Welcome to our basement entryway! Boy was it a site for sore eyes! They say people always have a junk drawer, or a junk closet... well we had a junk basement.
Our basement is not fully finished. We do have drywall on the walls and ceiling, but our floors are concrete. When we moved in three years ago we set up the basement as a playroom for the girls, that didn't last long. Our girls were one and four at the time and were not comfortable with playing down in the basement. They would rather sit upstairs in the kitchen on our cosy bench seat watching me cook dinner.
Time passed and the girls' toys were donated and slimmed down allowing them to fit nicely in our living room. This left the basement to collect old furniture I picked up from the side of the road to later refinish and flip.
Basically the basement turned into a storage centre, and a huge dump! I decided at the beginning of the year that I was going to transform this basement entryway so that it was no longer an eye sore and instead a joy to look at. And here we are two and a half months later with a finished entryway. (you can watch the transformation in our Instagram highlights)
The basement its self is still a big mess. We have turned it into a workshop instead, and it needs to be organized. It has been great to have a working shop as we do not have a garage, or anywhere to store tools.
This is our view of the basement from the main level down to the basement entryway. There is a door at the top of the stairs that we have kept shut for almost three years. But not with a view like this!
I get so much joy looking down these stairs now. It's amazing what a little hard work can do.
How we transformed our basement entryway
To transform this area we used mostly supplies we already had. We painted the wall with a fresh coat of white paint. Then replaced the blue carpeted stairs with laminate left over from renovating the main floor.
We extended the landing and built the bench seat using 2x4s we uncovered from renovating a different part of the house. You can read all about the bench cushion we made from thrifted materials. We did buy a small $3 bag of concrete for the step coming in at the door.
The shelf and details on the feature wall were all done with wood we found at the side of the road. And our shelves were hung using our floating shelf tutorial. The hooks on our feature wall are actually knobs from a dresser.
Our basement entryway went from a junkyard that I wanted to forget existed into a enterance way I wish I used everyday!
Before and After Basement Entryway
MORE Before and Afters
Living Room Update on a Budget
Walkthrough Dining Room Update with Inspiration
How To Install Cabinet Hardware: Before and After Laundry Room
Remove Entryway Closet: Why It's Better Without It
PIN FOR LATER
Great job! Doesn’t even look like the same space. I love the wood slat hook thing.
Thanks Beth! The wood slats were a gamble as I didn't exactly know what my end goal was, but I am happy with the way it turned out:)
Wow! You have given me so much hope! My basement is a lot like yours. Partially finished with concrete floors. I love how light and airy your space looks!!! Fantastic!
Great! I'm so glad to hear it! I would love to see pictures if you decided to go ahead with it.
This looks so good! Good job!
Thank you, Michaela.
Total transformation!! So beautiful!!
Thank you so much, Michelle.
What a difference!! I LOVE how it came out in the end and it's amazing you used things you mostly already had. Great job!!
Thank you, Susan! I love the creative push using what you already have gives. It's a challenge but usually always successful 🙂