Color Guide: Grey Basement Ideas

The first question you need to ask yourself is “how much grey do you want”? And the second question to ask is “what shade of grey?”. These are the two questions we will be answering when going over the grey basement ideas below.

How Much Grey?

When most people think of a grey basement, they will imagine grey walls (and how about a grey ceiling?). This is one way to design a basement.

But there are more toned down options to consider.

How about painting one of the walls grey, and all of the other walls white – creating a feature wall. This one grey wall will really stand out against all of the other white walls.

There is the option of dividing up your wall. The bottom half or third could be covered in white wainscoting, while the top section is painted grey (The Finishing Touch: Wainscoting Ideas and Designs).

Or you could paint all of your walls white. And decorate the space with grey accent pieces. Imagine a white walled basement, and there is a grey couch, or even just a grey area rug. These main pieces in the basement can set the color scheme for the room, if you have a neutral color (white) for your walls.

In the section below, Grey Basement Pieces, I go over the different pieces in a basement that can help set the overall color scheme.

What Shade of Grey?

The shade of grey you decide to decorate your basement with will have a big impact on the way the space feels. Dark grey shades will create a cozy and secluded ambiance. While light grey shades will create a bright, airy, and spacious feeling space.

If you really want to create a strong grey color palette for your basement, then you will need to take out any colored pieces in the room. You don’t want to have a yellow trashcan, red pillows, and a blue area rug when you are trying to style a basement grey.

This doesn’t mean you can’t add colors. It just needs to be planned out. Stick to adding only 1 – 2 other colors; otherwise you lose the overall grey color scheme. A good way to add color is to use natural materials like wood for warm brown tones, plants to add greenery, metals, or stone.

Grey Basement Pieces

Whether you go for all grey basement walls, or opt for the all white walls option – there are main pieces in a basement that can add shades of grey into the space. Here are some ideas:

Add a grey area rug
Repaint your media console, closet, and cabinet doors grey (DIY Challenge: Give Your Closet Doors a Makeover: Ideas and Design Tips)
If you have any curtains in the space, these could be grey
The seating area is a main focal point in a living room basement. See if there are ways to add shades of grey here. Whether that is by getting grey seats, or just by using grey cushion covers, or a grey blanket.
See if there is a way to add grey to your coffee table area. Either by getting a metal or grey coffee table, or by getting a grey tray to put on top of the table to group together clutter items
A grey lamp shade
Hang up a grey art piece. Or use a large grey frame to hang up a non-grey art piece or photograph

Here are some other basement posts to get more ideas from:

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