Basement Family Room Planning with Raymour & Flanigan

I have partnered with Raymour & Flanigan and received product in exchange for this post. All expressed opinions are 100% my own.

A few months ago I shared for the first time on IG, a small snippet of our basement family room.  A space that was one of the main selling features of our home.  When we first bought our home, we imagined endless nights of TV watching and board game playing, family dance parties, and cousin sleepovers . . . but to be honest, it’s been a very, VERY underutilized space.  On any typical day, you will find the sofa riddled with laundry, since this is where we tend to fold, or furniture piled on top of furniture as the space serves as a sort of furniture grace yard, where all the old or outdated furniture goes.  And then, when I get the decorating itch, I try to make the most sense out of the space with what I have.

BEFORE:  Realtor photo

BEFORE:  Embarrassing photos of our basement once we put our own decorative touch on it, lol—I really loved me some earth tones 😄

BEFORE:  Basement

A few years ago we suffered a flood, and when we became aware of the disaster, our entire basement was under about 5-6 inches of water, and it looked like it was raining from every inch of the drop ceiling.

In remodeling, we decided to go with a drywall ceiling and recessed lighting in the main area of the basement, which made all the difference in the world when it came to it actually looking finished.  We got rid of the horrid orange walls and basically utilized this space as a catch-all from that point forward (you may recognize a lot of the decor items in the above pic from other spaces in our house over the past year—nothing like shopping the house ;))

This year, I’ve decided that this space needs to serve a REAL purpose.  Our home is filled to the brim now with two teenagers and 2 growing boys, we want a dedicated space for them to hangout, a place where they can entertain their friends, as well as a place for us all to retreat to, and hibernate in, during the winter months.

Today my main focus is on the “family room area” which is basically 12’x11′.  In the coming months, I’ll also be working on my eldest son’s bathroom and a homework/study area for the kids, which are also located in the basement.  So now that I’ve shared my embarrassing before pics, let’s get on to my list of wants/needs for this space, shall we?

Want/Need:

• A comfy sofa with plenty of seating, which is also easy to clean
• A fun, cozy, yet durable rug, which warms up the space, as the tile flooring tends to be cold
• A sturdy TV stand
• Paint or at least an accent wall of some sort.

Shopping:

I feel so lucky to be partnering with Raymour & Flanigan on this makeover, so my husband and I had a fun little date night and enjoyed several hours of shopping.  Although I had done some research ahead of time, choosing a sofa was so hard.  Because our basement is a long and narrow space, I was glad to be able to play around with the Interactive Room Planner on Raymour & Flanigan’s website.

 Raymour & Flanigan has a such wide selection of furniture and decor no matter what your style or budget, so we had such a hard time deciding which sofa to go with!

Luckily for us, our Sales Associate, Ellen was so sweet, helpful and patient.  She was also very knowledgeable and helped us to narrow down our choices—and after very much deliberation, we decided to go with the Artemis II 3-pc. Microfiber Sectional Sofa in Gypsy Gray.  This sofa offers a nice neutral backdrop which will allow me to update the space for years to come and the material is a soft microfiber which will help to resist stains for lasting beauty and comfort.

Once our decision was made, I went home and created my very first mood board, I know I’m behind on the times, but man, it was fun!  Creating a mood board is such an amazing way to stay on task, I think I have design A.D.D where I just can’t focus on a plan and easily get distracted or side tracked.  This will help me to stay in line with my plan for my “Cozy Basement Family Room!”

What do you all think?  I am so excited and can not wait to put all of this together!  I hope you’ll be sure to check back to see my progress over the next few weeks!

Until next time,

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