When I shared the basement last week, the wallpaper was primed and painted, and it was already looking worlds better! I have learned that when I have momentum, it’s best to let that carry me into the next thing, which was priming and painting the paneling, trim, doors, and shelves. The doors and shelves were going to be the biggest pain, so I decided to work on those over a couple of days, making the rest of the painting relatively easy.
In the hopes I would only have to apply one coat of primer and one coat of paint, I had the primer tinted to the final color, Light Blue. I used ProBlock primer by Sherwin-Williams for good adhesion to the smooth paneling and Farrow & Ball’s Light Blue in their Modern Eggshell finish. Modern Eggshell has a bit of a gloss to it, I would say comparable to something between a satin and semigloss. I also used a 6″ microfiber roller made for trim and doors to minimize roller marks on the paneling.
The great thing about this bookcase is that the shelves are removable, so I removed them to make painting a bit easier. I put drop cloths on the ping-pong table and painted the shelves there, letting them dry while I worked on painting other areas.
Whenever I thought about painting the basement, I almost always got hung up on the feeling that painting the shelf was going to be so time-consuming! It was a bit of a pain, but it wasn’t hard, and it didn’t take as long as I had imagined.
Here is a before…
…and after!
I got rid of some books and moved a bunch of them over to the Ikea shelves I assembled last week, but now I have plenty of room to bring some more books from upstairs.
I decided to wait to finish painting until the new lights were installed. The lighting was so poor down there, with one fixture flickering and broken light sockets in the other two; I knew it would make a big difference to be able to properly see everything I was doing. We had the new lights installed on Thursday and, oh my goodness, it is night and day! We were even able to put lights in the alcove area that was previously only lit by lamps, so that was amazing.
And, I was right that I would be able to see better once the new lights were installed. Even though I had just vacuumed the basement last week before painting, I could see there were plenty of cobwebs and dust bunnies that were missed. Once the electricians left, I immediately brought the vacuum downstairs and did a more thorough job. Of course, it also made the carpet glue look like more of an eyesore, so I really need to get that project finished.
While I was painting the bookcase, I painted the doors, trim, and paneling up to the exercise bike. We’re going to buy and install a louvered closet to fill that opening. It’s already trimmed out, so it should be a pretty simple project that will make a big difference.
There is still more to prime and paint, but it’s coming along.
As I’ve said before, this room is never going to be a highly finished, gorgeous space. It has no natural light, a low ceiling, and a concrete floor. But, it’s going to be great for what it is. It’s going to feel bright and clean and functional for hanging out, workouts, puzzles, games, ping-pong, and housing some of my library. And we’re getting another step closer to that goal…
We’re having the church youth group over his week for a pool party and hangout, so the basement will get some good use. It won’t be finished yet, but it look a lot better than it did the last time we had the crew over!
27 Responses
That looks a million times better! I can’t wait to see it when it is all painted.
Wow! Great job! It looks so good! And I love love that paint color. Thank you for showing us all that you do–you inspire me so much. I have so many things I want to do–I just need to get busy. LOL
Lots so much fresher! Great job!
That looks so much better!! I love the color. Cannot wait to see the finished project.
Wow that looks amazing, am impressed, well done. The one thing I am disappointed about is not the colour of the paint, which is great, but it’s name – light blue – surely F & B, who are renowned for their famous paint names, could have thought of a more inspiring name fir that superb colour.
WOW!!! YES!!! It looks great!!! Soothing to the eyes. A great place for what it is. I really like the cement floor look without the glue on it. It appears you are very close to being done. I know how you feel about the areas that don’t really matter….but DO matter. It is always a huge relief to have a certain bit of order to ones’ own ways. I am so jealous you have a basement!!!! So sad I don’t!!!! Love the colors you picked too.
Oh….I was also wondering if that large picture above the settee, is it a family picture? It is cool.
Consider painting the ceiling tiles and grid work with flat white ceiling paint. It helps to disguise the ceiling and helps it stay cleaner. Looking so much better!
I agree painting the ceiling tiles and grids would make a big difference. Another thought would be to take the ceiling down and paint it black. Do a search and you will see pictures and see how great it looks.
Oh!!! gosh NO to black. It would show every speck of dust and spider web! It would always be another chore on the to do list…never ending!
Yes…it is cool to see pipes all uniformly painted but I would do it white.
just my opinion…….
What a difference! I bet you wish you’d done it a long time ago. Can hardly wait to see it all finished.
It looks fabulous!!!! The color is wonderful. I painted my basement paneling years ago and it made such a difference! What a great space it is going to be to hang out!!!!
Looking great
Bravo!! Light and color make all the difference!
Wow! Incredible improvement; looking forward to seeing it done.
World of difference! Looks amazing! Love the paint color combination!
I like how you know exactly what the space will be and what it will not be. It looks great!
Wow! What a difference. Great job. Look forward to seeing completed project.
May I join the course encouraging you to paint the ceiling white? I had similar situation and did just that. You’ll be amazed at how not white. Your drop ceiling is after you roll on a simple coat of ceiling white. And you’ll be amazed at how much lighter and brighter the basement is
Wow! Love the color choice but, like LadyB, would not have called that “light blue!” But I love the color! Huge, huge difference. I echo the sentiment of painting ceiling tiles. Also, have you considered laying a carpet remnant (unglued) underfoot in one of the sections for softness/texture? You inspire me both with your eye for design and energy.
LED lights are the absolute worst thing.
This looks amazing. What a positive transformation. Along the way, you’ve inspired me to finish painting the old, aluminum window trim on my house. I have only two windows to be completely finished and what a difference. Thank you for sharing your projects. They motivate me to get going on a few of the more dreaded projects on my list.
Karen B.
Your basement improvements look great! Can you give us an idea of what was involved in turning the fluorescent lights to LED?
We brought electricians in because we weren’t familiar with it either. It cost about $500 to have three lights upgraded from fluorescent to LED panels, and they were able to change them out in about an hour. The LED panels are slimmer and therefore able to fit better in tight spaces, so we were able to add two more.
Probably your highest RETURN ON INVESTMENT because so little $$ investment (although lots of elbow grease) and a huge difference. I do agree with all the suggestions about painting the ceiling so the multi shades of white will just fade away . Your projects always have great results.
Terrific before and after photos. What a huge difference for the better. It looks so much brighter and the more contemporary colors are just what the space needed. Bravo!
A fresh coat of paint never stops surprising me! Looks so good. Curious, have you looked at the actual ceiling under the dropped tiles? You might gain a surprising amount of space and perhaps expose some nice looking rafters. You could just leave it exposed and paint it all white. I suggested this to my DiL and she wasn’t sure, but my SiL did it and now she loves it! They gained almost a foot of height, and altho she wasn’t sure how having the wires and ductwork visible would look, once it was all painted she decided it looked like a bit like an old warehouse apartment.