Unfinished Basement Guest Bedroom

Project Gallery, Room Updates / Friday, December 21st, 2018

Finishing our basement is not currently in the budget, but that doesn’t mean we are not using our basement. Presently we have an unfinished basement guest bedroom, family room and play area. These spaces are far from where I envision them, but they are completely usable how they are set up now.

I debated writing a post about our “unfinished basement guest room” because it’s just that…unfinished. I don’t like projects being incomplete and that is what our basement feels like. What changed my mind was I think there are lots of people with unfinished basements who could use some AFFORDABLE ideas to turn them into usable spaces.

Want to see our unfinished basement guest bedroom?

First a little before photo to see the starting point…

Unfinished basement
This is our basement the day we moved in over 3 years ago. Our guest bedroom is set up through the doorway on the other side of the stud wall.

Here is the space now…

Unfinished basement guest bedroom
Here is our unfinished basement guest bedroom. Even with my poor photography skills, you can see the dramatic improvement.
Unfinished basement guest bedroom: concrete floors, concrete walls and black painted ceiling.
Painted concrete walls and a canvas drop cloth wall make this into a usable space.

You may recognize a couple of the pieces of furniture from some of my furniture makeovers. The metal cabinet beside the bed was a thrift store find as well as the tufted chair by the window, so go check out their full stories.

Steps I took to create a “finished” unfinished guest bedroom.

  1. We painted the ceiling black. We did this before we moved in. Got a paint sprayer and just painted everything black; floor joists, pipes, insulations, etc. This really helped hide all the ugliness of the ceiling. It did darken the space quite a bit, so keep this in mind. We knew that it was going to be years before we could drywall the basement so this was a good in-between step. If you decide to tackle this project there are lots of helpful step by step tutorials online. We roughly followed the same steps as this one.
  2. Paint the concrete walls and concrete floor.
  3. Hung canvas drop cloths along stud wall to divide space. I used a staple gun to staple the cloth to the 2×4’s. It’s not perfect but it made a big difference.
  4. Use a rug to warm up the space.
  5. Hang a curtain rod from the floor joist to hang some curtains up in front of the window well.
  6. Lastly, add some decorations to make it feel cozy. I used command strips to hang some art on the concrete walls. This is not a permanent space but I think the little bit of decor makes it seem more “finished”.
Adding some lamps also makes the space feel cozier.

My thoughts on this space…

  • The canvas drop cloth really made the biggest difference in my opinion. It created a separate space. And it is a really affordable option! You can get a 9×12 cloth for anywhere between $16-20 dollars. No sewing or cutting required either! I just folded the canvas over on the bottom and stapled it in place.
  • The other great thing is, when we do eventually finish the basement I will have a bunch of great drop cloths to use for all my painting projects!
  • If you don’t plan on finishing your basement for quite awhile, painting your ceilings may be a great option to give a more “finished” look for a fraction of the cost.

I really hope this will be inspiring for those of you who have a basement you may not be utilizing, to go ahead and use that unfinished space!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

Update: small changes

I switched some things around in this space and thought I would show what’s new. And by “new” I mean things that I have relocated here from other areas of the house.

basement guest bedroom idea
Put another lamp in the corner. Changed out the area rug for one I had in our family room.
Unfinished basement guest bedroom
Curtain rod hung from exposed ceiling
Simple curtain rod hung from ceiling joist. Drop cloth curtains.
Unfinished basement office space
Small office area set up in corner of bedroom.
Extra corded light hung from joist and plugged in. No electrician needed.

1,946 Replies to “Unfinished Basement Guest Bedroom”

    1. That’s a great question! I looked at several tutorials from Pinterest to get started on painting the ceiling I don’t recall one specifically. Let me do some looking and see if I can find one to send you! We used a paint sprayer to do one coat of tinted primer and then flat black. We taped off all vents, lights and the whole furnace/water heater area. It’s not perfect but it accomplished our purpose of hiding all the different ceiling elements.

  3. This is a beautiful example of making the most of what you have. Great use of space, and you’re super creative with warming up the room and making it inviting. I’d love to stay there! =)

    1. Thank you! I think often, basements don’t get utilized because they are not “finished” when in reality you can create some really useable space! Rugs and a little decor can go a long way in making a room feel cozy.

    2. Thanks Emily for your post using drop cloths for your basement wall.

      I closed in part of my basement for a bedroom. I installment a burlap ceiling…just couldn’t shake that idea. I looks great!

      Now I want to close in another space as a sitting, reading, watching tv. Burlap ceiling again….I purchased a 55 yd roll. But $$ is tight and thought I’d use the drop cloth on 2 walls.

      Thanks again for your post.
      Linda

      1. Yes I love using drop clothes for that type of project because if you eventually finish the space you can use them for something else, curtains, pillowcases or as actual drop clothes for painting. What a great idea to use burlap for a ceiling!

  4. Did you have to run electric though the whole basement for power to the room?

    I love this idea and want to try it in our basement. Our only issues is that we only have 1 outlet in the entire basement right now on the opposite side of the basement of where I want the room at.

    1. Our basement already had outlets and a couple single bulb lights. I did not have to do any electrical work for this room. Not sure how expensive or difficult it would be to add some outlets and overhead lights in your space. Might be worth looking into. The positive would be that if you do finish your basement some day you will have some of the electrical done and if you don’t ever finish the space you will still be able to take advantage of the light. Eventually I would love to add more lights in our space with some recessed lighting but that is down the road.

  6. Hi Emily, I was wondering what weight of drop cloth would work best to cover a pink insulated wall and to use as a divider of space, the medium or heavy duty weight.

    Thanks!!

  7. I LOVE this!!! This is my inspiration once I realized we don’t have the time to finish our basement ourselves right now nor the funds to hire the project out. What kind of paint did you use on the walls and floors? Thank you!!

    1. Thank you! The concrete walls are painted with regular latex paint. Sherwin Williams Cobblestone Arch. The floors are painted with Valspar Floor coating paint in color Weathered oak.

      1. Such an Innovative and creative guest bedroom installation! My own bedroom has four white-painted, exposed-stud walls, with a burnt-red painted concrete floor (it came like this when I signed the lease). It’s difficult to “hide” the exposed studs; I think the studs “jab” and “disrupt” the serenity and sense of peacefulness that should be givens in any bedroom. I’ve tried covering them with both sheer and heavy drapes. I’ve tried using dark-colored heavy wood furniture to distract from the exposed beams. I’ve tried hanging light fixtures with dimmers in hopes of diminishing the beams’ visibility. I’ve even cut a large length of exotic floral-motif rayon fabric to fit floor-to-ceiling between the exposed beams as a textile-based wallpaper. Actually the “wallpaper” look is my favorite method of “hiding” the beams in plain sight. I unfortunately do not have enough of the same fabric to “wallpaper” an entire wall, much less 3 more walls! Thank you for sharing your clever basement transformation.

      2. Hi Emily – love this! Did you seal your concrete floor first? If so, what did you use?
        Thanks so much!

        1. Hello! We used a concrete floor paint and clear coat sealer, although I have not been super impressed with how it has held up over time and so wouldn’t recommend it. Most hardware stores do carry some type of concrete paint/sealer. Even though the paint has chipped over time, I do think painting gave it a little more “finished” look over the bare concrete.

  8. Love the way you made an unfinished space look so comfortable. Looking for ideas on how to do my daughters room in our basement. Right now we dont have the 2×4 wall up yet like you have but we will be soon. My question is, I see you have a spot for the door, but did you put a door in or did you leave that open?

  9. I didn’t see the window in the “before” picture, I assume that was there before? Thank you for the post!

  10. Emily – How did you hang the drop cloths, please? How are they attached at the bottom, top and sides? Thank you.

  11. Can you please explain how you hung the curtain rod? It’s impossible for me to hammer into the beams. Trying to figure out an alternative. Thanks!

    1. Hello! My curtain rod is hanging from string that is secured to a block of wood screwed into the wood joist. Without seeing your space or knowing more details I don’t know if I can give you a great answer but I will throw out some ideas. If you are unable to hammer or screw anything into the beam you could try command hooks secured to the beam? A tension rod that sits within the window frame. Or if your window has metal in it, there are magnetic curtain rods. Is the beam too far from the window or running the wrong direction?

  12. Emily – I LOVE the drop cloth wall idea – so I went and bought a bunch of drop cloths – question is do you precast just to get wrinkles out or to allow for shrinkage?

  13. Emily – I LOVE the drop cloth wall idea – so I went and bought a bunch of drop cloths – question is do you precast just to get wrinkles out or to allow for shrinkage?

    Or maybe it’s a more substantial cover without washing – and just ironing?

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