When we moved into our tiny 900 square foot home 4 years ago, there wasn’t a lot to be redone. The previous owners had done a wonderful job updating the main level. However, the basement at the time was being used as a small rental suite, with two incredibly small bedrooms at the back. As you may remember, we converted those two back bedrooms into one giant home office (see that reveal here) that could serve our needs a lot better. I love this space and really thought it turned out well. But, after that reno, the rest of the basement sat untouched for awhile. Life gets busy when you’re working full time, getting married and flipping a couple of houses! And then about a month ago, we pushed to finally finish this renovation and I’m really excited to show you the completed basement design!
First off, here’s the sitting area…and the place where we steal all of our staging furniture (hehe). Now you know my secret – our basement sits empty much of the year. We barely get any natural light down here and I wanted it to feel light and bright, so we painted all the walls Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore. We opted for a soft heather grey couch from Ikea, as well. Nothing too fancy, just comfy enough for a basement and easy enough to transport to our other houses over the year.
I absolutely love my print from Laure Joliet. Keeping the palette completely neutral in the basement was important to me and this artwork fits in perfectly. 
On the other side of the basement, Ryan and I wanted to create a nook for entertaining. This is where we have our staging kitchen furniture most of the time (table and 4 chairs), our little music station, and of course, a stocked bar cart.
I made the bar cart from an old school trolley with a few coats of brass spray paint. Where old VHS tapes used to be, now stores liquor and drinking accessories lol. I also made the print above on photoshop – just googled all the different words for cheers across the globe!
We love our record player that was gifted to us at the wedding. Now, to expand our record collection! 
And I love our corner shelving nook. A place to store even more of my book collection and other trinkets. This too is a place where I can borrow from when we stage our houses.
And finally, the section of the basement design that saw the most improvement – the bar area.
We tore everything out here and replaced the cabinets with some white high gloss ones (same cabinets from the Capilano flip), a butcher block counter top and matte black subway tiles. We also found the perfect black wall mounted faucet that almost blends in with the backsplash.
I love the added storage we achieved and the floating shelf is the perfect place to display our organized glassware. 
And so, there you have it. Our new and improved basement design – the flimsy kitchen and dark, uninviting space is no longer. Instead, we have a place where we can host friends, relax with a drink and cozy up and watch a good movie.
Basement Design Sources: Wall Colour Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace | Couch from Ikea | Laure Joliet Print | Pillow 1 & Pillow 2 from Chapters (discontinued) | Record Player | SSPrintShop L’Amour Print | Agate Book End from West Elm | Kitchen Cabinets and Butcher Block from Ikea | Thanks to Tile Town for the Black Tile | Cutting Board | Man & Woman Print | Anna with Love London High Tea Print