Basement Part One: "The Fee-ater" (or where I watch Downton....)

I have now shown not one, but two, throwback posts featuring our (then) unfinished basement. I am fast forwarding to present day to show you the basement, which is quite possibly the most used part of our house! This is so funny to me as a girl from Memphis. The water table is too high for basements there, and so I never understood St. Louis's fascination with the things. I was even kind of scared of the basements in our first two houses. Oh boy, do I get it now!!



As you walk down the stairs, the house transitions from a formal space to a family area. This is our kids' art gallery. We let them "curate" their work here, taking away things when it is too full (which it pretty much is now). Directly in front of the stairs is a small seating area:



I am going to post about everything to the left side of this seating over the next few days (play area, seating, dining and bathroom). To the right, we have double doors to the unfinished area (which definitely warrants its own very special episode of Hoarders for party supplies). To the right of the stairs we also have our media room, which was dubbed the "fee-ater" by the baby before she could say her "th." The name sort of stuck. True story: when we were finishing the basement my husband convinced me to go for the theater so that I could watch Downton Abbey in its full glory. Only I would build a media room to watch free Public television!

Let's go to the movies, shall we?

We opted not to go with theater chairs, instead opting for couches with recliners on both ends. Better snuggling which is the point, though we may rethink that when the girls are older with guests. We added our own cinematic flair with throw pillows and what I thought were theater-ish sconces from Ikea. I thought it was a perfect, affordable option for a basement space.

The little ladies got their own spots (we dyed their old Pottery Barn Anywhere Chairs to match the gray room), and they love to snuggle under these Matilda Jane blankies! Speaking of recycled Pottery Barn items, we transformed our old bar cart into a popcorn cart. I would love to keep it stocked with candy boxes for effect. Truthfully, I tried it, but the candy sat there so long it went stale. Since I don't want to force my kids to eat candy, we just stick with good ole' popcorn!

Here is the room from the front view.

We love spending time in here as well as playing in the rest of the basement. I'll be back to show some of that tomorrow. Y'all come back now, ya' here?!