Kids bring an incredible amount of joy and love into our lives. But they also bring a lot of stuff. Whether it’s toys, crayons, sports equipment or video game consoles, it doesn’t take long for your home to become your kid’s charging station, locker room and storage container.
The Problem
Our client, a family with two little kids, came to us hoping to create more space for their kids—and all of their things—to hang out. Their outdated basement was underutilized. The kids thought it was creepy and never wanted to hang out down there. This meant that the living areas upstairs had been overtaken by the kids and their stuff. The parents loved sharing space with their family, but wanted to be able to watch TV and have some uninterrupted alone time and space in their home.
We started this project by sitting down with each member of the family individually. We walked them through the space and talked about their wish list, must haves and goals for the refreshed basement. This project would be a temporary fix for the creepy basement. Eventually, the family plans to dig out the crawl space to create a bigger basement space. In the meantime, they wanted the crawlspace to be a fun, comfortable and colorful spot for the kids and their friends to hang out.
The Wish List
- A color scheme the kids will love
- Sound dampening so noise doesn’t carry
- A craft area for the girl
- A video game nook for the boy
- A place to keep the gym equipment for Mom and Dad
The Solution
When I learned that the kids favorite colors were orange, blue, hot pink and red I thought about different games or artistic elements that incorporated these colors. It didn’t take long for me to think of Tetris. I decided to use Tetris blocks as a fun artistic element for the walls, and a way to tie up the space through color and shape. I partnered with Elevated Inkworks to create a custom piece of plywood, designed with tetris blocks cascading along it, to fit perfectly in the storage corner of the space. The plywood is removable, so the family can remove it and add it back to the space as they see fit. To tie in the colors on the wall, I threw fun colorful carpeting across the floor. These rugs helped modernize and brighten up the space, while providing sound dampening textures on the floor.
Further sound dampening was created through the addition of the felt block tic tac toe boards and garden walls behind the couch and along the crawlspace. The family needed to have access to the crawlspace easily, but wanted to ensure the entry point was as vibrant and engaging as the room around it. The fake greenery wall not only absorbs sound, but it hides entry points to the crawl space so they can access it easily without staring at it when friends are over.
To give the young girl the craft area of her dreams, we created a custom-designed corner complete with a fold-out desk and peg boards lining the wall. The peg boards not only bring an exciting design element to the walls, but they provide easy, organisable storage for her to put her things when she’s done crafting for the day.
For the boy, we created a videogame corner with color-changing LED lights, a fold-out couch for comfort, and tetris-themed foot stools so everyone can have a spot to play.
There were a few unique elements to the space our team had to design around including the crawl space and the gym equipment. We reoriented the space, creating a wall with the TV and the TV stand. Behind that wall, we put up a moody blue curtain to separate the children’s space from the rest of the basement, including the parent’s workout area. This curtain not only adds visual appeal to the space, but it creates an opportunity for the parents and children to share space while maintaining some separation.
In the end, everyone’s wishes came true and the creepy cellar turned into a brag-worthy basement that all the kids in school are talking about. Maybe in the next ten years, the client will come back ready for a full renovation of this bright playspace, but for now they finally have some peace and quiet. The kids are happy downstairs and the upstairs TV is theirs once again.
Interested in turning your crawlspace into a colorful kids dream? Book a consultation with us today.
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