Hi Friends!

I hope the start of summer is filling you with happiness and joy! The longer and warmer days always make my heart happy!

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If you have been following me for a long time (or even a short time!), it will come as no surprise that I love opportunities to collaborate with other business owners in the Capital Region! I am a firm believer in joining forces and teaming together with other people, both personally and professionally. Last week, one of our designs had the pleasure of coming to life with the assistance and project oversight of an area remodeling company based in Delmar, NY. Thanks to Quality Design and Remodel, what FunCycled saw as vision became reality for Alicia and her family!

When I first met Alicia, over a year ago, she explained her hopes for capturing additional living space in her basement in a way that would be functional and beautiful for her family. Something I can most definitely get behind as an interior designer!

Here are some of the before photos of her basement that were taken when I met with Alicia.

And here are some other before photos, courtesy of Quality Design and Remodel.

Photo from Quality Design and Remodel

Photo from Quality Design and Remodel

Photo from Quality Design and Remodel

After talking with Alicia, we identified the issues that needed to be addressed and discussed some potential ideas for what would need to change. The basic layout of the basement would remain, but it needed to work better for the family. Her basement already accounted for an eating area as well as an area for lounging, but the other space was not used well and did not maximize storage nor account for the overall needs and wishes the accommodate adults and kids. To really capture the whole plan, I created 3 different design boards to account for 3 distinct design areas or zones in the basement.

DESIGN BOARD #1

Below is the first design board which was created to address the outdated stone wall feature and to create an atmosphere where adults could lounge and enjoy conversation within the ambiance of a fireplace and moody and sophisticated vibes!

DESIGN BOARD #2

One thing Alicia mentioned when we met was her desire to incorporate a bar area in their basement. We suggested using the space beneath the stairs for a bar feature (I love making use of untapped or otherwise hidden spaces in homes!) Even though Alicia and her family ultimately chose not to place the bar under the stairs, I wanted to share this design with you. I think it is a great idea!

DESIGN BOARD #3

This area that had been used by Alicia’s children was no longer working for them. The ping pong table was taking up too much room, leaving the rest of the area unusable and without purpose. The idea behind the design was to designate this area still for the kids but to create a space that would aesthetically marry with the other sitting area while maintaining a level of comfortability and practicality for the kids to watch TV, play video games, or just hang out with friends.

HERE ARE THE AFTER PHOTOS

HOW YOU CAN GET THIS DESIGN FOR YOU

Below I have linked up many of the products I suggested for the three zones of this design. I hope you find some inspiration and will try some out for your own space!

Please note that the final products used and selected for the implementation of the design for this basement may be different than what was created originally on the client’s design board. Sometimes that happens, and it is part of the process of creating a design and bringing it all the way to finished outcome!

PRODUCT LINKS FROM DESIGN BOARDS

Fireplace Seating Area

Amazon

Amazon

Joybird

Wayfair

Tile Bar

Amazon

Wayfair

CB2

World Market

CB2

Table with Chairs and Additional Seating Area

Wayfair

Wayfair

Joybird

Amazon

Amazon

Amazon

Wayfair

Amazon

MUCH APPRECIATION

I want to send a special thanks to Alicia for working with FunCycled and asking us to be part of the design process for this project! We loved working with you and hope you and your family are thoroughly enjoying your reclaimed basement! Additionally, I want to give a big shout out to Quality Design and Remodel for their work in implementing the design for Alicia and her family! It looks amazing!

I encourage you to check out the blog that QDR posted a couple of weeks ago, entitled A Midcentury Modern Basement Remodel! There you will see additional photos and get additional insight into the world of design!

OUR DESIGN SERVICES

If you are interested in learning more about our design services, check out our Interior Design Page to read about our 1 Hour Quick Help, our Design Board creation, 2D or 3D layout designs, or our Full Service design services. We would love to help make your space exactly what you want and need it to be!

Thank you all for following along! If you’d like to get this blog in your email once a week, please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please like FunCycled on  Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest if you don’t already. Keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We share fun tutorials, great before and after, and new design inspirations. 

We offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and repurposed furniture. Thank you, again, for working with us and for taking the time to spread the word about what we do. 

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

Hi Friends!

How was your first week in the 2018? If you’re not from upstate NY you may not know that we’ve had record cold temperatures this week! Cold temperature and paint don’t like either other too much. So we had to crank up the heat to keep our paint building warm enough for the paint to cure correctly. I’m a little scared to see what our heat bill is going to be this month. Also, our 1805 house is pretty drafty! Last year was so mild that I forgot what a typical upstate NY winter was going to feel like in our old/new to us home. We also decluttered from Christmas and I love seeing the house come back together again!

For this week’s furniture makeover, I want to share a gorgeous empire dresser that we think is probably from the late 1800’s/early 1900’s. The dovetailing is hand done and the piece is absolutely beautiful. Here it is before:

It had quite a bit of veneer damage on the box and very top drawer, but the fronts of the rest of the drawers were in good shape! I just didn’t like the color of the drawer fronts – too orange for me. So, we repaired all of the damaged veneer and painted the outside with Benjamin Moore’s color Gentleman’s Gray. Then we sanded down the drawer fronts and stained them with  Minwax’s Dark Walnut.  New hardware was a must and I wanted to give this piece a feminine touch when choosing hardware.

If you’d like to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post. After we painted it, we glazed it lightly and sprayed it with a protective clear coat.  Then the new hardware .

Ready for the after??

This dresser is available online and in our store now! Check out other new furniture for sale on our website here or let us know if you could use some help with decorating. Please use our Contact Us form or stop by our store at 272 River Street, Troy, NY. I also added quite a few other new pieces to the store!

There is a box at the top right of this page to enter your email address to receive notifications by email when I post something new on this blog. Please sign up today!

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. Last but not least, let us customize a furniture piece for you. We create custom furniture and will deliver for customers in upstate NY and also ship throughout the US. Send us a note with what you would like using our contact page. Or buy something that we’ve already designed from our furniture for sale page.

Hi friends!

This week’s basement makeover has a very special place in my heart. Not only was it our first ever basement renovation, but it also has a wonderful backstory. Will and Jaimie called me in February asking me to come for a design consult. When I got to their house, I asked what their budget was and they said $0. Why would someone hire me when they have no money to redo the space? Well, they wanted a design goal to know how to save. That is actually really smart! People often purchase things within their budget that don’t work for their space to save money. Jaimie and Will were doing the opposite, they wanted to know what would be good and right as the first step so they didn’t waste any time or money. I came up with a design and they came back loving it and letting me know they would save monthly until they could do it one piece and one project at a time. Here’s the basement before:

That sounded like a sensible and smart plan to me and I was thrilled that they liked the design. Fast forward about a month… their sub pump somehow got unplugged and their basement completely flooded. Up to where the sheetrock was cut in the pictures above. I felt so bad for them because insurance covered nothing!!

About a week after they told me about the flooding, someone asked to speak with me because they had heard we had done a design plan for Jaimie and Will. They told us that they wanted to pay to have their basement redone under two conditions: 1) it remained anonymous 2) we did all the work. WOW!!! Big big WOW! I couldn’t even believe what my ears were hearing. To do something so kind and so expensive without wanting any recognition at all and wanting to support a small business… it was the knock-my-socks-off kind of amazing. They said God blessed them and they wanted to bless others! Little did they know that the day before they told me this, I had hired an assistant and was asking God how we were going to swing it financially. This moment for me spoke truth. He will provide if it’s what He wants. Nothing is too hard or too much for God if He’s directing. It gave me such encouragement and strengthened my faith in so many ways.

We went to work! First things first… make a mess!

I helped pick out the flooring color but Jaimie and Will did the installation of the laminate flooring. Originally, we were going to paint the concrete to save money, but a family member donated the flooring so Jaimie could get the flooring she so badly wanted!!

We ripped more of the sheetrock up so we could install the wood on the bottom half of the walls. We used rough cut wood that we lightly sanded and sprayed with grays and whites to give different tones throughout the space.

They already owned the entertainment center and coffee table but we painted them white and added an end stand to the design. Then we used barn board to encase the poles and beam in the basement to add texture and age to the room.

They have limited storage in their house so they wanted to add as much hidden storage as possible. We closed off one closet with a single sliding door.

Then we turned the whole back section into a closet. The right barn door is stationary, just working as a wall but looks like a sliding barn door. The second barn door slides in front of the stationary door to get into the closest. Swoon! 

We also repurposed a hutch for the space! You can read all about that transformation here.

Also, Jaimie is short and adorable! For her job, she needs to use a pedal with her computer. She hasn’t had a work set up so where she can touch the floor. She needed to sit at the end of her couch and have a laptop on her lap so she could reach the pedal. Oh no no! That just won’t do!!! Not in my opinion at least! After 2 hours of searching, I found a chair that would fit the length of her legs. Then we customized this desk for her:

We cut the sides off and extended it out to 6 feet so she had enough room to work on the top but also had storage space on either side. I didn’t get a good “after” picture of this piece but you can see it here:

I didn’t want to waste the old desk top so I repurposed it into an art display station for her kids artwork. Can you see it in the back left of this picture?

Let’s not forget about the cute little electrical outlet door that we made to look like a tiny barn door. Awwwweee!

Then a friend from church heard about the project we were working on and asked to go with me to help pick out decorations for the space and she paid for it all! Talk about blessing after blessing!

Here are some before and after side by side shots for you:

If you love today’s makeover, reach out to us using our Contact Us form to ask us to help you reinvent your space! You can also check out new furniture for sale on our website here! If you’d like to purchase it, please use our Contact Us form or stop by our store at 272 River Street, Troy, NY. I’ve also added quite a few other new pieces to the store!

There is a box at the top right of this page to enter your email address to receive notifications by email when I post something new on this blog. Please sign up today!

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. Last but not least, let us customize a furniture piece for you. We create custom furniture and will deliver for customers in upstate NY and also ship throughout the US. Send us a note with what you would like using our contact page. Or buy something that we’ve already designed from our furniture for sale page.