When we moved into our home 5 years ago, finishing the basement was not in the budget. But desiring to use the space and make it comfortable, I started looking at ideas for doing an unfinished basement on a budget. There are so many great ideas out there! Just do some Pinterest searching and you will find so many great and creative ideas!
Not wanting to invest a significant amount of money into things that would eventually be replaced or changed we opted for a couple easy DIY.
DIY Projects
- Painted the ceiling black. Used a paint sprayer and painted everything. It’s not perfect but the black did wonders for camouflaging all the stuff up in ceilings.
- Painted the walls. Used just basic latex paint with a roller. Once again not perfect but didn’t want to spend tons of time or money on something that would eventually be covered.
- Concrete floor paint. Used a roller and rolled almost all of the floor with concrete paint. I would say this step could be skipped, especially if you are going to use large area rugs. Not super impressed with the durability of the paint we used, although that could be an application error on our part.
- Hung canvas drop cloths to create walls. You can see that more in my other post of our unfinished basement guest bedroom.
- Shiplap on stair wall. I picked up some shiplap and covered one side of the stair wall. It was small and simple. Hid all the under the stair space.
Unfinished basement on a budget: suggestions/ideas
Rugs!
A large area rug can do wonders for making a concrete floor feel cozier. Try to find a rug that you would use/keep even if you do eventually finish the space. Don’t just go out and buy the cheapest large rug you can find. Wait for sales and find one that you really like. This is the one we have in our family room space. (It’s a 9×12)
Lamps and Lights
Basements are notorious for feeling cold, dark and creepy. I have 3 lamps in our family room space, one overhead bulb and string lights! The string lights are my favorite!
Decor
Decorate the space like you would any other part of your home. I like to use some faux greenery in the basement and command strips are great for hanging decor on concrete walls.
Throw blankets and pillows
Make it feel cozy! Our basement is a little chillier than the rest of the house so I like having some comfy blankets down there to cuddle up with.
That’s about all I have for an unfinished basement on a budget. I’ll leave you with the encouragement to use the space you have NOW. Budget or time may never allow for you to finish your basement, so don’t miss out on the possibilities of a great space today!
Emily
I am considering removing the dreaded dropped ceiling tiles in our basement. Do you find the black ceiling makes the room darker? Did you tidy up the ceiling wires? We have a lot of them. What sprayer did you use? It looks great!
The black ceiling does make the space darker but it also hides all of the “stuff” up in the ceiling. We did not have a lot of wiring in our ceiling to tie up. And for a sprayer we borrowed a Graco airless paint sprayer, I think though other sprayers would work. It’s not a super hard job but maybe not the most fun either. Good luck.
Hello Emily! Will you please share the paint colors for your ceiling and wall? Thanks so much
Vanessa
The black ceiling is Valspar Flat black. (didn’t have a color name just black) and the walls are Sherwin Williams Cobblestone Arch.
My son is moving back home from college until he is able to resume classes in person. This has left us scrambling to give him his own area on a tight budget. Your post seriously has given me the push to not just throw a mattress in the basement and call it a wrap. I struggle making improvements that I know will be temporary. But I think we would all be more than happy with your results for more than a temp fix. Thanks so much for taking the time to inspire us 🙂
You are welcome. I too struggle to spend money on things that I believe to be more temporary. We did spend a bit of money on paint for the ceiling, walls and floor, but very minimal. And then most everything else I purchased are things that we will keep and use, even when we eventually finish the basement (area rug, lamps, bed frame etc.) Good luck on your basement project!
Did you paint that metal box thing that runs ong your ceiling?
Hello! If you are referring to the metal hvac system, then yes we did paint that. It was the shiny silver metal before.
Hello, thank you for the inspiration! Wondering what the height of your ceilings are in your basement?
Hi! Our basement ceiling is 8′ in most areas. Where there is duct work it is as low as 7’4″.
Did you prime the ceilings before you spray painted?
What paint did you use on the basement floors? You mentioned that you are not happy with the coverage. Does it need to be sealed or ???
Looks great and thanks!
We did prime the ceiling first. We had the store tint the paint as close to black as we could which got us a medium gray color. That made it easier to go black instead of priming with a white. We used a Valspar Floor coating paint then a Quickcrete sealer. Maybe we needed more coats of the sealer? Not sure why it has chipped in some spots.
Hi! I really like your basement! When you painted your ceiling did you have to cover everything? Or was your basement empty at the time? Are your walls poured concrete or block wall? Thanks!
Hi! We painted our ceiling before we moved in which made it much easier. We did tape up plastic to cover up around the mechanical space (furnace, water heater etc) And we covered the air vents. The walls are poured concrete.
Can you share what twinkle lights you got and how you installed those and approx. how many you needed for your space? I have lots of wiring and open beams and piping and everything in my laundry ceiling which maybe too difficult to spray. I would like to add lights though and wondered how you did that and secured them to the ceiling beams?
Hello! I got my lights from Amazon. They are the Lampat 25′ String lights. I used 2 sets for the living room space. I used a couple small nails in the ceiling joists to hang the lights on. Hammer in a small nail then bend it a bit to make a “hook” for the wire. I think command hooks could also work for this.
Hi, Emily! Great job and planning to use many of these tips for my basement. Do you remember what brand string light you used?
Hi! Thanks! I got my string lights from Amazon. Lampat 25′ String lights. I will try to add the link.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MA43D7R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
did you put drywall or an alternative for walls
Hello! No drywall in our basement at this point. The existing concrete walls we painted with regular latex paint. I did cover the stair wall, which was framed out, with wood planks. The other existing stud wall I hung up some canvas drop cloths as a temporary covering until it’s in the budget to finish with drywall.
I LOVE your coffee table on wheels!!!…. May I ask where
you bought it?……..Thanks!
Hello! I picked up this table secondhand years ago (sorry not very helpful to you) I feel like I may have seen something similar at American Furniture Warehouse though.
WOW, love your ideas Emily!!
I’m on a tight budget having had to redo our driveway as it was sinking and in need of repair. We have an unfinished basement that I was hoping to finish on as tight a budget as possible. My brother is a successful Electrical contractor and I’m an above average plumber, so those two areas are covered.
My main concern is a cheap easy way to frame the circumference of the basement over the ugly fiberglass insulation that the builder installed. Are there modular like panels that are insulated or would I have to frame it? I have 2 young boys, a teen and a tween that always invite friends over, and my wife and I love that our home is the hangout. We just need to entertain our 2 sons and all their friends in a tidier basement that isn’t so…ugly and dingy. Any affordable ideas would be great! Thank you, love your work!!
Looks similar to my space. Was the poured concrete hard to paint over? Did you use a sprayer?
I used a regular roller and latex paint. Not difficult and covered fairly well. Good luck!
Hi, this has inspired me. I’d like to see the shiplap that you placed on stairs, could you add picture. Thanks.
Emily, I was inspired by what you did in your basement. I am currently working on mine and will be using your ideas for lighting and painting the ceiling black.
I am so glad you were able to pull some ideas from what I shared. Good luck on your basement!