Decorating a Cool Teen Rec Room on a Budget

Okay, I fully admit it…I am an overprotective parent who always imagines the worst when my teens are out of sight. Maybe I watch too much News, or hear too many stories. With the many perceived threats that abound, I just prefer that my kids hang out at our home with their friends, as opposed to the Mall or the park. Unfortunately, they have not always agreed. In fact, for a while they tried everything possible to get away from the house and my cloying embrace. I was not sure if their need for distance was based more on the lack of cool space for them to hang out with their friends, or perhaps they were embarrassed by their parents' behaviour. Since I believe we’re totally “hip” (do the kids use that term these days?), I naturally assumed it must be the lack of cool space that was causing them to vacate the premises.

Our rec room has always been a little dark, cold, and depressing. When we first bought the house, the basement had dark brown carpeting with red and orange flowers, and a nice strip of duct tape holding it together. The walls were paneled in dark brown, with cute little Asian cottages decorating them. The place smelled like funky mold, and there was some frightening bulging occurring in some sections of the paneling, which made us wonder if there were boogey men coming out, or worse, were there hidden leaks. The rec room looked more like a home for Michael Meyers than a fun and exciting hang out for kids.

With this in mind, a while back I started searching on-line for some ideas. I found some amazing suggestions on how to make your basement into a home theatre, including the screen, projector, leather seating, and popcorn maker. Although these were quite awe-inspiring, they were way out of my budget. There were other games rooms on display with incredible pool tables and bars that you could view. These were cool as well, but also out of our scope. Rather than fall into a deep depression or give up entirely, we decided that we would create our own idea of the coolest teen hangout, but do so on a shoestring budget.

Perhaps the best way to determine what would be construed as a fun and inspiring hangout, was to poll the kids’ friends. So, with that in mind, I interviewed each friend as soon as they came through the door. “What would your idea of a cool hang out area entail?” I would innocently ask. I give the kids credit, as they had lots of really neat and original ideas. I couldn’t possibly list them all, but here are some common themes:
1. Parent-free zone
2. Pool table
3. Space to watch movies
4. Stereo or iPod speakers
5. Comfortable seating
6. Place to access snacks and drinks without having to mingle with the dreaded parental units

Before making any drastic changes, we asked our kids for their opinion. They decided that they didn’t want anything kiddish or themed. They seemed a little concerned that we would paint butterflies and murals all over the wall. They obviously have no idea how much work those kind of projects entail. In the end, the kids expressed a desire for something simple and fun. With that in mind, we decided that it should be a room that could grow with the kids, and they should help with the decorating.

We stripped the nasty, smelly carpet off the staircase, and painted the stairs dark brown. We removed the handrail and power-washed it, then spray painted it with “English Saddle” chocolate brown. We spent days stripping the carpet from the floor. We took off some of the paneling where it bulged, parged the walls, then bleached and primed the concrete. We put in new insulation and put on some new paneling. I wish I could say we replaced all the paneling with drywall, but we were on a budget and our rec room is quite large. We installed new light oak wood laminate, painted all the walls light taupe, and installed nice new white baseboards. We covered the two red metal support beams with wood boxes and trim, which made them look like contemporary columns. This opened up the space and made it nice, light, and neutral.

In recent years we had purchased the kids a full-sized air hockey table and a 52” TV. These objects were sitting in the basement, but were apparently not enough of a lure to draw the kids down to the dungeon. We put the Nintendo Wii in the basement, as well as a DVD player that we had in the living room. We got a couple futons from a friend, and covered them with fitted sheets. We added some decorative pillows, and a throw. We had some old picture frames which we spray painted black, and input pictures of the kids’ friends. We hung them around the rec room to personalize the space. We made sure to prominently display the kids’ certificates and trophies as well (without going overboard).

We spent some time canvassing the online want adds for items that would attract the elusive teens to the basement. Did I mention that I love “Kijiji”? We were able to find a pool table with accessories for $150 and a foosball table for $10. Who can complain about those prices? We picked them up one weekend and set them up with the kids’ assistance.

We put an extra fridge in the rec room for beverages. An old fish tank stand was painted white and placed next to the existing sink. We placed a water cooler and a microwave to make popcorn on top of the stand. The interior shelves were stocked with bowls, chips, and popcorn. This allows the kids to have their own snack space that is completely self-contained. Plus, they are now responsible for maintaining the space and keeping it neat.

We did not want a solid door at the top of the stairs, as we wanted to be able to see what was going on, without crowding the kids. To this end, we bought a french door with mutton bars from a discount renovation centre. We used the frosted glass spray to give the feeling of privacy. This allows the light to filter downstairs, and shapes and silhouettes are still visible so we always know what’s going on.

I have seen some teen rec rooms designed by others that are quite remarkable, but way over our budget. I truly enjoyed the challenge of making a functional and fun room for the kids within our allotted budget. Hitting garage sales, websites, and doing the work ourselves made it more of a personal challenge for us. We reused a lot of existing furniture and products to save on costs. Having our kids assist made the experience priceless. We now have a wide array of their friends coming over, and they always comment on how cool the rec room is. For me, this just proves that the reason the kids went out instead of staying home previously was the space, NOT our lack of coolness.