Salem House basement finally loses it's black eye! From blech to beautiful.

Well, it took a while, but we finally carved out the time to finish the last room at Salem House. This last remaining bastion of ugliness was in the basement, at the base of the stairs on the right. It was a room of pink shag carpeting and pressed wood paneling, dark and depressing. With the rest of the house re-dressed in decidedly cheerful tones, this room was the one you avoided looking into at all costs.
So, with a lot of things on the schedule, we took a few morning hours last Saturday to rip up pink shag, red indoor/outdoor carpet and scrape up disintegrated rug pad. We ripped down the ceiling drywall that was beyond damaged and then cleaned up!

I left the girls with "homework". Finishing the clean up, and priming the walls and ceiling. After tearing down the ceiling dry wall, we opted for painting the ceiling boards above and the floor joists that make up the ceiling. This added some head room and visually made the room less cramped. There was very little in the way of electric and hvac left in the ceiling. And paint makes things disappear like magic! 

The droopy wires are to be rerouted and moved up safely by an electrician this week. Meanwhile, they stand as an eyesore. 

The ceiling was a laborious task that required four coats of paint, but it is so much brighter! In between floor joists, the ceiling is painted a pretty blue, making it feel even higher. By day three the place was brightening up!

The window had already been replaced with the rest of the basement windows, so it was just cut out properly and trimmed with 1x3". We added base board in 1x4 and ceiling trim in 1x3, but other than that, paint and elbow grease!

The jewel box color on the floor is the same throughout the basement. With the addition of soft lighting, we were ready to make it into the study. All college kids need a great place to study!

Jute rug, desks, chairs, a place for guests to lay out their study materials, and both soothing light and task light make it a welcome space. 

I love that I was able to do this with my children. That the girls decided to spend their spring break on the project with me was a treasure. I hope they learned some skills and gained some confidence in their ability to perk up a room. Total price tag was less than $200, but final effect is worth so much more!