The One Room Challenge is off to a good start, starting with some progress on the “home theater” end of the basement. We still have a long way to go in order to turn this space into the Ultimate Game Room over the next six weeks, but we’ve already enjoyed a couple of new and improved family movie nights in this space thanks to the updates we’ve completed so far.
Our Plans for the Ultimate Game Room
Be sure to check out all the before photos and design plans for this basement family room makeover in my Week 1 post. Between now and June 24th, we’ll be transforming our basement into our dream game room, and we’re doing alongside more than 200 other talented designers as guest participants in the One Room Challenge. The ORC was started by Linda Weinstein of Calling It Home, and Better Homes & Gardens is the official media sponsor.
ORC Week 2 Progress Update
Paint is one of the fastest ways to transform a space, so we said goodbye to the orange accent walls in favor of our favorite charcoal gray that we’ve used throughout all four levels of our house!
Cooper is the hardest working kid I know, and if there’s a project to be done, he wants to be part of it! He helped Scott paint the wall next to the bar {this is where the popcorn cart will go}, as well as above the fireplace.
After the painting was done, we leaned the new art above the mantel, and then moved the couch and rolled up the old rug. We did some very heavy duty vacuuming to prepare the space for the new couch and rug, because, OMG, the things you find under a couch that kids have been using for the past 9 years. Seriously gross!
Even though this gray couch was a big splurge for us when we bought it 13 years ago, I’m not sad to see it go. It was never as comfortable as we wanted it to be from day one. And after many years of kids playing on it, the back cushions no longer held the correct shape, making it even less comfortable than before.
The new couch for this space is actually not a new couch… it’s the couch that belonged to Scott’s dad and stepmom, and that was the center of nearly every family gathering for the past decade. Tragically, both of them were both killed in a car accident a few months back, but this photo is exactly how I’ll always remember them – smiling and surrounded by their grandchildren!
Helping to clean out their house and get it ready to sell was one of the most painful processes I’ve ever been through, but I’m so glad that we can give their couch a new home where it will continue to play host to lots of laughter and many more family movie nights!
Even thought this couch is quite a bit bigger than the one we had before, it really fits our basement very nicely!
We also rolled out the new rug, but I didn’t manage to get a photo of that yet. Let’s just say it’s a vast improvement over the old rug that had slowly gone from light gray to a much less attractive shade of dirty. The darker gray color, as well as the pattern, of the new rug should better stand the test of time in this space. Since we really live in our basement, including pizza and popcorn right here at least once a week, I chose a rug I love, but that didn’t cost a lot. I don’t want to fret the first {or second, or fiftieth} time the kids spill on it, and I’m going in knowing that we’ll probably need to replace it again a few years down the line. But in the meantime, it’s very soft and cozy underfoot, and so much better than the see of brown carpet you see in the photo above.
Can we also just talk for a minute about the “gray” roller shades on our windows in this photo? They were meant to be charcoal gray, but always took on far too much of a purple cast for my liking. Additionally, since they are either open or closed, we’ve had to choose between “no natural light” and “extra deep corrugated window wells.” Very soon, these roller shades will be replaced with new, white faux wood blinds that will give us the glorious in between that we’ve been missing – natural light without the not-so-stunning view.
The other BIG improvement {and I mean that in a very literal sense} is our new super-sized TV. When we first bought our house in 2008, our 58 inch tv was the first thing we purchased and it lived in the basement for quite a while before we even had a couch to sit on. Scott decided it was time for an upgrade {especially since bigger TVs now cost significantly less than what we spent on the “smaller” big TV all those years ago}. I could tell you that it’s just the boys of the house that care about the new 86″ inch screen, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it’s pretty fun to watch our favorite shows on this movie-sized upgrade.
We’ll be busy this week, and I’ll have lots more to share in my next update. In the meantime, if you want to see some finished spaces, you can check out the nine other One Room Challenge projects I’ve completed over the years!