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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Feb 16 2007 at 7:50am | IP Logged
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I'm so excited. It's looking like all the dry-wall will be hung, taped, mudded and sanded by the end of this weekend. Now for the hard part. (At least I think it's hard.) We have to decide on wall color, flooring and furniture. My 3 rambunctious boys and one artistic girl are hard on furniture, walls and floors! I am looking for something that a) we can afford, b) will endure children and c) looks nice. Any suggestions? This room is going to be where the TV goes as well as have an area set up for games and shelves for the younger kids toys. I'd appreciate any suggestions!
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
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Cindy Mac
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| Posted: Feb 16 2007 at 8:01am | IP Logged
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I got a great futon couch from Overstock.com - shipping only $2.95 depite how big it was! We use it in our basement and even when chocolate covered hands go on the fabric, it wipes off easily.
I just looked and they are having a huge clearance sale right now and shipping is only $1!
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PDyer
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| Posted: Feb 16 2007 at 9:24am | IP Logged
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We recently finished our basement. We chose commercial-grade carpeting over most of the space and ceramic tile in front of the walk-out door where the dirt and grime problems are greatest. We toyed with the idea of putting down vinyl but decided it would be too cold. We painted the walls with a medium toned, washable paint. We're using a few pieces of the furniture that used to be in the formal living room space in our old house. It simply doesn't fit in the great room space in this house, so downstairs it goes.
I would love to get a futon for extra sleeping space too. I had no idea Overstock had such cheap shipping. I'm going to check it out. Thanks for the tip.
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Patty
Mom of ds (7/96) and dd (9/01) and two angels (8/95 and 6/08)
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mom2mpr
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| Posted: Feb 16 2007 at 10:02am | IP Logged
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There is a cool chalkboard paint you could put on the walls--or at least one wall  We got ours at Home Depot or Lowes for ds's loft bed. There is also magnetic paint. He put both on his wall in his "fort" under his bed. Kind of cool!
Anne
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Philothea
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| Posted: Feb 16 2007 at 1:32pm | IP Logged
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Commercial grade carpet or laminate flooring, semi-gloss paint (easy to wipe off) and microfiber furniture are your best friends. Especially the mocrofiber furniture. I have yet to meet the stain that cannot be removed from mine with water, maybe a little dish soap, and a microfiber towel.
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Feb 17 2007 at 8:11am | IP Logged
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Thanks for the great suggestions everyone! This is so helpful!
Philothea, I don't think I've heard of microfiber furniture. Is this available just anywhere? If it's that durable, it sounds like the way to go for us.
For the floors, we were originally going to go with Pergo, but decided that in the winter we would appreciate carpet more. The floor does get a little cold down there. We may still use the Pergo by the walk out door. Several have mentioned commercial grade carpet. Is that because it is more durable? Does it clean up easily?
Another question I have would be for toy storage. Any suggestions there? A friend said he would build a long bench on one wall that had lift-up seats where the kids could store their toys. The problem I see with this is that it would be like one big toy box, and for us those just don't work. My kids are used to their toys being on shelves, Montessori style. Got any great toy storage solutions?
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Becky
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MichelleM
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Becky,
We need to put flooring down in our basement that dh finished himself  and we are considering cork flooring from Lumber Liquidators. It's great for a basement because it is moisture resistant, warm underfoot, sound absorbing and insulating. You can seal it and it is easy to clean. Other bonuses with cork are that it is a renewable resource and is great for people with allergies or asthma.
For storage an armoire is a nice and stylish way to store games and puzzles. Another option is lining a wall with attractive shelving so those things with little pieces that get dumped or are special resource can be kept high out of the reach of little ones'. I think these iron brackets add a beautiful, decorative touch to shelving. They are also very strong! For the shelf itself I've used a precut piece of MDF.
For kid friendly stain resistant furniture, I recommend Room and Board's Vantage Fabrics. They are pricey, but are made of the highest quality, and are very, very comfy with their down filled cushions. Great for cuddling up with the whole family for a read aloud (the Kendall is the size of a twin bed!) and they can take the rough housing of boys. The fabric is AWESOME. We don't have one stain on ours (in two years) and we have it very close to our only dining area.
Yesterday my daughter was  and threw up before making it to the bathroom. Some got on the couch. A dry cloth was all that was needed to clean it because liquids just sit on the top of the fabric!
 I didn't mean for this to be so lengthy or to sound so much like an infomercial! Sorry!
(Edited for spelling)
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Philothea
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| Posted: Feb 17 2007 at 1:53pm | IP Logged
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Microfiber is a synthetic fabric that looks sort of like suede. It comes in a lot of colors and is sometimes referred to as microsuede. Most contemporary furniture stores have it available now. We got our living room furniture from Storehouse (which sadly no longer exists), but I have seen microfiber at Overstock.com, Costco, BJ's, Target, JC Penney, Macy's, and other budget-to-midpriced chains.
If you wanted to spend more, you could get leather furniture, which holds up even better than microfiber over the long term.
Here is a link to a microsuede sofa at Overstock:
Sofa
ETA: As far as storage, I have all our stuff out and accessible. I found a great toy and book organizer at Michaels Arts and Crafts for $49.99. It's the same exact one as in the link, but the E-bay seller has it overpriced by about 100%. That holds the bulk of our small toys and A LOT of books. Larger toys like our bead maze, Lego bin and toy computer go on a small bookshelf I got in the kids furniture section at Target. My basement family room is long and narrow, so I've divided it in two with the sofa and the bookshelf is the perfect height to back up to the sofa as a sofa table, so grownups sitting on the couch can put drinks there while they are watching TV and the storage is open to the play area.
I'm probably not explaining this well. I'll take some pictures and post them later tonight or tomorrow.
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PDyer
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| Posted: Feb 17 2007 at 2:13pm | IP Logged
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Becky Parker wrote:
| My kids are used to their toys being on shelves, Montessori style. Got any great toy storage solutions? |
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Most of my kids toys are in plastic shoeboxes stacked on old bookshelves. Bigger toys are in bigger Rubbermaid containers. We are big sorters. 
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Patty
Mom of ds (7/96) and dd (9/01) and two angels (8/95 and 6/08)
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Philothea
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| Posted: Feb 17 2007 at 2:44pm | IP Logged
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Okay, I posted on my blog about our playroom, hopefully this will help you envision what I was talking about above.
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Tips for finishing a basement
