Rustic Basement Decorating Ideas
Working With Your Basement, Instead of Fighting It

Home Decor Sorted By Item Home Decor Sorted By Stone Natural Stone Tiles

Generally, basements have a dark unfinished look that makes them an uninviting area of the home. Their interiors consist of rough concrete, old wood beams, support pillars, and have few or no windows letting sunlight in. They have nonlinear walkways, low ceilings, and are prone to mold. Considering these problems, it can be difficult to find a way to make the basement a useful and attractive space. However, the rough unfinished elements of this room make it the perfect setting for a rustic and natural decorative scheme. In this way the negative aspects can be strategically used to enhance the power of the ambience you are trying to create.


One key way to divert the look of the unfinished portions of the space into rustic and powerful aspects, is the use of natural materials to compliment the existing structures which you will often find already there. While fitting easily into the atmosphere, they will also subtly draw the eye away from it and towards their own decorative beauty. In this way you are complimenting the unsavory, while distracting from it.


With this technique, you will not be forced to battle against the preexisting nature of the space, nor will you have to completely eliminate or cover it up. Instead you accept the primitive nature of the setting, and harness its raw strength to create a decorative scheme that is overwhelming in its primal power.



Matched Stone Accessories



Natural stone will match the rustic feel of the basements existing interior, while drawing your eye away from unattractive structures. One of the best ways to do this, is to choose a stone accessory with a striking texture or color. The material itself will match the items to the space, and the dim lighting will soften color clashing, so you can afford to get a little wild with your choices. While you don't have to bring in accessories that match the room already, those accessories you bring in should match each other in color. In this way you will create a balance between the new and the existing structures.


One way to bring stone decor into your basement is to decorate your basement walls with natural stone wall clocks, which melt the ugly concrete into a rustic counterpoint to the beauty of stone. Use marble to contrast the walls with elegance, or slate, to provide a colorful way to seamlessly divert the unattractive aspects of your interiors into a stylistic choice.






Theme Basements


A theme is an easy way to turn your basement from a space into a setting. There are many themes you can choose for your basement, and a lot of them require only a single item to create the use. For instance a television will instantly turn the basement into a back up den, or a children's play room. Laundry machines will give the basement obvious purpose, and a couch can turn it into a lounge.

There are also many ways to set it up as a recreation area with game tabes and playing boards, pool tables, foose ball and many other options.

Another theme you can try is making it a hobby room. Whether your hobby is sewing or toy trains, since the basement is essentially extra space, it isnt frivolouse.



Natural Stone Interiors

Stone is generally an easy way to compliment and decorate a basement. It can withstand moisture, high traffic, and extremes of temperature, and its rustic look makes it an ideal for basement decor. If this is the look you want in this room, it may be time to think about refinishing your basement in this natural material.

Click here to see a full selection of stone tiles and stone slabs

Lighting a Basement

Basements, being recessed in the ground, can't easily gain access to sunlight. Therefore the only way to create a bright atmosphere in this space is to use a large amount of artificial lighting. This will fill the room, revealing every element and aspect of the basement with bright and demanding illumination. If you already have a beautiful finished space, then this may be exactly the method you want to use to show it off.


However, in basements which still retain their rustic ambience, a dimmer approach may be best. A more subdued lighting scheme will hide unsavory aspects, and will lend a calm and relaxing ambience to the space. It is also much easier to implement, as the nonlinear spaces in the basement which usually fall in shadow, can be left in the dark. You can even use this as another aspect of design, by directing the light in such a way that you create shadows which are decorative in their own right.


Various mood lights you can use, which will cast a gentle and subdued illumination, include lava lamps, christmas string lights, night lights, or ceiling disco balls.


Illuminated onyx products are made from translucent stone, which when back lit glows with a colorful beauty. Some illuminated stone items include wall clocks, lamps, tables, and mood lights. The fact that these illuminated products are made from natural stone will allow them to fit easily into the rustic interior of the basement, and their gentle, colorful light will create a subdued and understated effect in the space.


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