In case you missed my Instagram story, we are moving into our basement! Well, not literally. When we built our house 4 years ago we designed the basement to be a separate apartment so we could make some extra income. But, we knew one day we would need to grow into that space. The space has a separate entrance, bathroom, full kitchen, and washer/dryer. The works! But the time has come to reclaim the space and I am so excited to put my design skills to use and get a little extra elbow room, especially in quarantine!

The Living Room

Originally the living space down there was only supposed to be Dave’s man cave. But he’s been a good sport and we’ve decided to combine that idea with a family room. So it will be less of a chesterfield couch and cigar bar vibe and more loungey couches and photos of dogs smoking cigars vibe.

So the first order of business is getting new couches for the family room/mancave. We actually have two Natuzzi couches down there now that our tenants had been using but I’m just not a big fan of leather couches. They’re beautiful but if I wanted to lay down and watch a movie on a rainy day, it’s not my ideal couch. We bought this coffee table from Restoration Hardware last year when we thought this space would be more of a dedicated man cave but I actually think it’ll go really well with the couch we picked out. We also invested in this media console from RH with the same idea but again I think it will go well with the couch we landed on.

Dave has also agreed to change the wall color which we initially painted his favorite color, Stonington Gray. We are changing the paint color to white. Exact white to be determined (but probably one of my favorite whites) and going to install some kind of engineered wood or an LVT in the living room and playroom.

The Playroom

We are turning one of the bedrooms into Noah’s playroom which is much needed at this point! I am not sure where all these toys came from but I can tell you our truck collection is extensive and somehow growing.

I want his playroom to be functional but also feel well put together and cozy so of course, I’ve been pulling lots of inspo from Pinterest. I basically want West Elm and Serena and Lily vibes. The couch has been the most challenging to find. We wanted a stylish couch that was also functional, would fit the space well, and include a fold-out mattress so Noah and his friends can have sleepovers down there. Obviously that’s a pretty tall order but I think this couch really checks all those boxes. Plus its gotten great reviews so that’s a huge bonus!

The other bedroom will be a workout room. I wanted a rubber matt floor but now I think something more like the photo below would be nice. Kind of a boutique Pilates studio vibe.

The Workout Room

I really like the light and bright feeling of these floors. I think it might vs the black rubber mats. We will definitely do one wall of mirrors, a tv, and my Pelaton is coming this week which I am super excited about! I am more into doing cycling and Pilate workouts than anything else so we don’t need too much equipment for me. Dave might get something similar to a Bowflex for weight lighting.

I’m excited to take you guys on this journey. I should have some pretty good progress photos coming up so stay tuned!

Thanks for checking this post out guys! If you loved some of the ideas mentioned in this article, then be sure to share on social, connect with me through the comments, and check out some of the other blog posts posted on my site. I am so excited to be here sharing my life with you and from the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading and following along.

Xx Amanda