Our Basement Renovation: Part Five - Furniture

Now things are picking up in our renovation.  We're getting to the shopping part of things!  Making it all pretty and functional!  Going into this basement renovation Brad and I had definite ideas about the vibe we wanted and how we wanted to use the basement.  The bulk of the basement would be used for entertaining and general family use with the media room being the main focus.  We'd also have a large den for a home office that would also substitute as a spot for guests to stay over.  The style we were going for was transitional with a hint of industrial/rustic.  So clean lines with some rustic wood and metal accents.


One of the things I can't help but focus on is function.  A room has to function or it won't be used.  Whether it's seating, flow or storage, all aspects have to work well together.  Furniture has to be of good quality to stand up to the daily use of my family too.  This is when picking quality furniture is a MUST if you want it to last and look great years from now.


Note: I'll be focusing on the furniture in our media room in this post because the furniture in the den is where our old, outdated furniture spends it's twilight years.  It's functional ... but it ain't pretty.  All in good time.


Sofa/Sectional
In the media room we have a fireplace and a large TV, both of which are great for family movies and hanging out.  With our family of five (and large extended family) we wanted to have enough room to seat lots of people so a sectional sofa was the way to go.  Plus I didn't want to be inundated with various complaints of 'He's touching me.', 'Move OVER!' etc.  Can I get a 'Amen' from all the parents out there?!


We are blessed with one long staircase into the basement (with no turns) which makes it much easier to get big furniture pieces downstairs (sadly one of my sisters had found a perfect sectional for her basement only to find that it wouldn't fit down her L-shaped staircase).


Brad and I looked around briefly for inspiration but ultimately decided to go with a local furniture store that we've used in the past and have a stellar reputation for quality and standing behind their products.

Seating for eight!

The sectional couch we bought was from Decor-Rest and seats eight people comfortably.  Yup, it's a beast!  Size matters in furniture and we have loved having the extra room.  The media room is HUGE so this biggie fits into the space well. The chaise longue is right in front of the fireplace/TV so that is the coveted spot for video game playing and movie watching.


We chose to have a fabric (not leather) couch because I wanted something cozy and all of our loveseats/couches upstairs are leather.  We were able to pick out the fabric for both the couch and the throw pillows.  The couch fabric is called 'Charcoal' and the four throw pillows are in their Vara pattern.  The couch is a nice, medium/dark gray colour and pretty neutral.  It was my hope that the darker colour would hide dirt but alas the dark colour tends to showcase chip crumbs and saw dust (that invariably get tracked in from Brad's shop where we're doing some small DIY projects) which I suppose is good because then we can deal with the mess ASAP.  The couch cushions themselves were a little hard at first but so far, after three months of use, they're holding up great, softening up a bit and we're very happy with our choice. 






Coffee Tables/Side Tables
We LUCKED OUT at a local yearly furniture sale with two side tables and a coffee table which have a beautifully rustic feel to them.  Normally these tables will run you a lot of money (my sister Jennifer found the same tables at The Hudson Bay Company with the small round side table retailing for $699!!). 


But we got them for ... ready for it? .....  $30 for each of the side tables and $60 for the coffee table!! Wha?!?  Yup, a great deal (who cares if they're old stock because they look fabulous!). I may have had to wake up at the crack of stupid to get to the sale but it was worth it.  In a perfect world I wish the coffee table was more of a square shape to fit with the sectional better but the styling is perfect with it's rustic metal do-dads (that's the term, right?) underneath that give it the industrial feel we are going for.


The small round side table (Tacoma by Donald Choi) wasn't part of the same set but fits in beautifully.  We were concerned that the metal legs would scratch our new flooring so Brad about a can of special spray paint that coated the legs in a black rubbery coating that you can't really see (unless you're on your belly on my floor) and will help the table not slip and possibly scratch my new beloved floor.

Love the blend of metal and wood!

I'm in love with the 'dinged up' look!




This 'thingy' makes me so happy.

Coffee Table

Love the gouges and the grain in the table tops!

At the same sale we also picked up a great black table with four chairs for only $200 which has already been used multiple times for puzzle making and game playing in our games area at the bottom of the stairs.

Future Furniture Plans 


Lay-Z-Boy Recliner
We plan to buy a Laz-Y-Boy type chair.  Not your 70's Barcalounger but a cozy chair that will be my coveted reading spot as I often will head downstairs to read where it's nice and quiet.  It will be towards the corner of the bathroom wall so we (I) can make use of the fireplace and TV. I will covet this spot like Golum with his ring. This chair is in the plans but alas not in the budget currently.


Sofa Table
Another piece of furniture that we definitely want is a long sofa table/bar table behind the back of the sectional.  Something along the lines of this:

Picture Source: Pinterest

Since we didn't go with a sit up bar (they take up too much space) we still wanted people to have a spot to sit, eat munchies etc while still being able to enjoy the fireplace and TV (and not have their back to all the action).  We know exactly what we want, we just have to find a way to make it happen.  Our goal is to have it seat three people and have a rustic feel.  It will have plumbing piping for legs and structure and rougher barn board for the top with some rustic looking, but comfy, bar stools.  The table will also help hid the massive subwoofer that Brad is quite proud of for those rib shaking booms from movies.  This item will, once again, wait for the budget to catch up.


So that's where we stand with our furniture!  We already use our basement daily and love the cozy feel.  Numerous movie nights have already happened and I'm sure there will be many, many more.  I hope that you've enjoyed our basement transformation so far!  Stay tuned for more posts.


Basement Renovation posts coming soon ...




Custom Cabinetry - is that the cost of the cabinetry or am I buying a small country?


Fireplace - To Gas or to Plug in?  That is the question.