Beige basement walls suck

So… this is what our basement looked like before we moved in.  Not bad!  It had a relatively new gas fireplace and this custom built-in on the far wall.  I decided that this would be half office / half mancave space.  Thinking that the built-in was the coolest thing ever (I’m from Hawaii where only rich people have custom built-ins), I planted my office on the far end.  For the next 1.5 years, I couldn’t figure out why the space never quite worked.

Since our kitchen remodel, we have no money.  There went my plan to rip out the mantle and install floor-to-ceiling tile around the fireplace.  And what about my new mid-century modern furniture?  Not going to happen.  Best I could negotiate was paint, two small tables and a stool. Sold!  So we went to work.

We moved everything towards the center of the room so we could paint.  I wanted to paint the basement a dark gray, but I knew it was going to be a hard sell on my husband.  “That’s too dark,” he would say whenever I suggested a color in the past.  And I knew that the shade I wanted to paint the basement would be darker than anything that I’ve ever suggested.  He was preoccupied with other things, so I was able to slip the dark gray by him.  He complained as we painted, but the complaining stopped when he saw the final product.

I relocated the double office desks to the wall opposite the built-in.  With no furniture budget, I would need to decorate around my husband’s “throne”.  Typically not my favorite style, I decided the only way this space worked was in a traditional style.  Anyone who knows me will instantly recognize that I love color.  Mondrian makes me very happy.  So what’s the best way to challenge my style?  Conservative with lack of color.  Browns and gray it would be.

My favorite two pieces of the room: a 1940’s Mersman coffee table my husband refinished and a knock-off of the 1954 Sori Yanagi Butterfly Stool.