Home Tree Atlas: Home Decor Ideas and Mood Boards

Cozy Living: Black Basement Ideas

The basement can be turned into a secluded and cozy place, and what better way to do this than to use a black color palette. Here is a list of black basement design ideas that will help transform your space.

The Walls

When you picture a black basement, there will be black painted walls. To break up all of this black or to add some design features, here are some design options to look at:

Wainscoting – this can either be painted over black to match the walls, or can be a dark shade of grey or another color
Crown Molding – again this can be painted black (just like in picture (1)), or can be white
Black Wallpaper – See if you can get one with a subtle texture or pattern
Gallery Wall – Hang up a gallery wall of framed pictures/paintings
Textured Paint – In my textured painting ideas post I go over different ways you can create designs and textures using paint. A sponge helps create a marble look, while a thick brush creates a linen effect. To do this with a black wall, go with a black paint base used with a dark grey paint on top
And a question you’ll need to ask yourself, is whether you’ll want a black basement ceiling

Add A Pop Of Color

The feature pieces in a basement can help add some pops of color to a basement. These feature pieces include:

An area rug
Cushion and pillowcases for the couch
Hang up a colorful art piece. Or hang up a black and white art piece in a colorful frame (like a gold or silver one).
If you have any cabinet or closet doors in your basement, these can be repainted (or painted black) – DIY Challenge: Give Your Closet Doors a Makeover.

Use these items to add some color to a basement (i.e. a dark blue area rug). Some good colors to infuse into a black basement include gold, silver, white, and grey. While dark shades of red and blue would look great too.

Color Guide: Grey Basement Ideas

Another way to add color to a black basement is to add in some natural materials. Like potted plants, or use some wooden features like a wooden coffee table tray, a wooden side table, or wooden cabinet doors.

Here are some more basement posts to get ideas from:

image credits 1/2/3/4/5/6/7

April 18, 2016 in Basement, Color Palettes

Color Style: Black Living Room Ideas and Designs

The first question you need to ask yourself when designing a black living room is, how much black do you want?

How Much Black?

You could go with all black walls, and even a black ceiling. Or you could have a more toned down design by either using white wainscoting or paint all the walls white, but have one black wall.

Classic: Black and White Living Room Ideas and Designs

Living Room Design Elements

Here are a few ideas on what to include in your living room design:

Use wainscoting, but instead of having it white, paint it the same color (black) as the walls. This adds layers and some styling to the room
White crown molding is another idea, which will contrast well with the black walls
If you are planning on an entire living room remodel, then the flooring will need to fit the overall design style. For a black living room some design option include: dark hardwoods and tiles. Or if you wanted to brighten the space up a bit, then a grey floor or lighter wooden floors will work.
Hang up some artwork, either in white, gold, silver or black frames to spice up the black walls.

How to Add Some Texture

Try and infuse some subtle textures into your black living room furniture and design. This will help avoid creating flat dull spaces. Some ideas here include:

Using black wallpaper that has a subtle texture or pattern (A Fine Selection of Modern Wallpaper Designs)
You can even paint the walls and add texture. Using a brush you can create a linen effect. Or by using a sponge, with black paint and really dark grey paint you could create a marble texture. Have a look at my post here for more ideas: Textured Wall Painting Ideas: From Faux Wood To Linen Effects
The same can be said about area rugs, and pillow cases – look for fabric that has a subtle texture or pattern to it.

Have a look at these posts for more ideas:

image credits 1/2/3/4/5/6/7

April 18, 2016 in Color Palettes, Living Room

Under Your Feet: Modern Flooring Ideas

The type of flooring you use can really set the style and look of a room. When it comes to modern flooring ideas, there are quite a few options to play with. From stamping concrete, to more modern and renewable materials such as bamboo.

Playing With Concrete

Concrete gives you a nice cool grey shade. This is ideal since modern rooms use a mostly neutral color palette (grey, white, black).

And you have a lot of different design options to play with when it comes to concrete flooring. You can create different shades of grey in the cement mix, just like the dining room in picture (6), or you can create different subtle textures (5). For a clean and sleek non-industrial look, you’ll need to have your concrete floors polished.

A unique flooring design idea using concrete is to have it stamped. You can make a concrete floor look like hardwood flooring much like the floor in picture (3), or tiled floors.

You can also stain the concrete, changing its color completely. Or you can create graphics and designs with the staining. Stick to neutral colors for a modern look (white, cream, grey, black).

Tile Designs

If you want to go with tiling, say in the bathroom, stick to neutral colors and subtle textures and designs. The blue grey tiles in the bathroom in picture (4) creates a modern looking floor.

Large rectangle tiles can create a luxury and modern home flooring design. They are more expensive, and harder to install, but with less grouting you are left with a clean and modern looking floor.

The Classic Chevron Pattern

A chevron patterned floor is more associated with vintage style homes. But as you can see from the modern kitchen in picture (1), this design style can be updated.

Why it works in that kitchen is because A) the color of the wood is more of a neutral grey color, and less of a traditional brown shade – so it blends in well with the black color scheme of the kitchen. And B) the overly modern design of the kitchen, from the cabinets and light fixtures to the countertops and appliances, offsets any vintage feel of the flooring pattern.

Renewable Materials

When it comes to renewable modern flooring options, bamboo is the way to go. It is durable and a fast growing grass making it highly renewable. Harder that most hard woods, bamboo can also be stained to change it’s color. Have a look at the flooring in the living room in picture (2) as an example of bamboo flooring.

Have a look at these other posts for more flooring ideas:

image credits 1/2/3/4/5/6

April 18, 2016 in Modern

Color Style Guide: Red Kitchen Decor Ideas and Designs

The first question that you’ll want to ask yourself when creating a red kitchen design is “how much red?”. You can see in the mood board above that each kitchen has a different amount of red infused into the design. The red kitchen decor ideas in this post will help you transform your space.

How Much Red?

Just by having red cabinets you can create a red color palette for your kitchen. Have a look at the kitchen in picture (1). Everything else can be a different color (the countertop, the backsplash), and you’ll still have a red color scheme.

Or another option can be seen in picture (2) where just the backsplash is red, and everything else is a neutral color such as white.

Even just by having a completely neutral color palette for the whole kitchen (using either white, off white, or grey), you can have just one red piece in the room and you’ve styled the space red. This could be a red backsplash, or a red fridge (5). Your whole kitchen could be white, and then have a red kitchen door.

Red Kitchen Decor and Accent Pieces

Here are some ways to style a kitchen in red:

Give your cabinet doors a red make over (DIY Challenge: Give Your Closet Doors a Makeover)
Hang up some red curtains. Or if you have red walls, and want to break up all of that red then use another color, such as white or grey.
If you have a kitchen table in your space, this can be turned red. Either by painting it or by using a red tablecloth.
And you can always spice up your walls by adding some layers or textures to it. How about using wainscoting, this can be painted over red to match the walls (The Finishing Touch: Wainscoting Ideas and Designs). Or how about using a red wallpaper with a subtle pattern or design. Another option is to create an elegant design using paint – a brush can create a linen effect, while a sponge can create a marble look (Textured Painting Ideas). Then there is always the option of going with red tiles.

Here are some other kitchen posts for more ideas:

image credits 1/2/3/4/5/6