The Intersection of Design & Motherhood
I saw this image on Haphazardly Happy. What a cool space — even with low ceilings and not enough windows. Impressive. It brings back fond memories of our dungeon-like basement in New York. We attempted to make it more liveable but it didn’t end up nearly as cool as this.
Do you have a hard-to-work-with basement? Do you like how this room looks?
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My name is Gabrielle Blair. I'm a designer and mother of six. We are currently living in a dreamy farmhouse in the French countryside. (I have to pinch myself each morning!) I post on the intersection of design and motherhood.
Like what you see? Join me!
New to Design Mom? Here are 10 posts to get you started:
What to Wear To Middle School
Napoleon Dynamite
Our Birth Announcements
Potato Print Clothing
Having Another Child
Young Einstein Birthday Party
Little Red LightHouse Outing
Porch Makeover
Waving Goodbye To The Atlantic Ocean
Build Two Toddler Beds for $75
Pimp My Ride: Family Edition
We've used our base in France to do lots of traveling. It's addictive! Here are some of our adventures:
A trip to Amsterdam.
Canoeing on the Dordogne River.
A Belgian Waffle Tour.
A wintery visit to Cologne.
Three cheers for Barcelona!
The tulip fields in Holland.
We saw the final match of the French Open.
One of our favorite spots is Mont St. Michel.
I wonder where we'll wander next! To see more of our travels, click here.
Here's something fun. Our family was featured in an episode of House Hunters International! Spoiler: we choose the gorgeous French Farmhouse. It's called La Cressonnière and we take pictures of it all the time. If you're curious, try these links:
The Kitchen
Summer at La Cressonnière
The Halfbath
The Stairwell
The Neighbors
Ralph's Bedroom
The Studio
Springtime at La Cressonnière
The Living Room
Maude's Bedroom
The Artists
Oscar & Betty's Bedroom
The Exterior
The Floors
Olive's Bedroom
The Treehouse
The House: La Cressonnière
I hope you enjoy the house tour! Oh. And if you'd like to see the episode, you can find it on Youtube here (it's in four parts).
I write a weekly column called Inspiration Scout on Cafémom. Find new posts on Thursdays.
I write a daily post (Monday through Friday) for Babble's Family Style blog.
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
That is FABULOUS! We just did a rehab on our basement a few months ago. I went w/black & white with green accents, I adore the black ceiling….perhaps I’ll consider a re-paint. Thanks for sharing!
Isn’t it the coolest? I love that ceiling.
This is incredible. I’m very intrigued by the images. I assume that’s the family but how the heck did they do this? Love it.
Those images are old movie stars. I see Micky Rooney & Paul Newman in there…Maybe Bogie & Bacall as well…Pretty sure those are Audrey Hepburn’s eyes under the window. I think these are old movie posters that have been blown up & collaged. The hard part would be having high enough resolution pictures to be blown up that big but you could do it w/ family pictures if you had the right camera.
amazing! love it! everything from the monochromatic to the wall art to the vintage + contemporary feel.
&
was just talking about a similar project in our family room with our own fam photos enlarged to cover up some dark knotty pine walls. it looks like wall paper. our project would be a wrap type technique. its like stickers or vinyl that you see on buses or such. if theres a better way to do it, id love to know too!
I’m curious as well. I wonder if there’s some kind of wall-paper printing service that will make huge images like this that you can put up in pieces.
Wow. This actually looks really cozy. Surprisingly so.
Black walls have always seemed like such a bad idea to me, but now I keep seeing them everywhere and I like it!
Black walls have grown on me too.
We also have the low ceiling basement problem. Mostly, I ignore it. Such a technique only lasts so long!
just: we also have the unfortunate wood paneling in the basement, your cover-up idea is genius!
Love it. If we had basements in Texas, I would be totally inspired!
Oh I love this! It’s like they said “Well, it’s kinda cave-like, so lets just run with it!” But the white couches make it so it’s not soooooo heavy, but still cozy and curl-up-y. (Yes, that’s a word. I swear…)
Also: these people clearly do not have young children, if they have children at all. I keep picturing jam hand prints on that white couch. Hee!
I think if I had a couch like that I would never leave that basement. We moved my son down into the basement bedroom/playroom in March and I am loving the space – both downstairs for him and the feeling that somehow we have the house back to ourselves upstairs. The ceilings are low but none of us were blessed with super tall genes so it doesn’t bother us too much.
i would sleep for days on that couch. and then, when i woke, watch lots of movies on a big screen opposite it.
I LOVE basements! This one is awesome. We have a “tree top” attic space in our house now, but I’d love a basement instead in our next space.
I grew up in the desert where pretty much every home had a basement. So much cooler in the hot summer months.
We are (knock wood) closing on a house Thursday with a basement which is tiny. My husband insists it can be nothing more than a mudroom as it connects to the garage, I am hoping it can be more.
Love the drama! What a great concept. The large cinema images make the space feel larger than life too.
Love that wrap-around sofa. We had a crazy basement and we had a huge sofa like that. We loved to all curl up together on it. Five people on a sofa gets pretty cozy.
LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS !!!! WOW…..Dream Space !!
Oh my! Thanks for the mention! I’ll be sure to post after pics once we’ve actually re-made our “dungeon.” :)
Our basement is getting a makeover. Hopefully this summer. And I love this–it has inspired me, thank you!
Love the high gloss black wall and the huge images. Also love the trunks with the lights. Would be so fun to have another couple or two over to play games or hang out in this space . . . but the minute I remember that I have four kids, that white couch is completely NO fun.
Let’s all assume those white couches are slipcovered. : )
Wow, that basement makes an impact. I love the contrast. I believe you can get creative with your unfinished basement, even with low ceilings.
We had a hard-to work-with basement in our tiny old bungalow but recently finished it and it’s doubled our living space. I wish we would have thought to do it earlier. For anyone interested in the before and after:
http://www.dailygnome.com/search/label/Basement%20Remodel
Wow, this makes me WISH for a dungeon basement. Gorgeous
Way, way cool. Genius!
It’s cool, don’t get me wrong, but where’s the giant face of John Heder? Maybe it’s not too late for them to make a small change? The ceiling is pretty free. We’ll have to suggest it.