I think all white like the woodwork....grey like the walls, with white baseboard and top would be fine also but I would prefer the white like the woodwork.

What is the stair rail like? Wood, White? I would do the pole like the hand rail on the stairs.

I would enclose it with wood to make it look like a column and paint it white.

One thing I have done in similar places is to build a 12-15" square surround, trim it around the bottom with baseboard, run a simple chair rail around it at countertop height (36"), paint it to match the wall up to the chair rail, and mirror the top section on all sides to the ceiling.

You double up the plywood on the bottom part, so that the added thickness of the mirror is balanced by the additional thickness below.

It creates a more architectural element, and makes the top part effectively disappear - and because of the base, you don't walk into it. Very simple to do, and effective.

We boxed ours in with drywall and painted it the same color as the walls. We also put an outlet in it!

The bottom is trimmed out in baseboard like the rest of the room.

Thanks for the suggestions from everyone. The picture isnt' very clear, but the product I used to wrap is called polewrap, and is a nice material. http://www.polewrap.com/Photo_Gallery.html

When its done it will have a 'trim' base and top. You can see in the photos on the polewrap website what I'm talking about.

At this point I'm not going to change up and box it in, especially after spending $$$ on the wrap. Also - I'm thinking the less space it takes up the better, and boxing it in with drywall or wood would just make the room feel smaller.

Anyways, I'm still interested in what people have to say about the color. Sound like one vote for gray, one for white.

A big vote for option one!

I think I would paint it gray. It does not have enough of a diameter to look like a column, and therefore I would not paint it your white trim color. Painting it gray might make it disappear.

Hi HappyHokie.

You haven't said anything about how you plan to decorate your room, and that might provide just the clue we need. Like Kswl says, the pole (even with a base & cap added) is too small to really read as an architectural "column", but then, being out in the middle of the room as it is means that merely painting it gray won't make it disappear into the background, either.

Anyway, if your planned decor includes (or might include) a bit of Modern art--say, a pricelss Kandisky, or a Klee, or, maybe a framed lithographic reproduction of one of Alphonso Iannelli's colorful early 20th Century vaudeville posters, with their saturated colors & blocky geometric shapes, or if there's a slick piece of brand-new art glass or a maybe a big, colorful hand-cast glass bowl for the remotes, then maybe a punchy high-gloss color would be just the thing for that pole. Since you can't make it vanish, then why not make it a feature? How about lipstick red on the pole, and on the other wall, say, Iannelli's "Big City Four" poster to echo the red?

Of course, that may not be the direction you were thinking of going. Maybe you were going for something more sedate. And there's nothing wrong with that. Then again, this is the basement we're talking about. If you can't have a little fun there, where can you?

Regards,
Magnaverde.

I'd paint it to match the trim...while not fat enough to be architectural, I would want it to stand out for safety reasons.

Good point, Annie.

I think I'd stain the base to match the floor. White might stand out too much.

After more consideration, and going to the pole wrap site, I believe I would stain and varnish to match the floor. It is not the size of a column, but once you look at the website it is clear that the product is not really trying to emulate a column, it is a stand alone feature by itself. The pictures I saw of the varnished wood wrapped poles looked the nicest, and I would use the beefiness bases you can get for them, also finished to match the floor.

Good luck, and please post how they come out.

Okay that should be the "beefiest" bases you can get.... Sorry, my iPad is a poor editor!

No help, but I noticed your name and the Tech ribbon. lol. My dad graduated from VT! I'm a Sooner but also wear my VT tee shirt!

Paint it white so no one walks into it.

I'm voting for stain to match the floor. The website example looks really nice.

I also went to the website... and agree that it should NOT be painted.

After looking at the website, I think stain is the way to go too. You may want to accent the groves as they have done too. Nice job. Please post when you are done.

I think that I woud also stain it completely like the floor color

Wow, thanks for all the responses. First I was thinking grey to have it blend in, then people made a good point about how white would make it so that people wouldn't run into it, now it seems like staining it would be the way to go. I'm going to be on vacation this weekend, so I'll be thinking about it- but right now I'm starting to agree with the recent posts that staining it would be the best.

@magnaverde - I would like the space to have a cool, modern feeling. Its going to be a recording studio/music room with a big orage drumset, guitars, amps, etc. I googled some of the artwork you mentioned and I really like it.

@oakleyok - Go Hokies.

Here are two more pictures to give an idea of the space.

picture #2

I withdraw my original thought, having misunderstood your process so far.
Now I'm in the "stain it" camp, both pole and base. If you paint the base white, I think it will look primed and forgotten.

If you have the option, you might add a trim piece, also stained, at the ceiling as well for a more complete look.

Thanks bronwysmom. I do have a top trim piece, its just not installed yet. You can actually see it in the background of the pictures sitting on a bucket.

The bottom trim piece isn't glued down yet either, thats why it doesn't look straight. I just put it there to give an idea of what it will look like.

I lean towards option 1. Is it possible for you to put a furniture piece directly next to the pole? I recently came extremely close to walking into a pole at a clothing store because I was trying to read a price tag while walking towards the fitting rooms. (Yes, kind of stupid on my part.) The pole was floating out in the middle of the walk way and I simply did not notice it until I was very close to it.