Welcome back friends! It’s time for my week four update on our “Basement Junk Room-to-Teen Bonus Room Makeover” for the official One Room Challenge! If you are unfamiliar with the One Room Challenge (ORC) it is an event hosted by Better Homes and Gardens for bloggers to share the step-by-step process of a room makeover in only six weeks.

For this challenge the goal is to transform the catch-all junk room in our basement into a fun teen hangout/bonus room for our 14 year-old son and his friends to play guitar, video games, and watch movies. The room is small but we are wanting to give it a rustic, vintage-industrial vibe similar to the photo below (minus the bar).

Here is where we were last week:

Last month we found a great deal on this Broyhill entertainment center at a local thrift shop and we thought it would be great for the bonus room. We knew we wanted to add bookshelves to each side to make it look built in and to cover up the basement window and a weird corner pipe access in the left corner of the room.

My son loves the the look of guitars hanging inside built-ins with lights. Although we aren’t going to paint the entertainment center, this is the general idea of the look we decided to go for. The entertainment center is primarily going to be a “gaming” center, so we are looking into investing in some new tech and easy smart home upgrades for the basement.

Instead of building the side shelves from scratch, my husband “hacked” two of these inexpensive shelves to save time and money.

This past week he modified the entertainment center by removing the four large knob feet and the moldings around the top sides. He built a frame around the shelves using two by fours. The hardest part of this job was leveling up the new unit. As you can see here the floor goes downhill to the left because on the back side of the wall between the bonus room and laundry/utility room (where the original floor drain is located.)  It really isn’t as noticeable in “real life” as it is in this picture, and once he finishes out the bottom it will also look better. It is coming along great! As you can see, once the back paneling and the back and top are finished with drywall, you will no longer be able to tell there is a window or any space behind the unit. We have some other windows in the basement that we are getting ready to replace. The basement windows are 98 years old and they don’t leak, but they also don’t open, so we want to replace them for safety reasons. We would also love to find attractive ones that add curb appeal . If you also thinking of dressing your home’s windows too, there are plenty of options online if you don’t have a local window specialty shop. Check out a company like https://www.windowworldofboston.com/, they even offer financing if you are looking at a costly whole house window replacement job.

The side book case built-ins will be painted black and the inside back walls will hopefully be pallet wall paneling from Home Depot (similar to the look in the photo above). The guitars will look great hanging on the pallets inside the built in displays.

*Note to self: Order two guitar hangers!

Home Depot Authentic Pallet Wall Paneling

As usual in these types of home improvement projects, things don’t always go according to plan. We ran into a bit of a snag this afternoon when we went to Home Depot to pick up the paneling and they were sold out. A new order has supposedly been shipped but it might be up to two weeks before it arrives. It isn’t available online for shipment so I am looking at other options as a back up plan. I really hope we can get this particular paneling because it has the same wood tones of the entertainment center, bits of black to tie in with the black shelves other industrial decor in the room, and gray tones to match the gray walls. Needless to say we are trying to come up with alternative pallet wall options. The paneling was the least expensive and fastest option.

source

Last week we decided to paint the ceiling black to really give the room an industrial feel, so that is also on the agenda for the week ahead.

Knock off Decor

I am also going to pick up 8 baskets or bins from the Dollar Tree to makeover to look like industrial locker baskets for the bookshelf cubbies. I have been checking out lots of great tutorials on Pinterest.

Lovely Etc.

I definitely want the bins and baskets to have a similar look and finish as the industrial chair I found last week. The chair is the perfect height and style for guitar playing.

Pottery Barn Teen

I will also be spending the next two weeks searching for the coolest industrial teen/music themed decor for the room. Great news! I found two amazing black faux leather bean bag chairs and matching ottoman that are going to be absolutely perfect for the space!

They are already getting lots of use in our upstairs family room so I may end up having to order an extra to keep upstairs too. I will share them all styled up in the bonus room for the big reveal at week six.

Week four goals:

~Find pallet paneling for back of bookshelves!

~Finish out the built in with dry wall.

~Install pallet paneling or similar pallet wall and paint bookshelves 

~Paint ceiling black

~Add faux brick around electric logs insert

~DIY industrial locker baskets from Dollar Tree

~Finish the thrifted stools makeovers I shared in week three

~Find cool junk for decor!

~Order guitar hangers

Well, that sums up this week’s progress on our “Basement Junk Room-To-Teen Bonus Room Makeover.” If you missed weeks 1-3 you can check them out via the links below.

ORC WEEK 1

ORC Week 2

ORC Week 3

Thanks so much for visiting today!
Amber