Basement

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:

• A Palette Guide To Basement Paint Colors
• 14 Different Room Ideas for a Basement
• Design Guide: Basement Lighting Ideas and Options
• Search all of my basement posts for more ideas

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There are two ways you can go about styling a basement blue. 1) Paint the walls blue and decorate the space blue, or 2) paint the walls a neutral color, and add pops of blue into the space. The option you go with will depend on how much blue you want in your space. This post goes over the different blue basement ideas to help you design and style your space the way you want it.

1. A Basement of Blue Walls

The biggest question to ask yourself when painting all of your basement walls blue, is what shade of blue? A light blue basement will feel more spacious, bright, and airy. But if you want a more romantic, secluded, relaxing space, then look to go with dark blue basement walls.

Here are some ways you can spice up a flat blue wall:

• Add wainscoting (this can be white, or painted the same blue as the walls to add some depth)
• Add crown molding
• Hang up framed pictures or paintings

2. The Neutral Blue Basement

White walls will create a very bright and spacious feeling basement space. It also creates a blank canvas of a room, where you can infuse pops of blue using the decor and feature pieces. I’ve listed out ideas on how to do this below.

Styling the Basement Blue

Whether you go for the blue walls or the neutral colored walls, here are some ways to infuse blue pieces into your basement space:

• Go with a blue coffee table, or a normal wooden or metal coffee table but have a blue tray to group clutter items together
• Blue couch cushions
• Blue area rugs
• Blue paintings or photographs / or black and white art work in a blue frame
• A blue lamp or lampshade
• Repaint any cabinet or closet doors blue (DIY Challenge: Give Your Closet Doors A Makeover – Ideas and Design Tips)
• If you have white walls then you could get an LED mood lamp, like this one, and point it up against the wall for some nice mood lighting.

Here are some other basement posts to get ideas from:

• A Palette Guide To Basement Paint Colors
• Decorating Basement Walls: Ideas From Stamped Concrete to Chalkboard Walls
• 39 Cool Basement Ideas: From Secret Doors To Your Own Brewery
• Search all of my basement posts for ideas

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

When it comes to decorating any space with a color such as purple, there are 3 main questions to ask yourself 1) how much purple? 2) what shade of purple, and 3) what purple pieces should be included? The purple basement ideas in this post will help you transform your space.

How Much Purple

There are a few options to choose from when it comes to painting the basement purple and decorating it. The option to go with will be based on how much purple you want styling your space.

• A bold basement look would have all of the walls painted in purple, and maybe even the ceiling (or you could have a white ceiling)
• A step down from this option is to create a feature wall. This is one wall in the basement that is painted purple, while the rest are painted a neutral color (white, grey, off white). This one purple wall will really stand out.
• And the last option is to paint all of the walls white. This will create a blank canvas of a room that you can decorate with purple accent pieces (listed out below).

What Shade of Purple

The shade of purple you use to decorate your basement will really set how it feels and looks. A dark purple paint color will make the space feel cozy and luxurious. While a light purple creates a brighter and spacious feeling basement.

What Purple Pieces to Include

Whether you paint the walls white or purple, here is a list of ways you can decorate your basement space with purple pieces.

• A purple area rug can add a pop of color to the space
• Purple curtains
• Repaint any cabinet or closet doors you have (DIY Challenge: Give Your Closet Doors a Makeover)
• The seating area can help create the purple color palette for your basement. Go with a purple couch. Or go with a neutral colored one (like white, off white, grey) and style it with purple pillows and a blanket.
• See if you can get a purple art piece to hang up. Or hang up a black and white art piece in a purple frame
• If you have any light fixtures around, see if you can replace the lampshades with purple ones

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

• Color Guide: Blue Basement Ideas
• Cozy Living: Black Basement Ideas
• The Hotel Experience: Basement Guest Room Ideas
• Search all of my basement posts for more ideas 

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There are 3 things you need to think about when creating a red basement design. They are, 1) what shade of red to go with, 2) how much red to use, and 3) how do you create a balance of red pieces in the basement space.

What Shade of Red?

Do you want a more relaxing, cozy, and almost romantic feeling basement? Then go with a dark shade of red. Or do you want a bight, spacious feeling basement? Then go with a light red color.

The shade of red you use to decorate your basement space will really play a big part in how the space feels. Just take a look at the difference in the basements in pictures (1) and (4).

• A Palette Guide to Basement Paint Colors

How Much Red?

The second questions you’ll need to ask yourself when designing your basement is “how much red”. Do you want to have all of your walls painted in red. Or how about painting the walls white (or grey like the basements in pictures (2 and 3)) and decorating the space with red accent pieces.

Another option is to have red basement walls, but then find ways to break up the red surfaces. Adding wainscoting is one way of doing this (The Finishing Touch: Wainscoting Ideas and Designs). Hanging a different colored curtain, or hanging up a gallery wall are some other ways to liven up red walls.

Creating Balance: Red Decor Pieces

So not everything in the basement needs to be red. You could create a red and grey basement combination. Red and white, or red and black are some other good combinations. Here are some ideas on how to add a pop of red into a basement design:

• Through area rugs
• Maybe the couch doesn’t need to be red, but the pillows and a throw blanket can be
• The coffee table can be decorated with a red tray to group together clutter items
• Hang up a red piece of artwork in a black frame. Or hang up black and white artwork but in a red frame
• If you go with white/grey/black walls, then red curtains would work
• Any light fixtures you have could be red
• Repaint any cabinet doors, or the media console red

Here are some other basement posts for more ideas:

• 14 Different Room Ideas for a Basement
• Style Guide: Modern Basement Ideas and Designs
• Design Ideas For Basement Pole Covers: From Functional to Decorative
• Search all of my basement posts for more ideas 

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