray?
Russian River Studio

Stairway should be well lighted with good contrast between steps and wall color. Safety above all.
hallways and landings

The area rug seems an Am. Indian theme, do not think this goes with a travel theme. Choose a theme & carry it through.

ikwewe Thank you for the suggestions. That is a good idea about the wall color, match to the lightest color of tile. The tile is black with pale streaks, ecru or very pale beige.

Since the travel theme is concentrated on the western US mostly, I think the rug works. I'm attaching a picture of the curtains which are printed like vintage travel posters. The rug is woven of some kind of plastic so no worries on the cold floor.

The stairway and the Russian River Studio pix are outstanding, thank you. I think that wall color in the Studio picture could work.

ikwewe I looked at the exposed ceilings. Most of them are so neat! Our ceiling has all kinds of things hanging across it, very messy looking. The last picture showed one with a lot of wires and it is all painted white. Takes a little getting used to.

Elise Travel theme is great! Don't worry about furniture now. I like your furniture ideas. Light your stairs for safety and fun.

Your tile floor may be ugly, but it can be painted with an epoxy floor paint. Put your money into lighting and closing up the ceiling.

http://www.houzz.com/pro/environmentallights/environmentallightscom

Bond Girl I love your Mouse/Cookie analogy! Those books are great. I guess my first question is -- do you need the space? Are you going to sit down there, unless it looks like one of the rooms listed above by Elise. They are gorgeous! But all I hear is CHA-ching! To get to those room, you need an electrician, new flooring and dry wall, just as the start. If that's not in the budget, why go there? For me, I'd hate to throw any money at it, and then have no one use it.

ikwewe Those rooms are gorgeous, Elise. The first one is how I envision using my framed vintage travel posters. The bar looks very doable and functional, too. Just a little bit of tile for an accent really makes it look good.

I never thought of the epoxy paint for the floor, what a great idea! The kind that is for garage floors would probably work, right?

Bond Girl, I hear you on the usage. We have never thought of using it, but there are some things that would be great to do in that space. DH has messy hobbies and will have a work room on the utility side. I could put a long table next to the stairs for my crafts so I wouldn't have to keep putting them away (already have the table). There are times when the weather is unfriendly and we would welcome a comfy place to wait it out, too. We will not be spending a ton on new flooring, drop ceiling or dry wall for sure. The ceiling is too low to drop it even an inch and the walls are plastered. I hope paint will dress them up enough.

Marie Hebson's interiorsBYDESIGN Inc. Hi ikwewe, Marie here.
Wow - you don't use your basement much, but you want to move and improve on a dime.

Trust me when I say, if you don't do it right and make it a space your family/friends want to hang out in - you won't use it. It'll become another dumping ground for stuff, and the more stuff you bring down there, the harder it will be to modify it properly in the future.

I'm not a big fan of the quick fix - simply because it is just a quick fix - and never what you really want.
However, you could add a heavy drapery panel to create walls, and you can spray paint your ceiling out all one colour - black preferably so it looks somewhat finished.

Not sure what part of the world you live in, or now cold your basement gets, but basements always tend to be cold, especially when you don't insulate and sound barrier the walls and ceilings properly. So, you will need a heat source down there - look at electric fireplaces and set up a cozy place for that where you'll be sitting and watching movies.

Again, I don't recommend the quick fix, I would put a halt to it, and start saving for the proper finishes of all the walls, and add a half bath down there as well. You can address your wet bar at that time too. Good luck with your project - and, have a couple consultations of professionals to give you a ballpark estimate on how to finish what you have now - so you know how much to save.

Good Luck!

catrine36 having just finished my basement a year ago - I have opinions! Not so much on decorating - not right away, but is the basement ready - meaning completely dry, warm in the winter, cool in the summer? If not, spend your money there - or you risk losing what you but down there - or if uncomfortable, you probably won't use it much. I'm with Marie, don't do the quick fix. Let's just say before I hired a contractor I tried "making-do" with my basement and really didn't spend any time there, just when I had a crowd and needed space. Now I'm down there every day. Good luck!! For me it was worth it!

CK HoffmanDesign I agree that you should ck in with a designer and/or contractor. We really can save you time and money. Not to mention adding value to your home. I inexpensively finished out my basement when we built our home 18 yrs. ago with a vinyl floor, white walls, ceiling and some can lights. Even though it was a stretch for us financially, it was really worth it. I recently re-habed it with some pre-finished bamboo flooring, a cozy rug that I got in trade from a client, and some old furniture from Restoration Hardware. I painted the walls with some fun colors, and then painted the wall behind our new flat screen TV a cool chocolaty black. Long story short, the upgrade was VERY EASY as I already had the core structure to work with. It is now one of the most relaxing and enjoyable rooms in the house!

ikwewe While it is a great idea to work with a designer for a modern finished room, it is not what I want. I am just looking for a way to dress up the basement as a place for exercise and hobby work. We have lots of space upstairs for entertaining and don't need the basement space for that.

Another idea in the back of my mind is akin to staging it for resale. I did this in a prior house that was sitting on the market, and the next people who came in bought the house. I stapled black burlap to the ceiling and dressed the light fixtures with straw hat shades and globe bulbs. In our neighborhood, we would never get the money back for a professional finish, but we can show possibility.

Marie, I love the electric fireplace idea, been looking at those. I also love that open staircase in your second picture. I would love to do that on the one side, but I think I need the wall.

We are in the north. The basement stays about the same temperature winter and summer. What we need is a dehumidifier. It is a bit damp sometimes. Not so water is on the surfaces, just a damp feel in the air. We had our drain pipes redone a few years ago, and no water has come in since.

CK Hoffman, if I had those windows in my basement, I would take the advice and hire a pro to do the job. Your room looks lovely. The bamboo floor, YUM!

East End Dezigns Designing on a tight budget is always a challenge especially if it is a space your don't use that much. For now, I would recommend painting the walls and floor white to brighten the space. The white will give a great back drop for your travel posters and allow your wood furniture and camel sofa to stand out. I would also suggest adding base trim to break up the line between the wall and floor. This will give the room a finished look as well. Maybe add in a great rug - a faux animal print would be interesting and would help carry the world travelor theme throughout the space. I love the idea of the electric fireplace too. These changes are fairly inexpensive and will give you time to see how the space is really going to be used. If you decide you are using this area more than you thought you would (or as money becomes available) then I would suggest calling in the pros to help with the more adventurous upgrades.

ikwewe I like your thinking, Denise. If something magic happens to real estate in our area, it might be worthwhile to have a professional job in the future. Brightening up is what the place needs right now.

We have just the three little windows, and I like the way they are finished with plaster. I am wondering if a light treatment or mirrors would help to bring in more light. Has anyone lined a window frame with mirror? I have a friend who is a tile genius and am thinking of asking him to tile inside the frames with mirror pieces.

RE: Lighting, I have two vintage floor lamps to use by the sofa. One has three conical shades going up the lamp shaft, the other is one of those chrome arch things. I need some low profile ceiling fixtures, too.

PS, my travel theme is more like 'See the USA in Your Chevrolet,' vintage auto or train travel. Something for the nostalgia crowd, I guess.

East End Dezigns I love the theme you have planned. Sounds like you have a lot to work with too. To answer your question about mirrors...I have lined a mirror with a frame before and it is a good way to bring light into a space. I think if I were going to that in this room I would make three seperate mirrors with frames roughly the same width as the small windows and line the mirrors up directly under the existing windows. This would give the impression of much larger windows. I have a drawing attached of what I am thinking. Hope it helps.

ikwewe That sounds like just the thing, Denise Lori. Did you forget to attach your drawing? I can hardly wait to see it!

East End Dezigns Sorry, I am having some trouble getting the drawing to attach.

ikwewe Oh. I think it has to be a jpeg. Can you save it with the jpg extension?

East End Dezigns LOL...it does have to be a jpeg. I was trying to work with a pdf file. Hopefully the third try is the charm.

ikwewe Oh, I love it! I see what you mean exactly, and you even drew in my furniture. I see the impact of the baseboard trim as well.

East End Dezigns I'm glad you like it! Hopefully it will give you some good ideas to work off of.

I'm glad you like the baseboard trim as well. It's very inexpensive and goes a long way to making a room look finished.

ikwewe Indeed it does, thank you a bushel and a peck, and a barrel, by heck!

Elise Ikwewe,
About your stairs, you do need the wall for supporting the overhead beams. You don't need the sheetrock and paneling! Think about cutting various sized windows between the studs, in the wall down to railing height (to be safe). Trimming out with 2 x 4's and sheetrock is not hard to do. Paint it all white and dress up the stairwell with rope lights to jazz it up.

I like Denise's drawing for you. The trimmed mirrors below the windows gives the illusion of taller windows. Pop some clear glass lamps with white shades on a shelf/console table in front of them, to double the impact of light bouncing around the room. Make sure to use mirror adhesive/mastic for trim.

ikwewe Elise, I love that stair idea. It will really look good. The stairs need rebuilding as they seem to be separating from the top, also each stair riser is loose. My handy friend says that is from being kicked. DH does have very big feet, so we do want to improve the stairs. I am going to use that idea of facing the risers with license plates, Funky Junk Interiors

I'm thinking of this for the ceiling, upholstering it with burlap which is pretty inexpensive and comes in a lot of colors these days.

Burlap Walls

I also love the mirrors with lights idea from Denise, and her beautiful sketch. What an inspiration!

Elise Love the stair pic as I have fruit boxes I could do something with. The view down the stairwell is amazing!
I burlapped the dining room in my first house, added brass tacks for trim. Loved that!

ikwewe I liked those crate steps too, but we are aging in place and need things that are pretty predictable, so will be using just plain steps. I do love the idea of the risers being decorated, and license plates will fit with my Road Trip travel theme.

I found that the steps as they are will take 2 1/2 plates for a complete cover, or just two with space between. 13 risers, 26 plates, Hello, eBay! I have some plates we have saved over the years and found a mixed lot of 20 on eBay for a reasonable price, so we are in business.

Now I just have to find my handy friend to work on the stairs. They currently have the very worn original 1964 tile with metal trim on the edge. I am not sure what to do about the treads, leave them wood and paint them with some sand paint? Leave the wood bare? Tile them to match the kitchen or the basement floor? I don't like that because both could be changed. Put carpet on them? Rubber treads? Clean up and polish the original tile and just let it be its vintage self?

TanCalGal Hi gloss black might work. See this site & scroll down: http://cherishedvintage.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-01-28T20%3A37%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7

ikwewe Shriek! I LOVE that! Then they decorated their bar with more license plates. Idea city! I don't care for the red, and I don't plan on adding more paneling, but the concept is great. In addition to Road Trip, we do have some vintage advertising signs I was thinking of using on the exercise end of the room. We have LOTS of stuff, so this is a neat way to get some of it out of storage.

TanCalGal One of a number of beautiful deeper colors might work (red?gold?). Paint foam board and try out . Read this interesting piece by a decorator whose blog I read: http://www.mariakillam.com/2009/03/a-light-colour-will-never-come-to-life-in-a-dark-room.html

ikwewe If I were going with color, since I already have touches of orange and blue in the curtains, I think I would go with a warmer blue shade on the walls, like a pale teal or aqua. I like this one, had been thinking of it for my family room which is also dark:

SW6477 Tidewater by Sherwin-Williams

The article you cited, j222b, would advocate for a deeper shade. Hmmmm.

This deep? Benjamin Moore Marine Blue 2059-10 Paint

Or somewhere in between? Benjamin Moore Juneau Spring

In the Tropics Paint

Or not blue at all?

Elise Ikwewe,
Love the license plates on the steps. Careful about painting with gloss paint as it makes things slippery. A sanded porch paint is safer. Try cleaning the old tile first, sometimes they are coated with wax that has yellowed. Use a wax remover.

Elise I would go for the In the Tropics Paint, less yellow than Juneau Spring but not as dark as Marine Blue.

ikwewe That looks good to me, too. I was thinking lighter would be best, learned something different from j222b's post. I will look around in that intensity to see if there are other choices. Have to do some wall washing first. Ugh!

I hear you on the sanded paint over the gloss. I need all the traction I can get.

TanCalGal I cannot suggest a color. You have to experiment with the various colors on painted foam board. It depends on the light in your room (natural/artificial) & brown sofa, fabric 4 curtains, other decor and black floor. I have read blue is a difficult color to "get right", so you'll have that to contend with as well.

ikwewe Here is another blue choice I like: Tropicana Cabana 2048-50 It is bright and sunny looking.

If I painted blue, I was thinking of blending into a green on the other end: green hydrangea CSP-850
Benjamin Moore Tequila Lime 2028-30
Neon 402 Paint

Going into earthy orangey, not sure I like this with the saddle leather:

canyon rock CSP-1120
\

mareezy Just and idea - things will open up if you can remove the portion of the wall enclosing bottom half of the stairway and put in a railing....so you aren't going down a tunnel to the basement, adds light to the stairway and reduces the "long narrow room" feeling.

ikwewe Mareezy, we are considering that, yes. Depends on structural needs with this stairway. Since we are redoing the stairs, we may be able to open up that side and maybe even widen the steps. What on earth will the mouse want next?

Elise Your saddle leather sectional will look great with the tropicana cabana, as turqoise and orange tones work well together. Think desert sky and rock! Don't forget the gray and purple in the rug. Purple works beautifully with turquoise and orange tones - does the canyon rock match the rug purple?


http://www.ppgpittsburghpaints.com/our_products/specialty/perma-crete_elastomeric_coatings/index.htm

redheadedwmn Hi ikwewe,

I use my basement here in Wisconsin for the exact same purpose as you, storage, scrap-booking/crafts and laundry. We just finished and I couldn't be happier.

The Number One thing that I did that made a huge difference was to paint the ceiling joists white.

I went and bought the $69 Wagner paint sprayer and used about 6 gallons of white paint, but it makes a huge difference on how it "feels" down there. Plus we mixed in some Glade paint additive and the places smells great too. Much brighter, ceiling feels taller and overall the space has a cleaner look. We found this to be the most cost effect solution since we weren't looking for a finished basement, just a clean usable one.

ikwewe Thank you for the PPG referral, Elise,that looks perfect for painting a plaster wall in the basement. I do not think the canyon color will work as a main color, maybe a :"trim" color somewhere. It does not match the purple, more like the orange. The gray is actually a very pale aqua.

redheadedwm., I'm glad to hear you got the space the way you wanted it. I am hoping for something fun and comfortable just for us to mess up with our crafts. I looked at the white paint examples on here,but they are so neat and our ceiling is all drekked up with wires and pipes and unexplained stuff, hard to see how it will work. I am afraid to paint the wires for fear of confusing everyone who wants to look at the wiring for whatever reason. I have that handy friend who has offered to do just that, white or black, my choice, so I am thinking about it.

Speaking of taller, DH was looking over my shoulder at the picture showing our basement looking toward the exercise end. He commented that everyone has such tall basement ceilings in these pix. He didn't realize he was looking at ours! Which is not tall at all, and annoys him no end when he is lifting weights.

Elise Ikwewe, check out the ceilings in all the photos of the next link. Painted white with exposed like you are going to do.

ikwewe If I do paint the ceiling white, it will look more like this, there is all kinds of messy stuff up there;

ikwewe I really thank all who gave their time to contribute to my project. All the comments were inspiring. I think I will try to go with the blue and green wall colors (not sure what shades, but bright and sunny), either the white paint on the ceiling or burlap as in the pale ecru example. The stairs will be rebuilt and painted in a sand paint, probably a light color, with the license plates faced risers. My plates from eBay came today!

We will look into opening up the stairwall on the living side. Some great ideas there, either windows with tube lights, or even more opening.

I have some lighting ideas. There are currently four ceiling lights. They are actually in good positions for our planned usage. I am thinking of changing out the fixtures with some fun shades that don't hang down too far. We found an antique wheel and tire when we cleaned the basement half, don't know what it is for or where it came from, but we have an idea to turn it into a light fixture for the farthest area where DH will have his workout kingdom.

Something like this for the sitting area might be nice: World Map Ceiling Light Fixture

Or this, maybe for the bottom of the stairs: Clouds Semi-Flushmount

If we put in a bar, we might have pendant lights over it. I wish I could figure out a way to use this, I have always loved Sputnik lights: Brass Or Chrome Sputnik Lamp

Elise Ikwewe, congratulations on the great light fixtures you have found. Yes you can use the sputnik fixutre in the basement, over the coffee table/trunk. Just keep it high enough so people can see tv when sitting down. We are all excited to see how the basement looks. Please update us in the future when you have time and photos?

ikwewe Those rooms look beautiful! I think I will try hanging a balloon over the table before I spend for a Sputnik. The menfolk in here are tall and seem to hit every hanging fixture in the house, More than one has been broken, so I want to protect both their flailing extremities and the family budget.

If nobody hits the balloon for awhile, I will feel safe adding a sparkly Sputnik.

Meantime my handy pal called yesterday and said he still plans to help out with this project, but he has been captured by a flipper who loves his work and has just bought another house. More $$ for him. This guy is the best helper, he has great design ideas and will do anything to make a project perfect. He is very proud of his work. This is a bathroom he helped me decorate. It was yellow, too much yellow, but I wanted to keep the original tile and cabinets, plus add my favorite Lodge theme. He helped choose the tree paper, put it up, and put in the bear light fixtures I found. When we were all done, he gathered and brought in a bag of big pine cones to put in a bowl on the counter. He also found some bear ornaments to hang on the corners of the mirror.

I am going to spend the time doing what I can do, straightening up the other side of the basement, getting rid of things, organizing, and testing paint samples. I will pick a paint or two this month. There are a few furniture pieces I might as well move into the area. I have a walnut demi-lune table that needs to be refinished. The place is going to look very retro, kind of MCM with a hint of Grandma.

Elise Keep that handyman friend! Retro is always great. Just read an article in Parade Magazine (comes with Sunday paper) about designer Nate Berkus said," Homes need to reflect the people that live in them." I like his philosophy. Check out: www.parade.com/berkus

ikwewe Thank you for the interesting article, Elise. I think my place does reflect us. We have certainly collected enough stuff over the years to fill out the room nicely. Everything we will put in here was in use during some period of our lives, we just kept it instead of getting rid of it.

I sure hope I can keep my pal, he is the greatest!