By Colin and Justin
Beyond the 'wreck' room
Whilst traversing the GTA, we see legions of homes, most of which share one felonious faux pas. Sure, most of these abodes need radical renovation but there's a lowest common denominator that always shrieks "help me." "Lowest" being the, ahem, operative word.
Aye, the great (hold it, make that not-so-great) Canadian basement is the room to which we lovingly refer.
It's seldom breaking news as we discuss with clients the problems they endure. In fact most of our "contributors" happily concede defeat as they tell us how singularly unstylish they think they are. And there's seldom any love lost as we open our mouths and let our tummies rumble agreement.
There is, however, plenty of love gained as we return to our candidates their newly remodelled homes. Yup, generally speaking, it all comes good in the end. Save for a little on-set shouting. And that's just when our beloved catering truck goes AWOL.
Before analyzing the specifics of this particular project, we reckoned it might be useful to provide a little roundup of basic basement problem-solvers. Call it a C 'n' J guide, if you like, to making the best of what you've got ... down there.
TOP TIP LIST
1. Max Up Head Height: Paint ceilings in a lighter tone than walls to help raise perceived dimensions. It's also important, where height is restricted, to keep lines simple by removing crown and cornice. De-fuss even further by removing picture and dado rails to stop walls looking "chopped up," and therefore shallower. Opt for narrower skirting boards, and paint them the same colour as walls to help them blend in.
2. Colour: Limit bold colour to easily changeable accessories and ornamentation or opt to paint just one accent wall. Applying stronger tones won't only darken the space, it will also limit design flexibility further down the line.
3. Lighting: Avoid dangling overhead pendant lamps that can muddle sightlines. A well-planned project will still look wonderful with shallow ceiling-mounted tracks, side lighting, pot lights or simple "wall washers."
4. Flooring: Wooden floors are good for basement application as long as you're absolutely certain there's no possibility of dampness. Carpet is also serviceable but if there's even the slightest hint of moisture, opt for a higher nylon content to inhibit mould.
Tile, too, is perfectly acceptable – choose from slate, ceramic or stone, all of which are better equipped to deal with future damp problems than many other options.
5. Furniture: Keep furnishings low-slung to help distract from vertically challenged rooms. Opt for long, lean sofas and seek out designs with small legs to pull the eye down further. Keeping floor space as free as possible will allow for good circulation so consider drawing a sectional, modular L-shaped sofa against one wall, positioning occasional tables at either end and adding side mood lighting to create ambience. Or go funky retro. In another recent rec room reno we added bean bags and the results were fabulous.
6. Two For One: Think, too, about multi-purpose furniture (tables that act as storage chests, for example, or cubes that moonlight as seating) to squeeze optimum flexibility from your family room.
Max up double-duty with surfaces that work as kids' homework zones but can easily double as side tables when pushed against one wall.
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