Plans for the Serene Basement Home Office – Week 1 of the One Room Challenge

I’m thrilled to be participating as a guest participant in the One Room Challenge. This is my third time participating and you can check out my other two challenges here (Affordable Modern Kitchen Update) and here (Basement Yoga, Meditation, and Exercise Room). I’ve always been a huge fan of the One Room Challenge and it’s an honour to participate. In the next eight weeks, I’ll be sharing how to transform an unfinished basement room into a relaxing and cozy home office. I’ll show you all the details of the transformation to a serene basement home office, including room planning, painting, desk and shelf construction from scratch, lighting, and decor.

The One Room Challenge (ORC)

If you’re not familiar with the One Room Challenge, it’s a twice-yearly event that features designers and guest participants. Over an eight-week period, participants renovate or refresh one room and share the process on their blog or Instagram. Each week provides an opportunity for DIYers and decorators to share their progress and help others learn how to tackle their own wish list of home decor projects. It’s always exciting to see the progress that can be made in only eight weeks.

Plans for the Serene Basement Home Office

This portion of the basement is the last unfinished part of our basement and part of a larger renovation that my husband and I began several years ago. I’m grateful to start this challenge with a fully framed and drywalled space. However, the walls are currently bare drywall, the floors are concrete, and where we plan to have shaker doors, we currently have only openings in the drywall. There’s a lot to be done in this space. The project scope is large as I will be installing plank flooring, building a desk/storage unit, constructing built-in bookshelves from scratch, building a reading bench, and painting and decorating everything.

Project List for the Serene Basement Home Office

My list of projects I want to complete during the challenge:

• Plan an optimal layout for the space
• Clean up the space- remove everything, sweep, and wipe every surface clean
• Construct window jamb extensions and frame the window
• Prime and paint walls and ceiling
• Install vinyl plank flooring
• Design and construct a reading bench
• Plan and construct built-in shelves
• Design and construct a two-desk wall unit with storage
• Apply feature wall behind desk unit
• Prime and paint desk unit
• Apply and paint trim
• Install lighting
• Make a cover for the reading bench and choose/make pillows
• Decorate with rugs, cushions, plants, and accessories

Before Photos

This room is quite large and has two separate areas- a rectangular-shaped space where I will build the desk unit and a smaller more squarish area for the reading bench and craft table. The image below shows where the future desk (right side) unit will be.

The more squarish area is smaller and has lower ceilings and a nook that will be perfect for a reading bench. This area also has the only window in the space. However, there will be glass French doors leading to the main area of the basement. And, luckily, that area has two additional windows. We have already installed the spotlights in the entire basement and they provide quite a lot of clean light.

Mood Board and Inspiration Photos for the Serene Basement Home Office

Since this is the last area of the basement to be finished, some of the decor decisions have already been made. I will continue the installation of the vinyl plank flooring and the wall/ceiling/trim colours from the rest of the basement. In fact, I already have all the paint, flooring, and trim that I will need to complete the home office. I still need to purchase all the materials for the desk unit, reading bench, and the doors for the entire basement.

The flooring is a lovely white oak LVP, Finally Mine by Provenza Flooring. It has a natural and rustic quality and is light to medium-toned to keep the space looking fairly bright. I love how this flooring looks in our basement family room and yoga room. You can read my post about installing LVP in the yoga room here. The lighting will be gold-toned. I really like this flush-mount light fixture from Pottery Barn. We have it in our front hall and it’s pretty, light, and airy.

I’m going to go with a creamy white on the walls with crisp white for the ceiling and trim. The desk unit and wall will be painted in a rich greyed green. Next week I’ll be sharing the complete colour scheme and the process of painting the entire space.

Features of the Serene Basement Home Office

Desk Unit

I have been planning and dreaming about a functional and beautiful desk unit for such a long time. It has to have room for me to run my business. This means room for my computer and sewing machine, and lots of storage for fabric, wreath supplies, and craft supplies. There will also be a space for my husband to work from home when needed and for him to keep his paperwork organized.

I adore the grey-green colour of this desk unit by Samantha Potter. You can read about how she created this fabulous desk here. I plan to make something similar but with two desks separated by a large storage unit. If I have time, I will add some pretty shelves like these.

Reading Nook

We have a small (40″ by 75″) nook by the window in our basement that I think will make a great reading nook. I plan to build a platform with storage drawers and add a bench cushion. I know I will have fun choosing a fabric to upholster the cushion with and selecting an array of pillows. I’d like to build something like this gorgeous unit by the Alexander Design Group. Mine won’t have the beautiful window and view, but I plan to make it very cozy, definitely a destination spot in the basement.

Shelving

To keep all my craft supplies and decor items organized, I plan to build a shelf unit. This will be very practical and I hope pretty too. Stay tuned!

The light fixture is something I’m eyeing from Lighthouse Co. And the shelf inspiration photo is from Angela Marie Made.

French Doors

We are opting for clear glass French doors between the home office and the rest of the finished basement to allow the minimal natural light to flow between the spaces. I think clear glass adds a touch of elegance too. I like the simple one-panel style of these door and I think that’s what I will purchase. Finished out in white paint, they will look fresh and crisp.

Craft Table

I also need a craft table in the office as I plan to reinvigorate my home craft and wreath-making business. It’s a challenge finding space for these activities as I currently have only a small wall in the Master bedroom to do all my crafting. The Master bedroom closet is overflowing with craft supplies.

What I Accomplished This Week

Most importantly, I finalized most of the plans for the serene basement home office. This is crucial because there are several components that I will be building from scratch and many supplies that must be ordered in advance.

I installed the window jambs and added trim to the window. You can see the before and after picture here of the window. I used half-inch Baltic Birch plywood to make the jambs and used window casement to trim the window. I haven’t yet used crack filler, or painted and caulked the window.

Additionally, I completed a cleanup of the future home office. Several things needed to be removed and I gave every surface a complete cleaning to ensure a dust-free space before beginning painting next week.

Work Plan for the Coming Week

This coming week I plan to prime the ceiling and walls and then paint the ceiling and most of the walls. The desk wall will not need to be painted at this time since I will be building the desk structure and painting the wall behind the desk a grey-green colour.

I also need to order the doors, supplies for the reading bench, desk unit, and built-in shelves. And I need to fine-tune my plans for these three office features as they will be the focal points of the space. Sometime very soon I need to order lighting fixtures and freestanding storage units (bookshelves).

Summary

I’m very excited to finish our basement and create a serene basement home office. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my plans for this project and I’d love to know what you think, so please leave a comment. I’m so happy that you are joining me on this journey and I cannot wait to share my weekly projects and updates with you all. The final reveal is May 22. Please check out the posts by the other participants here.