i cant approach hub to "do" our basement - he's got way too much on his plate. but, our basement is huge and i really want to use it more during the bad weather.

i already had electricians out here to install more lighting - and for 92 bucks, its fantastic how bright it is down there.

i know flooring is a big issue - i just bought some of those colored foam play mats and to tell you the truth - i hate them! I dont want my basement to look like a circus - on ebay i can get carpet tiles for the same $$ as the foam play tiles.

also - the basement cement walls. should i paint them for some brightness?


im clueless on what to do, but i know i just want to make it a big more inviting down there - any suggestions anyone?

My dh and I were just talking about this the other day. We have a big area for the kids to hang out down there and nothing is done with it!
My suggestion would be to paint the walls a light color. Since you are in the basement the light color will brighten up the room. Dh said that he found carpet remnants at Home Depot for like $40. For us it would cover the majority of the floor space 15'x15'. Which is where the kids would play anyway.

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~~Sonja~~

My 3lynns~ Ashlynn-8, Brooklyn-4 and Kaylin-3

We bought a carpet remnant at home depot as well, and its great. And we put a loveseat and couch down there, tv. We didnt paint the walls or anything. Some day we'd like to finish it, but since we dont have the money right now, the carpet is fine - made a huge difference and the kids have an area that they can play in comfortably.

We just did this with our basement! We bought paint made for cement walls and floors and painted it (2 coats) it looks great! We bought a remnant carpet piece and had the edges bound so they wouldn't fray for $50.00 and now we have our spare computer, old sofa and TV there for the kids and they love it.

Can you paint the foam tiles? I wonder if that spray paint used to paint plastic would work. You could put them all together and then paint them (outside), then reassemble inside. Or, you could section off an area for the kids to play and put the foam tiles down there with an area rug over them. It'd make it nice and soft for play. I'd check for carpet remnants like mentioned - ask local carpet stores too in addition to Lowe's and Home Depot. If it is a thin carpet, you can fold the edges under, crease and duct tape to back of rug, to finish the edges. I've seen do-it-yourself shows where they make big rugs out of a few little ones by duct taping them together on the underside, and you can't tell by looking at the finished side. Paint is probably the cheapest way to soften up your walls. You can get a primer that's waterproof for cement block, and prime it, then see what cast off paints the store has. Some are returned or were mixed wrong. If you find two cans of a lighter color, mix 'em together. LOL I agree with keeping it light too, especially if you don't have much natural light coming in. You may be able to find a fake plant for cheap at the thrift store (or Michaels' always has 40-50% off one item coupons in their ads). Use some clearance fabric, a sheet or fabric shower curtains (you know, the outside part that is just decorative, not the plastic part that keeps the water in the shower; sometimes you can find them at $1 store) to make giant pillow shams that are big enough to hold blankets or sleeping bags. When the blankets are put away, the pillows can be used to lounge with.

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~~Amanda~~ Mommy to one Little Man (3 1/2 yrs old), TTC #2

WE'RE ADOPTING!!!

I recently saw stained concrete- I am not sure how to do it- but it looks so nice (and different!). You can also do laminate tiles, remnant rugs (if you don't want a remnant both Home Depot, Lowes and Walmart sells 1 colored area rugs for around $20). Carpet tiles look nice too- which ever you perfer.

I would paint the walls- you don't necessarily need to do just white, pick a color that you like (I have to say that a lot of the times when I am at Lowes and H.D.- I always find a few cans of colors I like on the screw up aisle!).

If you have a large basement- you can break it up into several areas- a play area, a den, a hobby section and storage.

I would love working on a project like that myself! Good luck!

I would probably want carpet in any area where the kids are playing. Depends on your kids I suppose but I just know my own kids play on the floor a lot and bare concrete just wouldn't work. If you don't want to get wall to wall carpet, you can buy remanent and have the edges bound and then just buy a pad for underneath and it's pretty inexpensive.

I would definately paint the walls...

You could use curtain rods and must make easy 'curtains' using sheets or cheap fabric to designate 'areas' if it's really a large room.

Check out Walmart and K-mart both are selling huge rugs for college dorms for cheap and that would work for your basement.

Last summer we "did" our basement. We (mainly dh) put up drywall. It was done vertically and not horizontally so no tape and mud - we were going to put trim up over the seams but we were surprised at how nice it looks. We painted. Dh stained the concrete, put carpet on one part. Where the carpet is we put couch and tv etc. WHere there is no carpet we have lots of toys including big wheels etc - the kids love to go down there and run and play and ride their bikes - it is great to use on those really hot days in summer or really cold days in winter... Gets rid of a lot of their pent up energy.

i need to redo the playroom and what i am doing is peel and stick tiles that i am getting really cheap, and then getting scrap carpet to go over that. inour main area i have repainted the walls, and made new curtains. it was already carpeted. and we have gyprocked the walls in the other half and are inthe process of priming and painting it then we want to make another room in there for when we do foster care, so that the kid can have their own room.

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Kimberley

"there is nothing to worry about, just plenty to think about" from an episode of Extreme Makeover House edition

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