Avoiding the "Cave" Look: Painting the Basement?

Question

I am having a hard time deciding on what color(s) to paint my basement living area. It will be a TV/Game room that also houses our book collection (pretty decent size).

It is a long room with no natural lighting. I am trying to avoid turning it into a dark cave. I've thought of painting the far wall a darker color than the rest of the room to bring it "closer", but I'm not sure if that will have the effect I want. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

Painting the opposite wall darker will make it recede, and make the room look bigger, not bring it closer.

I'd use warm, but light colors to help avoid the cave feel - maybe khakis and tans. Another way to open up the room would be to use a darker color on the lower half of the room and a lighter color on the top. This also gives the illusion of a higher ceiling, and may help avoid the cave feel.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

I understand your fear of 'caves.'  :-)  In rooms with no natural lighting, it's important to create light by using sources of illumination on different levels.

For instance, the basement may already have overhead lighting.  That's fine and it may be what a lot of people would think of as 'enough' light, but don't stop there.  Use some table lamps to give light from the 'middle' of the space, and also get some 'up lights' (about $10 each at Home Depot or Lowe's) to use in corners and such to get light coming up from the floor.

When you have light on the 3 levels (from the ceiling, from the middle of the space, and from the ground up), you 'sense' the space, no matter what color you paint the walls.

Tip:  use up-lights behind floor plants; you get a dramatic lighting effect and cool shadows on the ceiling.  When other lights are out, up-lights enable you to navigate a dark room safely without causing disruptive TV glare.

Answer 4

I think you should pick some warm colors to make it homey... and think aoubt get carpet or a rug if you don't have one already. It will make it more welcoming and get alot of lighting but make sure it's lamps and not the florecent again it makes it more warm and welcoming :)

Hope I Helped