“This job was the biggest challenge of my career,” says interior designer Sheila Rich. This show-house basement had hardly any natural light, non acoustical tile ceilings, pipes and valves that hung lower, electrical wires that had to hang in the front of the walls and rock foundation walls that overwhelmed the rest of the room. She worked with what she had with a his-and-her retreat in your mind. “The home is beyond enormous, and I guessed whomever lived here might want an area that was fuzzy and warm.”
Since this was a series house, she went really large end, but there are lots of lessons here that you can follow on a strict budget. “You can surely achieve a room like this with no $20,000 aquarium, $6,000 painting, $3,000 daybed, $4,000 ottoman and actual sisal carpet,” Rich says.
Basement at a Glance
Location: Rumson, New Jersey
Size: 250 square feet
Price: $45,000 (estimated)
Before Photo
LLC, Sheila Rich Interiors
BEFORE: The basement looked like it was embellished in the 1970s with leftover furniture. A window alcove had outdated tile, and the ceiling was made from old acoustic tiles.
AFTER: Rich gave the alcove a softer look while keeping it light. A painter specializing in faux finishes gave it a Venetian plaster appearance, beginning with a dark bronze because the first layer and adding three additional successively lighter layers of plaster. The painter employed the plaster with a trowel, and every one of those shades bleeds through. She then used a leaf to give the plaster additional texture; natural elements are used through the basement.
“I chose to maintain the original tiles underneath, because they add a flat line, which provides the space some thickness,” Rich says.
LLC, Sheila Rich Interiors
The room motivated. “I needed it to be comfy yet arty,” Rich says. Nailhead detailing adds aluminum and also a nature-inspired botanical pattern; both elements are repeated throughout the room.
Rich also repeated subtle horizontal lines throughout the area, which counterbalance the low ceiling and rock wall. The daybed, the aluminum details about the pinch-pleated drapes and also the symmetry of the urns, sconces and artwork bring in horizontal lines.
LLC, Sheila Rich Interiors
“Work with what you have and make it better,” Rich says. Instead of fighting the rock foundation walls, she worked with them, softening them with other natural textures and soft draperies around the alcove. “I brought in certain symmetry with pairs of items to make it even more soothing,” she says.
While most of the room is filled with warm neutrals, such as bronze and aluminum metallics, she did bring in just the right dose of bright color via the throw cushions. “It was such a dark place, I wished to bring in certain vibrant colors, such as cherry, fuchsia and lime,” she says.
Before Photo
Sheila Rich Interiors, LLC
BEFORE: Harsh fluorescent lighting were not helping to boost the looks of their peanut stone walls, the furnace or the irregular ceiling. Rich took the lights out and replaced them with sconces, a floor lamp and the light out of a brand new aquarium.
Before Photo
BEFORE: The ceiling introduced among the greatest challenges. Due to funding constraints, Rich maintained the acoustic, but she eliminates this fluorescents and gave the ceiling a faux painting remedy in gold, which shimmers.
AFTER: The major feature of the new room is a custom made 250-gallon seamless acrylic corner shrub. The glazed natural maple cabinetry round it complements the rock walls. The brilliant colors of this fish bring life to this once dank and lifeless basement.
His-and-her reading seats occupy the corner. “I thought a pair of seats would be too matchy-matchy,” Rich says. “I wanted one to be feminine and you to be manly.”
The large profile of this modern wingback helps protect some of the rock wall, alongside the moth prints and big canvas. Rich painted the electrical tubing (beneath the large canvas) aluminum to match the other metallics in the area — another great example of working with and enhancing the cellar’s quirks.
More: Get a builder’s hints on How Best to finish a basement