Castle on Lydell: Basement Transformation
Every house has the eye sore room. It doesn’t get a lot of love or attention, but it ends up being the catchall. For the Castle, that room was our basement tv room. It’s hidden away from the main traffic of the house, and was in rough condition to begin with. When we moved in I put everything in here that I wasn’t sure about. It continued to grow into a landfill of unused furniture and Leia’s toys. It got to the point where just going downstairs to relax and watch tv would give me anxiety because I’d just be staring at the mess.
We were in the Castle for over a year before we got to this project, and I’m just so happy this one is done. From uneven walls to a very narrowly shaped room, this one gave me a run for my money. With the help of some creative problem solving, we ended up with a room that is cozy and welcoming. It’s a place I don’t mind binging a tv show on the weekends. Even better, it’s one of the final indoor projects here at the Castle. I’m so excited to get everything updated inside this winter so that I can just start living here, instead of planning my next project.
The Before
I’m sure I don’t even need to tell you what color the basement walls were when we moved in. If you’ve read my other anthologies about the Castle, then you can probably guess correctly: dark grey blue. Honestly, I could see this type of color working in a cozy tv room, IF it had warm undertones. This color was paired with a lovely beige carpet, which I personally don’t mind. I just don’t see how a cool toned grey goes with a warm toned carpet? So that was the first fix.
This room has a lot of imperfections. From textured walls to a patchy ceiling…this room was screaming for an intervention. While we were working down here I decided to upgrade our storage room as well. That is, make it bigger. We used to have a bar underneath the stairs, but I decided I’d rather have that as an additional storage room. So, that’s what we did.
The After
We painted the ceiling a bright white and got it to a place where it isn’t patchy. It took 2 coats, but at least it solved the problem. On the walls we used a new color: Behr Basswood. In store it looked like a pretty neutral undertone, but I don’t know if it’s the lighting or what, but it reads much warmer in the actual space, which isn’t a bad thing. It’s deep enough that our beige sofa & carpet really POP! We also decided that having the tv centered on the wall, and in front of the hot air vent, didn’t make much sense. So, we optimized the space by removing the tv wall mount, filling the holes, and shifting our entire tv area to the far side of the room.
That bar underneath the steps? You guys know I’m not about to give up my wine fridge. We moved it into the tv room. Since we shifted the layout we can now use the half of the room that isn’t for tv more of an entertainment space. I envision a round game table where we can have friends over for Super Bowl parties and game nights.
This basement went from ugly catchall to a cozy den. I’m so happy that we got this done during the winter and can actually use it to hibernate on the weekends now. There are some more styling touches that are needed, but you can follow along on Instagram for real time updates. Which room has been your favorite Castle on Lydell transformation?
