Basement Bedroom Ideas On A Budget
Need basement bedroom ideas on a budget? See how we transformed a dark space with clever DIY updates and affordable decorating tricks.
When we were planning our home renovations, we did not include the basement. The basement was technically finished, though it was definitely in need of updating. Adding to that, months of construction crews running through there which wreaked havoc and moved it up on our priority list.
Initially, we planned to update the basement in a year or so, but having our daughter and new son-in-law coming home for the holidays moved that up in priority quickly. We needed at least the basement bedroom done so we could use it as a guest bedroom.
Our basement has two bedrooms, a laundry room area, and a larger open area that is ideal for a living room or rec room. We decided to begin with one bedroom first and to do the work (mostly) ourselves.
basement bedroom: the before
Above, you can see the before of the basement bedroom. It had very old laminate flooring, and some of the drop ceiling had been torn out during construction upstairs. It has only one small window with little natural light and outdated light fixtures on the ceiling.
Though this is a small bedroom with low ceilings, I thought I could turn this into a cozy retreat for my daughter and any other overnight guests we might have visit.
Step 1: Replace flooring
The first thing we did was replace the flooring in the room. This one thing would make the biggest overall difference in the room.
Putting real hardwood floors in a basement didn’t make sense to us, so we went to our tried and true favorite flooring, vinyl planks from Allure flooring.
In our last house, we had Allure vinyl plank flooring throughout, and we were always pleased with it. The flooring’s durability is unmatched, making it the perfect choice for our basement.
While we have plenty of experience installing vinyl plank flooring, for this project, we opted to hire out. It’s easy enough to do yourself, but with my husband’s new disabilities, this was the right call for this project.
Another reason I love this flooring is that it’s resistant to scratching. I drag a lot of heavy furniture around our house, and you would never know it by looking at the floors!
The color we chose is called Honey Butter Oak.
As you can see, the color is a nice, light-to mid-tone wood color.
basement ceiling
The low ceilings in this basement made it impossible for my tall husband to stand up straight down there. Because some of the metal in the drop ceilings was damaged during renovations, we opted to remove the drop ceilings completely.
We had our electricians come in to remove the old ceiling and the old light boxes that were up there. For the basement bedroom lighting, my husband opted to have them install recessed lighting here instead. It’s always a good idea to let the professionals do the electrical work.
Initially, I thought we would leave the ceilings exposed, but my husband wanted a more finished look. He opted to frame them out and add beadboard. This gave us another 2″-3″ inches in height, which is enough for him to stand up straight.
INSTALLING THE BEADBOARD CEILING
First, we ran some 2X4’s across the ceiling. Then we nailed beadboard panels to those. There are areas we marked that will need to be accessed for electrical, etc. We have panel boxes that will be installed later in those areas.
Here you can see a progress picture of the beadboard install.
There were some gaps between the boards that we had to fill in and sand. It’s not perfect, but we weren’t going for perfection in the basement. The beadboard was a little unfinished around the perimeter of the ceiling, so we had to figure out some type of molding to cover that.
Crown molding would look ridiculous with the low ceilings, so my husband wanted to just run a 2×4 around the top of the room to hide any ceiling gaps in the beadboard.
I didn’t love that option, but then I had a good idea: add peg hooks to it, all the way around the room.
This worked out well, adding a fun, quirky detail to a room that otherwise has no architectural features. Additionally, it gives me storage space to hang art or vintage items that will eventually get brought into the antique shop.
This was such a great option all around. Not only is it a cool feature, but now I can display the things I eventually intend to sell at the antique shop rather than storing everything in boxes.
Considering we didn’t have a plan going into this room, I love how the ceiling details all worked out.
basement DIY Finish Work
Once the flooring and ceiling were in place, we had to spackle and sand the ceiling and walls. There were holes to fill in that happened during renovations. As well as some damaged spots, such as in the photo above. I’m not even sure what that was from, but I filled that in with spackle.
It wasn’t pretty, and it was a lot of finish work like this to get through.
Once the finishing details were done, we were finally able to prime the walls for painting.
basement bedroom color ideas
While white walls would be a natural choice for a room with low ceilings and a lack of natural light, I wanted to mix it up and do something different here.
My first thought was wallpaper, but I needed this room done quickly for the holidays, and that would’ve taken too long. I went with paint instead. Color drenching the walls in small spaces can go a long way in adding a cozy vibe, so I opted to do that for this guest bedroom instead. I could always go back and add wallpaper later on, and I most likely will.
For the color scheme, my first thought for paint colors was green. However, the existing furniture I already had for this room was all off-white. Paired with green, some of that furniture can look yellow. And because the floors are lighter in color, I wanted to contrast them. For those reasons, blue made the most sense.
Finding the right paint color wasn’t easy. Sample colors looked totally different in this room than they did in other spaces.
OUR BASEMENT BEDROOM PAINT COLOR
I went through so many samples and had a really hard time finding a color that looked perfect. I was leaning towards darker colors to contrast the floor, but what I finally opted for was Sherwin-Williams EvenTide. It sometimes appears blue/gray, and occasionally even has green undertones. I love how it paired with the new flooring and with the furniture we planned to use here.
I painted the entire space that color: the walls, ceiling, doors, molding, and peg rails (those took forever to paint). Color drenching the room this way really added to the cozy basement bedroom vibe I was going for.
In different lighting, the paint changes colors a bit. The photo above was taken with my cell phone, and you can see it looks much lighter in that shot.
As far as budget-friendly basement bedroom ideas go, color drenching was a great way to add interest without spending a fortune.
the after: basement bedroom on a budget
When we moved, we stored the furniture from our old house that we weren’t using in the basement. The idea was to save it for when we were ready to redo the spaces downstairs. For that reason, putting the room back together was easy.
I even squeezed a desk in the corner for us to use when we need a quiet place to do computer work.
The caned headboard was from our old bedroom; we upgraded to a bigger bed when we moved. Most of the other furniture in here is vintage.
I didn’t have a proper bedside table for this room. Plus, there is a closet door on the wall to the right of that area, so a regular nightstand wouldn’t fit anyway. Instead, I opted to use a small stool there.
I may change that out eventually if I find a night table that’s on the smaller side.
It still needs a little bit of tweaking, such as new pillows, table lamps, and area rugs, but that will come in time. As I mentioned, we were designing this basement bedroom on a budget. I haven’t even finished some of those details upstairs yet.
My favorite thing about the room is the pegrail around the ceiling. I’ll enjoy changing out the decor on those from time to time.
diy unfinished basement bedroom ideas
What helped us save money with this bedroom makeover was using things we already had and doing some of the work ourselves.
Here is a list of basement bedroom ideas on a budget:
- Do the work yourselves to save the most money
- Use second-hand furniture and decor
- Vinyl plank flooring is a great option: it’s affordable, waterproof, and you can install it yourself
- Leave the ceiling rafters exposed (can paint them a color for effect, such as all black)
- Use table lamps rather than ceiling light fixtures to save electrical costs
Basement Bedroom Makeover: Watch the Before & After
If you’d rather see the transformation in motion, this short video walks through our basement bedroom makeover from start to finish and shows details that photos don’t always capture.
I’m so happy we were able to get this finished just in time for the holidays. Having this additional space to use as a home office and as extra storage space will be extremely useful in the new year.
As I refine the decorative details here, I’ll share more.
In the meantime, we are working on a second room in the basement. This one is more of a rec room/man cave area. We are close to finishing with that one. I’ll be sharing that soon. We did a few things differently in that space, and I really love how it’s coming along!
BASEMENT BEDROOM IDEAS ON A BUDGET
PLEASE PIN:
