After
Before
During
We are in the final stages of finishing our Basement as a hang-out space for the girls. This is a great example of how paint can really change a space. We made a conscious decision not to completely finish the space. So no dry wall on the perimeter walls - just exposed concrete block and lots of paint. Some of the walls were already painted an awful celery green so we covered all walls with a nice warm neutral. The girls can still play tennis against the wall and not do any damage.
We did add a couple of partition walls and big sliding barn-style doors to section off the storage and Laundry areas from the main space. We also added a small closet around the sump pump and painted the face with chalkboard paint. The floating floor helps brighten the space but also does away with the battle of the dust from the unfinished concrete floor. The panels of fabric on the wall are an old designer's cheap trick to hide the horrible, little basement windows. The fabric also helps soften all of the hard finishes and give some bright interest to the space.
I have to say that my favorite thing is the "new" blue ping pong table! Ahh the power of paint. The existing table was the typical camping green sprinkled with dried glue, paint and glitter from years of craft projects. An orbital sander and a little blue paint made the table look like it belongs in the space.
Since we decided not to install drywall on the ceiling (it's already just at 8'-0" and has the usual ducts and stuff below that) the solution there too was paint. The best way to do this is to call a professional with a good size sprayer so I called one of my favorites, Steve. I taped and Steve sprayed and voila! a cool, new, white ceiling. Yup, it's our Basement Loft.
A new trick I learned from Steve is to mask off unusually shaped things (like pipes) with tin foil. No taping, no wrapping - just crimp the foil around the object and paint away. Thanks, Steve. By the way, here's a picture of the true Basement "Before" (when we bought the house - not our piles of stuff!
After 
Before 
During We are in the final stages of finishing our Basement as a hang-out space for the girls. This is a great example of how paint can really change a space. We made a conscious decision not to completely finish the space. So no dry wall on the perimeter walls - just exposed concrete block and lots of paint. Some of the walls were already painted an awful celery green so we covered all walls with a nice warm neutral. The girls can still play tennis against the wall and not do any damage. 
We did add a couple of partition walls and big sliding barn-style doors to section off the storage and Laundry areas from the main space. We also added a small closet around the sump pump and painted the face with chalkboard paint. The floating floor helps brighten the space but also does away with the battle of the dust from the unfinished concrete floor. The panels of fabric on the wall are an old designer's cheap trick to hide the horrible, little basement windows. The fabric also helps soften all of the hard finishes and give some bright interest to the space. 
Since we decided not to install drywall on the ceiling (it's already just at 8'-0" and has the usual ducts and stuff below that) the solution there too was paint. The best way to do this is to call a professional with a good size sprayer so I called one of my favorites, Steve. I taped and Steve sprayed and voila! a cool, new, white ceiling. Yup, it's our Basement Loft. 
A new trick I learned from Steve is to mask off unusually shaped things (like pipes) with tin foil. No taping, no wrapping - just crimp the foil around the object and paint away. Thanks, Steve. By the way, here's a picture of the true Basement "Before" (when we bought the house - not our piles of stuff! 
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