So I had this great idea.

While my husband was away on a work trip for a week, I would redo our currently disastrous rec room. And I would do it in a theme just for him.

This of course was for two reasons:

1. I love my husband.
2. I don’t like him being away and therefore need some sort of project to throw myself into for distraction. Usually it involves painting a room (those of you who know me know this to be true!). This time, it didn’t. Shocker!

Now here are the crazy and messy before pictures. I honestly did NOT stage these to make the area look worse then it did. This room was our dumping ground for crap and we never really used it for anything.

When we built the house and finished the basement, I THOUGHT this would be where the kids would play. I thought this was where all the toys would live. I bought furniture for that purpose. I was wrong. The kids never came down here to play. But it WAS the room where exercise was done and football (specifically the 49ers) was watched faithfully so that is what I decided to create. But it wasn’t going to be all reds and gold. I was inspired by this “man mountain” room that looked football-ish without being too theme-ish.

O.k. Embarrassing befores :)

Balloons, baskets, toys… Ack! Just ack!

Here is where the homemade play kitchen went to die (never played with anymore). Hmmm. Not a 49ers colour scheme, may have to sell that one. LOL!

This is the #1 of 2 holes in the walls that existed. Originally I was going to create a painting on a hinge to cover the fuse box but then decided that if I put any effort into a football-ish painting for my husband, I won’t want it to stay with the house. So a new plan was formed.

This was hole in the wall #2. From the experience of our last house we wanted our media centre to be accessible from the back easily. This hole goes into the storage closet that you get to from my office. But it needs to look and function better than that. Another plan hatched.

So here is the after – well the ‘in progress’ actually as I have a couple more items and areas to do but I am SOOOOO happy with the results. Even I find myself hanging out here at the end of the day. That is success!!

Found an awesome unfinished dresser at Ikea. Inspired by this dresser, I stained it with a darker top to hold all our movies. Love how it fits perfectly there under the tv.

I stained the pieces before assembly and missed that there was a middle foot. But I think I may paint it white to disappear into the baseboard visually. I also added some details to the drawers.

I stained and the painted over in gold, retired 49ers numbers. I learned a lot about the 49ers during this project. :)

The dressers hold movies upright perfectly. I made add a piece of wood across the dresser to stop them from sliding to the back. (excuse blurry pic – I grabbed this one with phone)

Hole #1 was dealt with by getting a piece of MDF cut to fit the space. This meant I needed gate hinges because of the weight of it but I don’t mind the look now that it is all painted out wall colour. Basements are meant to be quirky, aren’t they? I am planning to add a few things on top of here (a sign, something metal and a picture) to make this blend in more.

I brought down my floor lamp from the living room and plan to get a LARGE basket of throws to keep this space cozy.

In my house, every room gets a gallery wall. :) Well almost every room. This one is filled with mementos and things that means something to my husband.

Clockwise from top left:

1. Two old metal signs numbers purchased from etsy
2. Superbowl pennant found on ebay
3. Jerry Rice football card (gift from his sister)
4. Horseshoe for luck (yes, I did research way to hang it. Only goes upside down if hung over a door.)
5. Photograph of him and his two friends who go on a football weekend trip every year
6. Ticket from his very FIRST 49ers game in 2006
7. Picture of him on the field after that first game
8. 49ers print found on etsy
9. Another pennant bought with the 1st one
10. Signed Jerry Rice photograph (gift from his sister)
11. And one of my stars that used to reside in the dining room now painted gold

I love this wall. And even don’t mind all the red. (Red is NOT my colour of choice – ever!)

Here is the wall heading into my office. I wanted to differentiate between the tv area and the workout area. And i wanted some cheap wall treatments. Inspired by this pin, I purchased 3 door mirrors from Home Depot and hung them in a row. I plan to put a inspirational quote above them.

To the left you can see how I fixed up hole #2. I hung shelves to hold all the media units. And then created a little nook to store the exciting gifts I purchased as early Christmas gifts. He loved them and wasn’t expecting them at all! Which was so awesome.

My husband’s two favourite all time 49ers players are Jerry Rice & Joe Montana. So I found a great photo of the two players and also got him a signed helmet by Jerry Rice and a signed ball by Joe Montana. Love how this little area turned out. Maybe it should have a little light at the top? Hmmm.

This is the only spot that looks the same POST makeover as it did PRE makeover. It is another one of those quirky basement niches we need to deal with. It is a great place for us to store our workout supplies but I definitely want to make it look better than this. I have ideas…

So that is my surprise makeover. It was so great to give myself a deadline as it made me push to get everything done. And now I can enjoy it.

Next up, the guest room!

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Posted by Janet under our house
Tags: 49ers, art, create, decor, DIY, new house, rec room, tv room