Decorating a basement apartment

Parent Cafe
1

<p>After many phone calls back and forth, my daughter decided to sign a lease on a basement apartment; not really a basement as much as ground floor. She swore she did not want to live in a ground floor unit, but this rental was in a great building and she was really tired of looking! She has been in a month to month studio and was looking for a 2+ bedroom unit in DC that would allow her dog, fit her budget, and in a location she liked.</p>

<p>I am hoping that she doesn’t find the unit too dark after moving in as that was her biggest worry. The unit has the same size windows as the others in the building on the higher floors, but by being on ground level, I am sure she will not receive as much sunlight. Her windows are higher to the ceiling that the others, so someone short like me would not be able to see out!!</p>

<p>What are some decorating tip to make the place look lighter? I know she will need lamps, maybe mirrors on a wall or two; decorating is not my strong suit, I just know what I like when I see it!</p>

2

<p>this won’t make the rooms lighter but if the windows look “funny” because they are higher to the celing and don’t come down all the way, there are tricks to making them look more “standard” </p>

<p>hgtv and southern living has good sites with lots of pictures to solve problems.</p>

3

<p>found a basement apt pic for you</p>

<p>[Making</a> Space for Serious Style : Archive : Home & Garden Television](<a href=“http://www.hgtv.com/decorating/making-space-for-serious-style/pictures/page-4.html]Making”>http://www.hgtv.com/decorating/making-space-for-serious-style/pictures/page-4.html)</p>

4

<p>I found this by googling basement apartment lighting: [Luxurious</a> Basements The New York Times 9.14.08 | Apartment Therapy New York](<a href=“http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/real-estate/luxurious-basements-the-new-york-times-91408-062933]Luxurious”>http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/real-estate/luxurious-basements-the-new-york-times-91408-062933)</p>

5

<p>Not sure if you’ve checked out gardenweb.com. It’s the shelter magazine / home renovation / decorating sister of CC. Nice and very generous folks on the boards there (as here, though maybe slightly less stressed than all of us…who knows). Here’s one thread I found (that actually references the same NYT article over30 found)…
<a href=“http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/decor/msg0718542813937.html[/url]”>Help my son decorate a basement apartment (cross post);

<p>There’s probably more in either the Decorating or the Basements Forum…
You might want to post yr question there too…</p>