It’s that time of year when everyone is thinking about projects to tackle in their home. It’s been a busy January!
While I’ve had my Designed in a Click consultations turned off this month to focus on local full service work, this consultation was booked back in December. I’m excited to share this fun basement man cave which would be perfect for hanging out with friends and watching the all big games on tv.
This homeowner wanted a large rec space in their walk-out basement. It has Welsh lake blue polished concrete floors that they really like. They planned to lighten the walls/ceiling with a white or light gray paint . They want to change the current ceiling to a drywall too. They are adding a small bar painted SW Web Gray.
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Here were their questions for the design of this space.
1. How do we best give this space an industrial, modern, masculine, "man cave" feel? My husband likes blue, gray, black, and hints of yellow/maize (a Michigan fan, haha).
2. What is the best layout for this space? We're thinking of having a comfortable seating arrangement (between the slider and bar area) that faces a TV on the wall, and then a ping pong table toward the back of the room near the 2 windows (5ft clearance recommended on each side of table).
3. Any suggestions for window treatments/wall art to make the space feel designed?
She sent me room dimensions and some items that her husband liked, one which was the modern coffee table below!
The bar will be fitting on the wall there at the bottom of the stairs.
Ping pong table will go down at the end of the room by those two small windows.
My Response
I think this will be a fun space!
I have a layout with a ping pong table at the end of the room like you planned. I think a sectional sofa in a dark gray leather would be a good anchor piece and help divide the room a bit, which I think would be nice.
Furniture Layout for Basement Walk-out
I think it would be a good idea to go with some charcoal gray on the walls, with a light gray above on the sheetrock and ceiling. I like the idea of some contrast here. I have just done a bathroom with vertical paneling that comes in thin sheets, it looks really good installed.
I'd like to see something like that on the walls here, part way up the wall in a charcoal paint. Then, I'd paint the windows and frames too that color.
You could do the SW Web Gray like the bar and then do something like SW Gray Screen above.
I like these industrial look ceiling mount light fixtures, two over the ping pong table and maybe one over the seating group. These are an idea, you might be able to find something similar that is less expensive.
This is a really handsome ping pong table. Love the wood.
Would like to see the same dark wood over on the tv wall.
Here's a fun retro rug for under the seating group.
He can always do a gray plaid type rug like this though.
Striped drapes on the slider from The Shade Store, this is Shoreham Stripe, Shadow. Definitely have to check all the grays here to make sure they work together. (I had presented a different fabric to them, a plaid, but I don’t see it on their website anymore.
I like wood (walnut or teak, medium/dark stained wood look) blinds from The Shade Store with a "noir" tape for the other short windows.
I love the humor of that Frank Gehry coffee table and then a chair like this would be comfy and fun.
I'd do some bistro shelving in a black finish over the bar. I like when they hang from the ceiling.
Bistro shelving at the bar.
I don't think you need much art, if you do the paneling, but something like this could be hung horizontally on the paneling.
Here’s a storyboard to show how it looks all put together. I think it looks like a really cool place to hang out!
This blogpost was thoughtfully written by me, Carla Aston, and not by AI, ghostwriters, or guest posters.