From Dank to Glossy Brooklyn Workplace

A designer transforms her dank downstairs right into a gleaming artistic zone with renovation assist from Sweeten

• Owners: Inside designer Danielle Fennoy posted her trendy basement rework on Sweeten
• The place: Stuyvesant Heights, Brooklyn, New York
• Main renovation: A basement turns right into a designer’s residence workplace (together with laundry and storage) with gallery appears
• Sweeten normal contractor
• House owner’s quote: “By way of Sweeten, I met some skilled normal contractors. We selected a contractor who appeared most succesful and most excited concerning the job. The cherry on prime: He was insanely straightforward to work with.”

Submit your challenge on Sweeten at no cost and make your dream renovation a actuality. Sweeten simplifies residence renovation by connecting owners with top-rated normal contractors, dealing with the vetting course of and challenge administration. To be taught extra about how we might help, try our residence renovation companies.

Written in partnership with Sweeten house owner Danielle. “After” photographs by Miao Jiaxin for Sweeten.

An unwelcoming basement

Proud. Calm. Organized. It was onerous to think about a visit right down to our cellar—a darkish, dank house that I by no means wished to set foot in—summoning these emotions. However renovating this house into a totally functioning basement gave us a devoted workspace for my enterprise whereas including a whole ground of dwelling house to our residence. It additionally happy some severe storage wants and gave us an occasional visitor room for household visits.

We dwell in a three-family Brooklyn brownstone constructed within the early 1900s. We’ve owned it for three-and-a-half years. I’m Danielle, proprietor of Revamp Inside Design (Instagram: @revampnyc); Jevaun is my husband and a design director; Zidane is our son and Katara is our canine. We occupy the parlor, backyard, and cellar ranges of the constructing, and the highest flooring are rental models. 

Since we purchased the place, we’ve got been redoing it one part at a time, and this was the final of the most important tasks. We wished to do a renovation within the basement, which the earlier proprietor had by no means refinished after a flood years in the past. It wasn’t in nice form: the drywall had been ripped out to forestall mildew, and the room had no air flow or pure gentle. Junk was accumulating down there. The laundry space was method within the again, and we (I) needed to stroll by hell to do a load. It was unhappy.

Group for a basement rework

The house wanted to turn into a good looking workhorse of an workplace. Nevertheless it needed to operate, too, as a regular basement and retailer our household’s issues in an organized method. We wanted locations for coats, instruments, baggage, and linens. I got here up with this gallery thought with a contemporary, open look, and we posted our basement rework challenge on Sweeten. I wished one wall to retain the uncovered masonry, for texture and grit. For the flooring, I deliberate to pour an epoxy layer over the prevailing concrete. My operating joke: If I may stroll by the basement barefoot, mission achieved! 

Discovering new normal contractors

I work within the renovation enterprise, so I initially bid out the job with contractors I’ve labored with. However they had been all tied up with tasks. I didn’t wish to have competing deadlines. By way of Sweeten, I met some skilled normal contractors. We selected a contractor who appeared most succesful and most excited concerning the job. The cherry on prime: He was insanely straightforward to work with. 

My operating joke: If I may stroll by the basement barefoot, mission achieved! 

Lighting takes centerstage

The aim was to make it brilliant and spacious. After we moved in, our imaginative and prescient included a den and visitor bed room within the basement. Then I began having this recurring (and prescient!) dream through which I used to be working from residence, and the conversion plan shifted: I wished to show it right into a design gallery and studio. I wanted a workspace with a giant, open floor to work with supplies and overview giant drawings. Due to this, lighting can be key. Colour is a giant a part of what I do and it felt essential to have a brilliant, clean canvas because the backdrop for my work.

I knew that lighting was the facet of the redo that will have essentially the most influence. We put in 18 recessed LED ceiling lights; there was not a darkish nook within the room. Susan Chan, a specialist at Feng Shui Artistic (Instagram: @fengshuicreative) and a buddy, beneficial I add “uplighting”—fixtures that direct the sunshine upwards—to elevate the room’s power. I believed she was loopy and couldn’t assume the best way to make that work—the ceilings are barely eight ft excessive. However boy, was she proper! The beautiful pendant fixture I selected made an enormous distinction within the house, including each variety to the sunshine and focus over the island.

Epoxy flooring for a classy basement rework

After we cleared out the stuff, the crew sheetrocked the partitions and poured the epoxy ground. The uncovered masonry wall didn’t end up as naturally stunning as we’d hoped it might, however we went with it. The contractors constructed out closets below the steps, put in a storage island for a piece floor, and hung numerous open shelving. We painted the partitions, flooring, and stairs in an ideal white—not too cool, not too heat. The furnishings plan was the hardest half. I discover a “bonus room”—an the whole lot house with 10,000 features—the toughest to get proper for my shoppers, and it was no completely different for me. I created a wide-open room and didn’t need the issues I put in it to make it really feel cramped.

Attending to the end line

Because the room got here collectively, our contractor stopped by usually, checking on progress and clarifying particulars. He gave me a six-week challenge schedule. The basement rework was completed the day he promised. The standard setbacks occurred—development delays, order lags—and our challenge had surprises, however the crew saved tempo and we didn’t go over funds. 

Trying on the completed challenge, I’ve so many favourite bits, starting with the added house. Every ground of the constructing is about 900 sq. ft, so we elevated usable house by 50 %—we now have 2,700 sq. ft. The perfect reward downstairs: the right lighting. I can work across the clock and by no means know what time it’s. I jokingly name it Vegas!

Thanks for sharing your trendy basement renovation story with us, Danielle, Jevaun, and Zidane! 

Able to renovate? Begin the journey right here at no cost!

Right here you’ll be able to be taught extra about our companies and places. Alternatively, browse extra residence renovation inspirations, processes, and value guides.  

Useful resource Supplies:

BASEMENT RESOURCES: Merely White paint: Benjamin Moore. Epoxy flooring: Sourced by normal contractor. Recessed Lights: WAC Lighting. Tracer Loop pendant: Luke Mild Co. BL Pole shelving system: Rakks.