How To Decorate an Unfinished Basement

Many homeowners tend to shy away from using their unfinished basement for anything other storage. Without colorful walls and proper flooring, it’s hard to use it as a traditional bonus or game room. However, the truth is that you can transform an unfinished basement into a warm and cozy area that you and your family can enjoy for years. All you have to do is follow a few basic decor rules.

Clean It Up

First and foremost, you must keep your unfinished basement clean if you plan on using it for any practical purpose. Homeowners naturally allow their basements to become these huge storage areas to keep their excess belongings and furnishings in. While there’s nothing wrong with this, you should try to designate a specific area of your basement for storage and only use it for such purposes. If you don’t have a designated storage area in your basement, you should consider building a large closet somewhere in the corner. This will allow you to have plenty of free space to use as a game room, bonus room or however else you please.

Paint The Walls

With a little bit of time and a few cans of paint, you can drastically change the look of your unfinished basement by painting the walls. Don’t just paint them the same colors as the rest of your house, but choose some more colorful and vibrant types instead. Remember, your basement is an entirely different area of your house, so there’s nothing wrong with experimenting a little bit with some unique colors and color combinations. Of course you’ll need to actually have walls up in your basement, which is something many homeowners don’t have.

Flooring

Along with painting the walls, you should also consider adding some flooring to your unfinished basement. Running some carpet along with the rooms in your basement can be done cheap and easily. If this isn’t an option for you, then try to pick up a couple of indoor-outdoor rugs to use. It’s important to only use indoor-outdoor rugs in unfinished basements because of their ability to withstand moisture.

Furnishings

If you really want to create a warm and inviting atmosphere in your unfinished basement, you have to spend a little time and energy adding some furnishings to it. Things like artwork, end tables, coffee tables and lamps are just a few of the many basic furnishing items that a basement needs to have. After you’ve taken care of the basics, you can then move on to some of the more fun stuff like bar signs, statues or really anything with some personality to it.