Basement renovation design

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

We bought our house for a great price because it came with an unfinished basement.  We are now renovating it and we've come to the point where we have to pick paint and furniture colours.  We've already purchased laminate wood flooring (beech), which closely matches the hardwood in the rest of the house. 

Here is the basement as it is now (about to put in sub-flooring)

We both want grey for the wall colour, but the shade is sort of up for debate. We also have to buy new office and living room furniture, since the basement will also double as a home office/computer area.

We found this neat tool that lets you "build" your home then decorate it. 

J's basement design  (go to Explore then 3D for the full effect)

Here are some snapshots for a quicker look.  The weird "closet" things are disguising support poles that can't be moved.   I also haven't added any wall decorations (except for that lonely mirror that looks kinda silly by itself).

What do you think of:

- Choice of couches + colour (the couch part would be reclining, so no need for an ottoman)

- Choice of wall colour

- Office area arrangement

DF isn't much help on designing things, but I figured maybe some people here would have some ideas!

[Christine & Camus]

Grey and red go together beautifully, I have actually been thing of painting my bedroom in a light dove grey. I think lighter grey would make the room feel larger and brighter, especially if you go with a red couch.  One design concept is to have a statement wall -- keeping the grey theme, you could do one wall in a slightly darker grey and the remaining in a very light grey.  A lesson I learned is that paint always ends up darker on the wall then on the paint sample. I painted the living area in my apartment white with one wall in eggplant, which I love, however it took me three tries to get the right color.  After the first coat, I decided to get samples to paint on the wall before painting the whole wall.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

It's very common in Canada to have a basement - probably originally comes from having root cellars for food storage in the Winter.  It's weird though that they're so commonplace around here - we're in a fairly active earthquake zone!  There's a big fault line inside the city.

[Elizabeth & Cosmo]

I really like the lighter, warmer gray in the second example. I think with chocolate brown as a second color, red as an accent color, and creamy white trim, it will be bright and cheerful. And I think you'll be happy with it for a long time! I know I would!

I'm having basement-envy, too! Few people have them where we live, but it is such great bonus space!

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

We do have quite a bit of light during the day because the windows are full-sized (not the old style slit type basement half windows).

I don't think DF would go for yellow - I would but it would drive him crazy.  I suggested a deep yellow for the kitchen when we moved in and he looked at me like I had 3 heads. 

We have recessed lighting in the ceiling, so a dark colour might still work.  I think I'll have to get some of those little cards from the store and stick them up on the walls and view them at different times of day.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

I agree that the lighter would be better in the long run but I really love the dark one. Being a basement do you have a lot of light down there? We did ours a few years ago and went with a dark sage green but we had recessed lighting in the pank ceiling so it is fine. Good luck, how exciting! I'm a HGTV junkie!

[Colleen, Jake & Baxter]

I get lots of color combination ideas from houzz.com.  I'm also a big fan of white wainscoting on the walls.  Of course my DD isn't because he is the one that has to put it up :o)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I wonder of a deep goldish yellow would be cheerful on the walls and look good with pops of deep red?

Or how about  sand-colored walls with white trim and whatever other beachy colors you like?

[BG and Gavin]

I like the dark grey - very current.  Look for one that is on the warm side (think clay not cement) and when you said grey and beech, I immediately thought of red as an accent.  I would not be brave enough for a red couch.  Instead I would go for a more nutral colour and use red as an accent (throw pillows, automan, artwork or an occasional chair).

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I like the dark grey, but one of my favorite color combinations is brown and teal. Magazines are a good source for color combinations and give you lots of good ideas.

[Leslie and Halas]

My basement has 3 boring white walls, and one really light gray wall. The gray is neutral enough that I could use any furniture with it. And it's nice to have a light color in a dark basement. Your design looks really cool, and I'd probably go with lighter colors just to keep the room from being too dark.