It’s finally (finally!) time to reveal what we’ve been up to in our finished basement, or what I’m now referring to as our den because I hate the stigma of a “finished basement.” I’ve teased tons of photos through Instagram, but if you haven’t caught wind of the project, John and I decided to flip this particular living space upside down – figuratively, of course.
The room as it was before (which I’m not even going to bother sharing in photo form, because it was that bad) was full of mismatched cheap pieces of furniture. It was KIND of functional as a TV room, but for the most part just served to give me nightmares at night. It was time to fix things. So we Craigslisted all the furniture, making nearly enough money to buy all NEW pieces! You’ve seen the awkward nook in the corner transform into a desk, but it’s time to see the rest of the space…
The first thing we needed was a new sofa. I make it a point to check Craigslist at least once a week, searching for furniture listings under the “mid-century,” “midcentury” and “mid century” labels (I get different hits for each unique term). And my prayers were answered a couple of weeks ago with my most incredible “Thrift Store Score” to date. That big beautiful VINTAGE mid-century couch was not only within price range (in full disclosure, we ended up getting it for $440) but also within our own zip code. After following the lister’s directions, we discovered that she lived only about 3 miles away. Easiest. Pickup. Ever.
Oh, and before I forget to mention it – For any locals loving this couch, the matching side chair is still for sale. Click that link for details!
We brought the new-to-us couch home, set it up in the cleared out space and knew that we had landed on some kind of magic. It was perfect…But, of course, the new couch upped the art ante and I started dreaming big. What to hang? Once I narrowed my vision down to an eclectic gallery wall, I realized that I had an accidentally perfect collection sitting in storage in my studio. After hanging the art (for FREE) in less than 20 minutes, and setting up a new arc lamp (scored from the Yellow Brick Home curated sale on Joss & Main), we stepped back and called this half of the room officially “done.”
Please forgive the highly fluorescent photography…There are no windows and therefore no pretty natural sunlight to use to my advantage. Oh, and for anyone curious, the two gray pillows came from The Everygirl curated Joss & Main sale (more on those scores here), the geo lumbar pillow is from Target and the shag rug is from Lowe’s. The wooden box to the side of the couch and the foot stool are vintage.
We still have a few things to do to the rest of the space, but I’m sick of sharing teasers while I hurry to perfect it. The reality that I have to face (yet again) is that these things take time and it will evolve slowly – And frankly, that’s exactly how it should be. That said, here is our progress in the rest of the room thus far…
Quick interjection: That white dresser above is another Thrift Store Score worth noting. Believe it or not, it spawned the entire room. We knew we wanted to upgrade our old TV cabinet (a rickety particle board book shelf from Wal Mart), however we always had in mind a nice wooden piece with legs. But when we glimpsed this white lacquer Lane dresser at Estate Specialist downtown, our vision started to shift. It’s definitely a vintage vibe, but more of a 1970’s space age feel than the Danish piece we had envisioned. In the end, we love the sleek lines and cool, quiet look.
I’m so excited to have all of you along for the ride as we transform this space! Thanks for all of the support so far – You must know that it means the world to me.
Enjoy your day!
