I'm looking for really inexpensive ideas for wall covering for my basement. I have a very old home and cement walls in my basement and hanging anything is difficult. I do not want to drywall, and painting them just didn't do the trick, i'm looking to make it into a toy room for my kids to get them out of my dinning room. I also need ceiling ideas, there is a ceiling of sorts but the air ducts are currently exposed due to the lack of height, and i would like to make them more attractive. a drop ceiling is not an option, the ceiling is just too low. lighting is not a problem so at least that is out of the way. any ideas would be greatly apprecitated. TIA.
well so far i think i have some ideas anyways, the main problem with the walls is the texture and the fact that they aren't flat or straight but kinds curvy, my home was built in 1890. so i have large bookcases that we are going to take down to cover up one of them, and on one of the DIY websites i got the idea to use like workshop peg board to hang stuff on rather than drill intot he walls, even with the proper tools it kinda crumbles and doesn't look nice when we drill. but those i can hang down from the ceiling, which i beleive someone mentioned. so that will be another wall which leaves one because my washer and such along with a sink are on the last wall. For that i think we will use sheets just to add some softness and hide the walls it'll make a nice backdrop, i'm going to do teh kid's handprints with fabric paint on them. the ceiling is another matter but if i can get that wallpare stuff to stick tot eh air ducts i'm all good, at least then they will match the ceiling. so thanks a ton for all the help we won't be starting this untill next month, waiting on the budget to be there. and once i start i'm jsut going to want it done. I'm going to use rugs instead of carpet, we have an exterior, cellar type door that gets water in it and i'm afraid to carpet and because of the concret slab can't install it myslef, i'm not handy. but thanks to you all any more suggestions would be great or anything you can add to my ideas i would appreciate it, hopefully what's in my head is in fact doable. thanks again
Hey Kari,
I am not sure if this will do the trick. But when we were on a real tight budget, we painted our basement. I did not think it did the trick either and then the kids put their handprints all over the wall in different color paints. It seemed to do the trick for me. It looked like a kid's place and it freshened it up. Good luck
C.
www.bhomelikeme.com
Have u seen at lows (for the ceiling) that textured thick like wallpaper? Its ment for ceilings. It looks like squares and ceiling tiles. Its rubber like,dont hv to paint it, wipeable, and very quick fix. We used it in the den. Looks great and works well on sticking to odd surfaces.Plus they make this for the walls as well. It can look to appear like paneling, and oh six other ways. Really ck it out online if u dont wanta travel there.
goodluck and let us know what u decided with.
~R.~
Kari,
I've seen thin, wallpapered/wallpaper look panels that you just glue on the walls. Of course, your present walls would have to be relatively flat/even. These panels come in different price ranges. There are also composite materials that look like wood, but are lighter and easier to cut that you can use to hide ducts or whatever.
Hello Kari. You could check out DIY.com(Do It Yourself Network)or DIY on TV. Also, check out HGTV.com or HGTV on TV(Home & Garden). Both offer great ideas, no matter what size room. You can e-mail them directly also. There are also books a the library or at your home centers which could also help you. I prefer DIY & HGTV, the website is very informative. Good luck with your project.
Kari-we are moving to a house in Poland that has a finished room in the basement with paneling. It is not my favorite, but it will do for now. But, they are making really great colors of cement paint now and if you go to home depote, you can get screws or hangers that are made for cement block that make it easier.
Hello Kari, When we did our basement, my husband put up white shower liners for a cheap ceiling. They were thick enough you can't see the pipes or air ducts through them. We used white tacks to put them up but you can use different colors to make it fun for the little ones. I can't help with the walls. We tried painting also. We ended up drywalling it all (had to put in more bedrooms!) Good luck, S.
Fabric on the ceiling. You can attach it to the air ducts to pretty them up or you can get a bunch and make an entire ceiling cover by stretching it.
I have a room with cement walls and I keep posters on it (duct tape). I also have a section that the kids can draw on with chalk, it washes off with water. There is a short wall (5 feet long) that is covered in handprints and paw prints of our family and pets. It all works sort of because it is the playroom. Living room decor it is not.
We fixed up our basement. We had air ducts showing. They covered them with wood. I can take pictures for you if you like to show you how it turned out. It is easier for you to see than for me to explain. If you would like that please email me at ____@____.com and i will send you the pictures. This is my husbands favorite room for him and his friends to hang out.
Kari,
We are currently finishing up two rooms in our basement that are used for storage and a workshop. Today we finished the floors (I'm 8 1/2 mos preganant right now too!) My husband and I are a couple of do-it-yourselfers and have completed all kinds of home improvement projects. We think it's fun (yes we're a little odd)
If you don't want to drywall the walls, you will have to paint or use some form of plaster/cement. One thing you need to check first is for moisture seeping through the walls. I'm not talking about obvious leeks, but the slow wicking of moisture over time. Old houses tend to do this because of the materials that were used during construction. If you have clay brick walls, these will definitely wick mositure. You can test for this easily by taping some paper to the wall and covering it with a plastic bag to prevent moisture from the air getting to the paper. After a few days, peel off the plastic and check for dampness of the paper. If the walls are damp, you will have to use some form of waterproofing prior to applying anything to the wall, either drywall or paint/plaster. Dry-lock works well. Once you apply the dry-lock, you can paint any color over the top of it.
Just be sure to prep the surface appropriately, the manufacturer will tell you what you need to do. This step is time consuming but it is CRUCIAL. If you don't prep the surface right, even the dry-lock won't work well , and then you will have problems with whatever you put on top of that. This may ionvolve acid etching the concrete and or cleaning with a strong detergent. Home Depot caries all of this. The other drastic water-proofing is to do it from the outside, but I would only use this if you have a SERIOUS moisture problem.
If you aren't going to drywall and want to hang things on the wall, consider hanging things from long cables from the celing joists. Just be sure that if you are putting holes in the wall, they are above grade, or you somehow epoxy around them to keep the moisture from leaking in. You will need a hammer drill to put holes into the concrete. You can rent this from Home Depot as well.
As for the ceiling, you can drywall it or they make drop ceilings that are actually flush mounted to the joists, so it's not really drop. These are actually quite nice looking as opposed to the old drop ceilings that we are used to seeing. You can find them in Home Depot or Lowes. I would not be a fan of fabric or plastic sheeting since these will begin to sag or rip over time, and then it just won't look very nice or professional. We had plastic up over insulation in the two areas we have now drywalled. They began to sag and the drywall looks MUCH nicer. Whatever you do, be sure that you will have easy access to water and gas shut-offs. In the two rooms in the basement we are finishing, there are no shut offs, so we could put up drywall. For the rest of the basement (when we get to it), we will use the flush-mount drop ceiling tiles so that we can have access to shut-offs.
If you decide that this is too much work for you and want to use a contractor, make sure they keep in mind everyhting I just told you about moisture. Not all contractors do a good job and then you will have wasted a lot of your money on something that will need to be done again.
Let me know how it goes. Good luck!
N.
We have a room in our basement that we "finished" using inexpensive sheets. Like yours ours is lumpy and old so we bought some full size sheets from walmart- just the walmart brand I think they are like $6 a piece for a flat sheet and come in a bunch of colors- we used a staple gun to affix them to the rafters along the walls- they can just hang straight or if you have something along the bottom to affix them too it works. I suppose it would work on a ceiling too if you kind of draped it between rafters-- good luck- its always nice to have a play room for the kids!
Hi Kari
My husband did a plaster coat on the walls and painted them. It looks real nice. Also for your ceilings I would leave them the way they are and just spray paint the ceiling. It keeps the basement open and not too closed in. Something like you see in Olive Garden. A very inexpensive way to finish the basement. Good Luck
D.
