Moody Media/Library Room Reveal

I can’t tell you how excited I am about this moody media/library room reveal! This is a space in our basement we have wanted to make into a media room since we moved into our home three years ago. My husband drew up the plans for the dividing wall and bookshelves. After a couple of trips to Lowes & Ikea, we got to work. It took us around two long weekends to finish it minus painting/decorating. It is truly our favorite room in the house now. I hope you enjoy the reveal!

When designing a space, I love to make it have a collected feel. Mixing old & new with modern & traditional pieces gives it a unique look.
MW Designs

Mood Concept Board for the

moody media/library room

I always create a mood concept board to visualize how I want the space to look. Of course, small changes are always made, but it helps to have a vision before beginning.

Before:

This room in our basement was a huge space and nothing was inviting about it. The walls were an awful cream color and there were a couple of 1980s fans. Nerf wars and tag were the only activities going on!

Then we got to work framing out this area to build our wall.

The plan was to get French doors to blend with the rest of the house and give it the traditional feel. This barn door was a last-minute decision and I think it’s so fun! We added trim to it to blend with the walls and bought a different and much larger door handle.

We created our very own custom trim work by layerings four different pieces.

Choosing a Color

I knew that I wanted a dark & moody color. I came across this color called Thunderous by Sherwin Williams and loved that it was green/gray and like nothing I had ever used before. It’s a hard color to photograph in a dark basement to show the richness of it, but it’s so beautiful in person.

Bookshelves

We wanted to do built-ins to give this space a library feel when we weren’t using it as a movie room. We came across the idea of using the Ikea billy bookcase hack. It saved a lot of money and the look was exactly what we wanted after adding the additional trim work.

If you are interested in a blog post on this hack and how we built the frame around the screen, please let me know.

We still needed to access our sump pump, so we had to build out and create a false wall.

I originally wanted doors, just at the bottom. Ikea was sold out of everything and we needed to get this project rolling. I opted for the full-length door with glass and bought different handles.

Media/Library Room Reveal

After: Come on In!

When designing a space, I love to make it have a collected feel. Mixing old & new with modern & traditional pieces gives it a unique look.

This beautiful fox hunting picture with a velvet matting was a marketplace find. It’s one of my favorite pieces in this room and you will never guess what I paid for it.

I had wanted to go with a soft ottoman, but decided to move our coffee table from the family room down here instead. We still may at some point get something else, but this works for now.

With time, I plan to fill up this entire wall with collected artwork & pencil drawings. Some are old and some are new! I love to blend the two to give a space character.

Magic light Trick in media/library room

You may have read my blog post a few years ago about the Magic Light Trick I use throughout my home. This trick is such a clever way to use a sconce without having to hire a professional. It’s another fantastic hack to give you a custom look without the hefty price tag.

(Click & Shop)

I loved the look of the Serena & Lilly lookalike sconce HERE but didn’t love the orange-gold. Rustoleum Sunlit Brass to the rescue!

The shade was dressed up using a simple black velvet ribbon and that I attached using fabric glue.

(Click & Shop)

We built a box to keep our screen hidden until we were ready for a fun movie night. We dressed this box up with the same trim work as the wall.

Everything in the room is wireless, including the projector. We can stream movies from our computer.

It was so fun to see this project from start to finish and how it changed our basement’s aesthetics. Now it is a space that reflects us and we couldn’t love it more. What was your favorite thing about this Media/Library room reveal?