How do you want the space to feel? Warm and cozy or crisp and fresh? Do you want a 'chaos' of color or do you want the things in the room to be the focal points?

Lots of great ways that you can go!

My central hall has a black ceiling and originally I had the walls painted BM Porcelain Ivory which is a crusty tan/cream color. Looked very warm and inviting. Soft and soothing. I've since gone in a crisper more rustic gallery look w/ black, white, grey and tans w/ pops of color in textiles and flowers. I'm in the process of repainting my hallway walls BM Mayonnaise (yellowish based white) to counteract the pink cast from our stained glass window and I've been liberally painting office walls and other walls SW High Reflectance White. A straight white that (as the paint guy at the store says) 'has extra oomph'.

Of course there are lots of colors that would work great on your walls too.

Hi ttodd,

I guess that is part of the problem. I'm not SURE how I want the space to feel! I guess I want it to be sophisticated but also relaxing, even though it will be used as a home gym, home theater and possible extra office space.

I'm also really not used to dealing with gray. It's a color I've rarely used for decorating and I don't wear it much either, so I'm not sure what works best with it.

So, those are my basic issues. :) Thanks in advance!

Gray is a neutral so all colors work with it and your options are wide open. Since it is a basement I would go with something more light and stay away from bolder colors like reds. Yellows also don't seem to do well in the lower levels from what I've heard. Are you planning on partitioning off the spaces at all?

ukkiirish, in the future we'd like to partition some rooms ,but we aren't really sure how we want to use the space. That depends on a lot of things.

So, no colors that are too bold like red, and I agree the pale yellow I have down there doesn't seem right, especially not with the black ceiling.

I'm having trouble picturing a beige or tan with this look; I guess those colors seem warm to me, while gray is cool. Is this wrong? I'm probably making that up.

Beige and tan are on the warm side of the scale and gray is on the cool side. I am in love with gray right now. The right shade looks refreshing, hip, cool, and modern.

Have you thought about light blue or white?

Just noticed momtoseth2's "wythe blue basement" thread- have you seen it - very pretty!

I actually love that blue. My old house hda a hideous powdered blue paint color throughout, and it turned me off blue for a very long time. But that wyeth is different.

Hmmmm.....I will still need to get a couch and probably a chair. I could get charcoal-gray ones, use the wyeth blue. Thoughts on that?

I'm hoping to buy the paint tomorrow and get started so I'm ready for the installers when they can make it here. So time is somewhat of the essence!

I don't know a whole lot about decorating, but I really think that a nice light grey will look good. You can then do pops of color like bright green or orange and it will really bring out the look of the room. Here is one example of a room done in shades of grey with pops of orange. It is a link to a blog I found.

http://www.beinteriordecorator.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/grey-black-and-orange-color-accent-in-modern-minimalist-interior.jpg

Another one with bright green

http://cheetafight.com/CHF07_content/CHF071017_Funky.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

denim fabric or slipcovers might be nice--

Wow it's coming right along. The ceiling looks great. As for the tiles I'm pretty sure they have an off white tile that would work with the gray and give you an option to add warmer colors to the mix if you so chose.

Sigh... I am still so undecided.

I guess my options are as follows.
White
Light gray
Light blue (on thinking further, I think the Wyeth blue will look too depressing with the black ceiling, ESP in the basement)

Other thoughts? Suggestions for a light gray or ligh blue that could work?

I really, really like the room that movinginva posted and could totally see something like that in your space.

Looking at your tiles I'm thinking a grey that is a bit lighter than the grey tile.

What color black did you use on your ceiling? You might take your cues from the tints used to make the black shade for your ceiling and then go say 1 or 2 shades lighter than the mid range on a color card strip.

Hi ttodd,

I used just regular old premixed Glidden flat black. One issue is that we don't get a lot of natural light; one day we hope to make the basement walkout, but for now we only have the few basement-y windows. I'm wary of gray perhaps seeming cold.

I'm going to head to the paint store now with all of my samples and do some thinking.

If I rember correctly your inspiration pic had stone color walls and it warmed up the black accents a bit. Maybe a taupe or stone grey might work with your floors if you want to go in a warmer direction than light grey.

OK, I went to the store and found lots of ideas, of course. After much hemming and hawing, I've narrowed it down to a lightish gray, a smoky green-gray (Martha Stewart garden shed), and a slightly darker gray. I guess I'll go back now and get small cans of each to test them out in the space. It's SO hard to visualize this!!

Grey can feel either warm or cold depending on the tints used to make the shade. Accent colors can also accentuate coldness or warmth in grey.

Good Luck!

Okay, I will be the dissenter here and would not put a pure gray or cream or beige on the walls of a basement. I love gray and I think it goes well with so many colors, but I would pick a gray with come color to it- Like the wyeth blue mentioned above, or a fresh green like BM Geogian green. A charchoal sofa would look great with either.

If you do the green, a grayed purple would be a great accent color. With a blue, orange would be great. I would put as much lighting as you can. Having a bright basement even if it's artificial light really changes the feel of the space. My 2cents and that's exactly what's it's worth :)

Good luck. I love your ceilings, I wish I had done that instead of drywall.

pps7, the idea of green struck me while I was at the store looking at paint. I did pick up a grayish green and will see what I think....I'm really ready to make this decision now!!

And-I've already decided that we'll have to get our electrician to add 5-6 more lights. I removed a whole wall of built-in closets since he did this work, so things have changed somewhat.

At the risk of being totally annoying ( :) ), does anyone think my current color could work? (Shown in top picture, pale creamy yellow.)

Just curious. Maybe I'm overthinking it, or maybe I am just burned out on my basement. I don't know.