Basement Color Palette in Progress

Hello!

I have shared some of the photos and work that we have done on our basement.  We’ve added board and batten, a gallery wall and changed out some of the lighting so far.  It’s a great space for family fun and entertaining, and we use it every day.  The only thing I’m not jazzed about is the color palette that is down there now.  I’ve blogged about it in the past, and it’s an intimidating space given that it is open and connected.  I want it to flow and work together, and that requires some thought and planning.

Enter HGTV & Sherwin Williams.  They have come together and created some fabulous color palettes that work beautifully with our basement space.

One element of our basement that I really like and want to keep is the grasscloth wallpaper that we have in a couple areas.  There are a lot of great colors in this palette that will work with the grasscloth, while still injecting new life into the space.

Here’s another photo to give you the full effect:

 

So, I bought a few sample quarts of paint to test them out and see how they looked with the family room color, Benjamin Moore’s Palladian Blue.

As you can see, I chose Escape Gray, Ethereal Mood and Accessible Beige.  I’m sooo glad I got the sample quarts, because my initial thought was to get the Accessible Beige – too light in contrast with the Palladian Blue.  The Escape Gray, while I really like it, wasn’t a good contrast to the Palladian Blue either.  Ethereal Mood was the winner!

The walls have been an absolute mess ever since our epic fail attempt at bringing the board and batten up the stairs.  We are carpentry impaired in trying to accomplish this task with all of the different angles going up the stairs.  Angles in going up the stairs, angles with the turn in the stairs, it’s a nightmare!  So, while we’re not giving up on the board and batten, I just couldn’t stand looking at the spackled walls anymore.

Side note – I have seen some of you out there with your mad carpentry skills.  You know who you are – Lisa at Shine Your Light – check out her stairway and you’ll see what I’m talking about.   Or this other amazing Lisa at A Vintage Vine.  See her stairway makeover here.  Maybe I need to change my name to Lisa.  I am willing to offer up delicious baked goods in return for your services.  

I could write a whole post on the issues we had here.  It’s really quite embarrassing – two educated human beings, looking like monkeys with mitre saws.

I know the colors don’t look dramatically different in these photos, but trust me, they are.  The previous color was more of a camouflage green, where as the new color is a grayish taupe.  I really like it, and it’s opening up lots of possibilities for the rest of the basement.

As always, it’s a work in progress, right?  And yes, the stairs are on my list for this year as well.  

Carpet on the stairs + 3 kids + 1 enormous black dog = DISASTER.

Don’t forget about the Room Evolution linky party on Tuesday, January 31st!