Hi! Welcome back! Did you see Mom2Sethc's new basement? All I can say is Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: New basement thread

I hope you enjoy your new space.

Lots of artificial lights (on dimmers), in my opinion, make an otherwise dark space enjoyable.

I believe colors you select need to create the personality. As a family room, probably a lighter neutral color would make the room feel more like the house.

Our basement is primarily for entertainment. We used off-white for the walls and ceilings, then accent colors to distinguise different areas. An accent wall might suit your space too. Paint in our basement is Behr (because I had gift cards from HD). Much of the rest of our house is SW - neutrals in our LR/DR and bedrooms which you should also be able to see from the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Basement

Whatever color you paint make sure to test it first. I did a gold and a pumpkin color and went through 3 samples of each. The colors looked great upstairs but completely different on the basement walls.

I just painted our basement Benjamin Moore gray owl and really like it! It is light and cozy at the same time. A really nice neutral gray with hints of blue and sometimes green.I plan on using white or off white furniture as well.
This was a hard decision! A few people have seen it and loved the color.

I'm going to toss out a color, but not as a recommendation, as a reference point. I was doing our lower level Fam Room and wanted a SW Blonde look. Only downstairs, Blonde went deep & ruddy (as did a lot of colors). I used SW Jersey Cream. Upstairs, in more generous light, JC is a very light color (on walls that get really high light the swatch washes out). But in the lower level where there's much less natural light, Jersey Cream took on the depth I wanted, without being heavy & dark. So my suggestion is to stay with colors on the lighter (higher) end of the fan deck or spectrum. When you narrow it down, tape 4 samples together to get a larger swatch, & move that around the room at different times of day/night to get a feel for it.

If you want it to feel like a family room (as opposed to a playroom) and part of your house, then look to the other colors in your home for inspiration. Our basement was, until recently, "the playroom" -- in lighter/brighter colors than the rest of our house, and more 'thrown together' construction. We wanted to make it more of a family room, so we did some cosmetic work and made sure the colors tied in more with the first floor of our house, so it felt more like an extension of that space rather than a tacked-on low-budget room. (Not that there's anything wrong with that! We had that for 15 years.)

Anyway, we went with BM Stone Hearth, which is a darkish color in our space, but that was what I wanted. I like the other colors in the same 'strip' a lot, though, so maybe take a look at Smokey Taupe 983 or Cedar Key 982 if that type of color appeals to you.

Here are a couple of pics that show Stone Hearth.

Thank you all so much for your insights everyone! Mom2seth's colors are gorgeous!

Most of our home is varying states of tan (SW macademia is in my kitchen, morning room and family room). I do want the room to reflect our family, and not be a kids chaotic mess. I am worried mostly about going to dark (or too light b/c I'm afraid of going too dark and then having walls that show everything!!).

That's a great idea to tape 4 samples together. I've written down all of the color suggestions--thank you!! And will take them with me on my next venture to SW here. I'm very curious about gray owl...I've never used gray before, but I'm drawn to it lately.

Sueb20-our basements are very similar. I love the idea of the built in's on that wall. Did you do them or purchase pieces to look built in? What's on the other side of the room, if I may ask? Do you have more pictures?

Thanks again all! Hopefully, when it's all done, I'll love it and can share pictures!

mpmg, we had the built-ins done by a builder.

This is the other side of the room. The old square table has now been replaced by a round pedestal table in a darker wood -- it's our puzzle/game table (though who am I kidding -- most of the games are played upstairs on the kitchen table!).

And this is storage under the stairs.

I love what you did under the stairs. I'm going to show that to my contractor to see about making a change in our plans! Thanks so much for sharing the other pictures! I can't wait for the basement to be a living space!!

I recently painted our basement SW Interactive Cream. It's a beigy tan, very nice in our walk-out basement with lots of natural light, but way too dark in the poorly lit stairwell. I ended up using SW Echelon Ecru in the stairwell. Most of the rest of our house is SW Antique White, which is a warm cream (reads yellow in low light). Two more for you to consider: SW Kilim Beige, which a friend of mine has throughout her house and it's really really pretty; and SW Tradewind, which is a blue/green/gray that we have in a bathroom that gets no natural light.

I have to repeat the advice you got above too: samples, samples, samples! Paint looks completely different in your house than it does in the store so buy the little sample cans and paint some on the walls. It is well worth the cost, and if you (like me *ahem*) end up having to try umpteen colors before you find one that works, you can get smaller size paint samples at the big box stores for 2.50, color matched to your SW colors (they will warn you that the colors might not be 100% identical to the SW colors).

Mannequin Cream 2152-60 paired with Alaskan Skies 972 is a light airy palette that would suit a basement. Because of the low light, the Mannequin Cream might be more yellow or just right. The Alaskan skies is a gray that might go a little blue. Also, BM Camouflage 2143-40, BM Delaware Putty is a light cream color that can add warmth to the walls along with BM Putnam Ivory, BM Revere Pewter, BM Silver Fox and BM Grant Beige.

Thanks for the tip on paint samples from big box stores, northcarolina! $2.50 is a great price! I'm a lot like you apparently! It took me 7 samples from SW to get the right blue in my master bath b/c nothing was working! I had to hide them when my DH came home from a business trip, so he wouldn't know just how many I'd gotten! lol I like the colors you suggested. I think I have a kilm beige sample in my garage already. Do you happen to have any Tradewind pics of your bathroom? I love that blue/gray/green coloring!

Thanks kmcg85! You have a gorgeous home and great ideas all of the time. So I'll be checking those ones out for sure!

You all are the most helpful group of people! Thank you!!!!