4 Light Colored Basement Designs

There are three main aspects to consider, the ceiling, the floor, the walls. Everything else will be secondary. Basement ideas, be they decorative or structural, will begin with these three basic areas.

1. If you have your heart set on wood, then go with light pine or the newest bamboo wood flooring that is whitish-yellow. However, even light colored woods will absorb light, so try to limit the use of wood panels to one focal wall – not all the walls. You can achieve a textured look on the walls without taking away the lightness by using a textured stucco finish, even over drywall, and painting a basic white or bone color and adding antique accents with a brush or sponge. Keep the central part of the wall light, but accent around doorways or baseboards or even ceilings with a border in a rich or brighter color.
2. One of the most innovative light colored basement designs is to use metal panels, ordinary corrugated metal. Instead of wood paneling. Accent the room with sage colored ceiling, a light bamboo floor and furnish with tubular chrome or steel and glass pieces and add mirrors where possible. Take away the industrial look with soft shag rugs in bright colors, and add matching toss cushions or accents in a darker shade but still keep with bright blues, lavenders, yellows, white and cool greens.
3. For basement ideas that incorporate light as a feature, use long narrow wall lamps over and inside cabinets and shelves, above art, along the baseboards, built into the ceiling, like round halogen spot lights and track lighting, and do not use one central overhead fixture. Use glossy flooring, the cheapest solution is to paint the cement with a special paint, but you can also use tile. Do not use stone, dark colored tile or carpet. Use light or bright colored tiles to reflect the light. For warmth add area rugs in vibrant colors.
4. Use white on white and add accents in cream, beige, eggshell and other very light neutrals. Moldings around ceilings may be a slightly different shade than the walls. Flooring is white or cream, baseboards are a shade darker; ceiling is light beige, accents are eggshell. The slight contrast between the whites and beige or creamy colors will be noticeable if some areas are pure white. Accent with chrome or black wrought iron for a touch of contrast. Keep window treatments to a minimum by using sheers or no curtains at all, just frosted windows. This white on white look is very chic and works best in home with no children.