Maybe Matilda: A Big Pop of Color in the Basement

Disclosure: Ace Hardware has provided free paint samples. I was also compensated for my time and this blog post. All opinions and positions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Ace Hardware.

We’ve been in our house for 3 years now. This means I’ve spent 3 entire years insisting I’m going to turn our semi-finished basement into a nice, usable space. And of course, 3 years went by without me taking a single step toward making it happen. Let no one ever accuse me of rushing into things.

Our first task when we bought the place was tearing out the carpet in the entire house, but we only replaced it in the second story--we used wood laminate on the main level, but we didn’t put anything on the stairs into the basement since we weren’t sure what we wanted. We figured we’d think it over and make a plan for the basement when we moved in, but 3 years later we still had dingy, dirty white walls all throughout the basement, nothing at all on the stairs, and a completely wasted space--none of us ever goes into the basement or takes advantage of that space at all, except as a dumping ground for out of season items. It was not a pretty sight.

But a few weeks ago, we got fed up and decided it was time to finally finish some of these projects that we’ve been putting off for years. Step one was the basement.

Every other paint color in our house is very neutral--grays and soft blues--and I thought maybe a pop of color down here in the basement might be fun. It’s not a space we use on a daily basis, so it seemed like the ideal spot to incorporate a bit of color.

I used the new color My Sanctuary from Ace Hardware (and may I just say that it was hands-down the most pleasant paint purchase I’ve ever made—we actually showed up at the store 5 minutes after the close time, but they cheerfully let us come in anyway and were so helpful with all our questions).

And that color certainly adds quite the pop.

I can’t believe how different it looks down here--a coat of paint and new carpet, and it hardly even looks like the same house.

To be perfectly honest, this color came out a lot brighter than I expected it to . . . but it certainly is cheerful and fun, isn’t it? For a neutral-loving girl who speaks mainly in grays and taupes and muted blues, this is a big step out of my comfort zone.

But our plan for the basement was always to turn it into sort of a hobby space for my craft supplies, our exercise equipment, and a playroom for the kids’ toys (that door shown below leads into a big open room where all of this stuff can live). And it’s meant to be a fun space, so I suppose a loud, fun color like this one fits. I think it would be really fun as an accent wall in a kids’ room, or to use on a dresser or nightstand for a bright accent.