apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I like the flor idea. How moist does the basement get after it rains?

That's a wonderful inspiration picture, forgot about that one...

I agree with a bit of carpet to warm things up, usually I'm all for wood, but this is an exception I think.

I think it's also important to take note how large of a role great lighting played in making the above room look non-basementy.

I would not nail things into the masonry walls of a basement. Someone did that to our basement before we moved in, and now we have mild moisture seepage through the screw holes.

I would go for a poured concrete floor (the new ones can be beautiful and quite colorful) to avoid the moisture problem. (They pour it over the existing concrete). Our basement is not particularly moist, but it's just the nature of the beast that big rains and the kinds of flooding that have become more common will cause problems with below-grade basements, which yours clearly is.

A good dehumidifier is also a good idea.

try some sisal carpeting. it will warm the place up and if it wears out after a couple of years or gets ruined in a flood it can be easily replaced.

flor tiles are nice but you may exceed your budget.

I forgot about that room... the sofa looks like the Wegner daybed, but isn't... does anyone know what it is? Amazing room.

I've seen some beautiful examples of concrete floors, I think that would be the way to go... though the tile is also very nice.

I'm pretty sure that wood floors are not usually recommended for rooms that are below grade. Laminate is fine, as is carpet (unless you have a known moisture problem). Flor tiles would be easy to put down, and of course wouldn't require paying an installer (as wall to wall carpet would). Marilyn actually says (in the comments of the linked post) that the flooring used above is Armstrong linoleum, not FLOR tiles, which would be another cheap option.

I know you didn't ask about the walls, but I think the single best thing (after dealing with the floor) you could do to warm up the room is get rid of the grey on the walls. I have nothing against grey as a wall color in general, but in that room it just emphasizes the grungy basement-y feel. How about a nice creamy white, or even a buttery yellow or light green?

Paint those walls a lighter color to help brighten things up. Also paint the red base in a shade that will compliment whatever color ends up on the floor. And leave the brick exposed.
I have a couple areas with Flor tiles in my apartment, and I am pleased with their performance. I think it would be a versatile solution for this area.

And definately add some great lighting - IKEA is a good source for cheap solutions that look good.

What about painting the floor a really rich red with a shining glaze over it? White chairs on top of that would look very nice in my opinion and give you a crisp punch of color to start with. You may have to paint the dark wood a lighter color also, but it is the cheapest way to remodel the look of a room. :0)

Thanks everyone! I appreciate any and all suggestions - I really want to make this a usable space so all of the input is great! It seems like I might need to up the budget. The basement is dry, but yeah, it is below grade, so I don't want to do wood. I'm having some people come out to give me an estimate for acid staining the floor and/or doing some kind of overlay, so we'll see. I was also thinking about what to do with the walls. I want to keep the accent wall behind the bar because it's stone (not cement block) and looks cool. But, I wonder if I need to drywall the other two walls? The 4th wall is the green one....

I think room was made for "Trading Spaces" or some other HGTV show. Maybe that one where they copy a designer room for a much smaller price? I think you do have to pay out of pocket for that one (unlike Trading Spaces), but the rooms usually start out completely bare, so that price includes all furniture. Since you basically have a blank canvas, you've got nothing to lose.

I don't think a poured concrete floor exempts you from moisture issues, since I'm pretty sure you need something with a vapor barrier. Laminates or engineered floors are in this camp.

Also look at the faux wood vinyls from Amtico.

The nice thing about a rug is that it warms things up literally, not just visually. I imagine that concrete would look great, but give you cold feet. How about something along the line of linoleum, vinyl, laminate, with a cheerful area rug?

Simple. Bright warm white paint on walls. Flor tiles on floor. (Wasn't there a sale a while back?). You can lay them yourself and save on that end of it. Go for Shirt Stripe - very cheerful and contemporary, if that is your style. Catalog is online. Our Flor tiles made a huge difference in the winter comfort level of our basement and they have been through a flood. I just rinsed, dried and reapplied.

First thing you need to do is stock up that beautiful bar. I'm jealous! :)

O.k to add to my previous comment... (and please don't laugh, this was VERY rough and scribbled in and copy pasted roughly) in photoshop... I colored your room for you. Check out this link and you will see it... yes I'm sure whatever you do will look better than this but just wanted to explain my comment a bit better in a rough sketch. Copy and paste the below link to your browser and see.

http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/8104/basementfreshxg1.jpg

i live in a basement apt -- and they put in a laminate floor -- and the stuff wears like iron, is so easy to clean and has some kind of under-layer that makes it sound more like wood and less like it is on top of concrete.. a cushion of sorts. I have had moisture issues... but it hasn't affected the floor at all. and pergo etc. comes in both light and super rich dark woods too. mine is light but I kinda wish i'd picked a nice dark wood.

great stuff - never scratches even when you drag heavy things across it. dynomite.
good luck!

I just installed flor in my basement, and I was almost shocked at how good it looks. I'm usually not a fan of wall-to-wall, but this really warms up the space, plus, it is good for awkward edges. Also, I had excellent customer service from the company. Good luck.

Get Candace Olson on the phone... she is BRILLIANT with basements like this!

Claymover, thanks for doing that, it really helps to visualize things! I appreciate all of the advice. Have any of you painted over stone like that before? I was thinking I had to drywall or something, but maybe the paint thing would work okay and be much less expensive!

What about cork? It's warm and looks really great.

Paint a mural on the floor, such as the layout of the King's Gardens at Versailles, or the floorplan of FallingWater, or even just a meadow of green grass. Check out the cool stuff that my friend Mimi has done for clients via Sun n Moon Murals: http://www.sunandmoonmurals.com/portfolio.html

Concrete, polished

if you use a good primer made for the surface type, you should be able to paint the walls any color you like...we painted our basement (same type of crumbly stone/concrete block) and have had no problems whatsoever. We used zinsser Watertite
http://www.zinsser.com/subcat.asp?CategoryID=7 with great results.

oh, forgot to mention, we used marmoleum on the basement floor,and it is incredibly durable--our daughter even rollerskates on it.

As I've somehow managed to help numerous people in multiple states with clearing out their basements after a flood, I am very much against anything like carpeting in the basement. I know it can be awesome, I'm just so wary after so many freak flood experiences.

I think the "lacquered" floor would be awesome, and area rugs can help warm up things, or flor tiles to create an area rug.

claymover's idea is awesome!!

Polkadot, thanks for the tips! Kate, I know exactly what you mean. It's like Murphy's Law and there will be a huge flood or something the day after installing wall to wall. Right now, I'm leaning towards painting some kind of warm creamy color (not sure about the bar because it's a very pretty mahogony-toned wood in person, but I can always decide that later), doing a dark red floor in some kind of acid wash or vinyl (need to think about this more) and then having a sisal-like area rug and one of the area rugs made of flor tiles. I'm also going to check out the vinyl planks, but I haven't liked most vinyl wood-toned floors I've seen so we'll see. I looove cork, but it might be too pricey. Maybe I'll catch a sale or something though. If you're not all suggestion-ed out, please keep the ideas coming! Thanks!

awww.. thanks for not laughing. *blushes*

We have Flor tiles in some kind of sisal-type material in our basement, and I find it very reassuring that if a flood were on its way we could just remove them all. (Also, our cats tend to puke on them, and it's way easier to clean than any other type of carpet would be--just pick up the pukey square, scrub it off, lay it outside to dry.)

I have thin brick tiles in a bathroom that always looked sort of dirty and scuffed, picked up a gallon of polyurethane oil gloss for porch and floor for $5 from the color mistakes shelf at Home Depot and it looks great. Took longer to dry than acrylic, but overall a big improvement. In pictures, I always like the glossy seamless floors of epoxy paint, For my basement I am investigating rubber, ordered samples yesterday that are about $2.50 a square foot.

What about Deck Tiles? You shouldn't have to worry about potential water problems.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/top-ten/top-10-wood-deck-tiles-024438