The Basement Bedroom - A Work In-Progress

Like all homes, ours has evolved over the years to better fit our needs. The basement bedroom has seen several changes. I set about 'reclaiming' our basement a couple of years ago after my mother-in-law passed. She had promised different furnishings and items to grandchildren and when those things went out the door, I didn't want the basement to just become a place for clutter to collect. So, I decided that the bedroom should be one space I needed to work on.

Prior to the move-in of my MIL, we had donated, gifted, and sold all of the furnishings that we had in the basement to make room for her and her things. So, we have started from scratch to refurnish this space. As with anything, I started searching through decorator books, blogs, and Pinterest for ideas. I decided that I liked the look of decorating a bedroom with twin beds and if we had any grandchildren come to visit, twin beds might work out. I still had one simple twin bed that had been Bryan's when he was growing up. A couple of Bridgette's girls had used it but it was in storage. I stumbled across a similar little simple bed offered second hand and I suddenly had my twin bed frames to set the bedroom update in motion.

If you follow the link above, you can see lots of my ideas that I collected and it is easy to see similarities in the images I collected. The two images that stuck in my mind the most were the ones below. (Click on the left image to access the source. The right image was on James Farmer's website and is probably in one of his books but the link I had is no longer valid.)

     

The twin beds I have are not a perfect match and one was painted while the other was still brown wood. 

Neither of them are heirloom quality pieces of furniture. One was given to me years ago by my Great Aunt Mae and the other was a ten dollar impulse buy. So, I visited my local Ace Hardware and bought a quart of high gloss Benjamin Moore Hale Navy paint. I knew I loved the color because that is the color of our kitchen island. A quick couple or three coats of paint and the two bed frames were mates. I ordered mattresses and springs and white linens to dress them. 

I was determined to decorate the basement on a budget. So, I decided that I would use some fabric a friend gave me to make curtains for the double windows in that room. That is a project on the To-Do list. Since it is a lovely raspberry floral toile, I knew that other bed dressings needed to be either a big bold geometric or a check or a solid. I remembered a purchase that I had made years back that I still loved and began my search. I got a couple of these Cotton Muslin Buffalo Check Blankets in Khaki. They are ultra lightweight and reasonably priced. I often use tan buffalo check as a neutral and it worked in this bedroom for me. I eventually want to have a quilt at the end of the bed like those two images at the top of the post, but, for now, I have a couple of coverlets folded and laid across the foot of the bed.

This bedroom sat like that for about a year. I had placed an antique wash stand that had been my mother-in-law's in the room but it was sort of lost in the space where I wanted a dresser. 

Then, I began searching for a dresser to fill the niche beside the closet. I kept a lookout on Facebook Marketplace and my local thrift haunts, but I didn't really see what I wanted. Then, one Sunday afternoon I was tired of being cooped up in the house and went out junking. 

I stumbled across an inexpensive dresser that is the perfect size. I love the twists that trim out each side and the bun feet below the platform trim. Something about the top is a bit wonky but it is sort of charming as well. It is almost like maybe it had a glass top or leather top and somebody replaced that with a cabinet door or something. I may eventually get a piece of glass to lay across the top so that the top surface will be even but for now it is working as-is.

Again, it is not an heirloom quality piece but it was only seventy-five dollars. If something comes along that I like better, I can probably get my investment back out of this piece but for now, it fits well in the room, it is great for storage, and I like the look of it across the room with those pretty twists on the side. In my search, I had stumbled across a couple of great lamps listed on Facebook Marketplace for twenty dollars. They are that nice gourd shape that is pretty trendy and the color really brightens up that little niche. So, again, I trekked out and picked up those. 

I knew I had a mirror that I had thrifted from the same place I had gotten one of the beds. The frame is plastic but it looks like bamboo. So, I knew I could paint it and make it look better and fit into this room as well. I wasn't sure how to go about painting it. So, I first tried sliding paper beneath the frame to cover the mirror.

That was NOT a success! After priming the frame, I had a heck of a time getting all that paper off and unstuck from the back of the frame. So, I wound up taking the entire thing apart. I unscrewed the back from the frame and carefully laid it and the mirror aside. Then, using my Hale Navy high gloss paint, I gave the inexpensive mirror a couple of coats.

I love how it turned out and I feel like such a thrifty DIYer because I think I gave less than ten dollars for the mirror and used left-over paint for the transformation. Go me! 

Next came the bedside table. I had an oak file cabinet there at first but it just wasn't what I wanted. So, the file cabinet moved to my office to serve as storage for tax records and owner's manuals. I moved another table that had belonged to my parents into the space. It was built by a furniture maker who was married to my Daddy's cousin. He had bought it and Mama used it at the end of the couch for years. It was just what I wanted for the space. The size and look is perfect and it provides extra storage.

I had originally planned to use a lamp that I picked up with the intention of using it for a project. However, when I was working in the basement den, I noticed that the antique lamp that had belonged to my MIL seemed to just get lost in there. So, I swapped the two lamps and both rooms seem to work better now. 

This room is still quite a work-in-progress but I am satisfied with where it is for now. I added one project to it this week and I will share about it another day.