I can’t tell you the number of times I have been asked for a very pale colour for a basement room and the equally horrified looks from clients when I pull out a richer colour. If you are trying to decide on a colour for your basement, keep reading with an open mind :)
While looking for images for this post I found a series of basement renovations by Candice Olsen (a Canadian celebrity designer).
Her rooms are filled with recessed lighting which is obviously the ideal situation for your basement too! However, as I said in my “A light Colour will never come to Life in a Dark Room” post, dark rooms look dingy painted in white unless your basement is as well lit as this one (above). And if it has this much lighting, you can still use a richer paint colour.
Dark rooms like basements and media rooms are the same as powder rooms. You’ll always flick the lights on when you are in these rooms anyway, therefore a richer colour can and should be chosen because it’s lighting (read this article in my newsletter to make sure your room is lit correctly--you can do it even without recessed lighting) that will bring these rooms to life (not a very pale or white paint colour). I love the way she’s balanced the blue with all the warm yellow wood tones in the flooring, millwork and mosaic backsplash!
Red and brown is a more masculine combination, however the white (which is a feminine colour) sectional brings the room back in balance!
Here’s a very cool basement built into the side of a cliff it looks like, but you can see without a lot of natural light the white here is looking dingy. This room would have really come to life painted a rich butterscotch colour to tie in with the wicker chairs.
My best tip on basement rooms is stick to happy colours instead of murky gray tones (unless you love them, then go for it) these are just guidelines (not rules). I consider the red and blue in the photos above happy because they are not grayed (well technically they are compared to primary tones, but they don’t read gray).
If you want your home to have atmosphere including colours that flow to fill you with happiness every time you walk in. Contact me by email for on-line rates or call me directly if you are local.
Related posts:
A Dirty Answer to a Clean Question
Rules are for Breaking by Janice Lindsay
If you are new to this blog, click here to see the Best of Colour me Happy
