Basement

We finished our basement 5 years ago to add more bedrooms, as we were expecting baby #5 and needed the space.  Until about 18 months ago, all of the furniture we had down there was stuff given to us by my parents.  I was grateful to have furniture, but as the kids got older, it was kind of embarrassing to invite friends to watch movies on a couch with stains & holes!  So we got rid of EVERYTHING used, and moved our leather couches down there.   It still seemed kind of sterile, though, so I decided to add a little character to the area.

Our basement family room is a long, rectangular room running the length of the house.  It is divided by furniture into 3 "areas": the couches & TV; a counter height dining table; and an exercise area.  Not very exciting!  I didn't really have money to to exactly what I'd like to do, so I decided I would do what I could with as little cost as I could manage.  

First, I painted our oak bookshelves black.  I've had these bookshelves since I was in college, and they were very trendy in the early 90's, but not so much anymore!  So I painted them & put a panel of fabric in the back of the bookshelf.  In retrospect, I wish I had picked a fabric with more color in it.  It would be easy to replace, so I may do that someday!
I also removed about 1/3 of the books on the shelf (getting rid of some, finding another place for others) so that I could arrange the shelved more creatively.  

Then I bought several secondhand frames & painted them black, and used them to make a grouping on the wall.  Using a can of paint, a few yards of fabric, & some used frames allowed me to make the middle section of our family room a bit more inviting.

For the TV grouping: 
Years ago when my 11 year old was a toddler, and before we had an actual "train table," I bought a cheap coffee table at Deseret Industries on which he could play trains.  It was made of cheap wood, had a natural-finish table top with hunter green legs.  He only used it for trains for a short time, then it became the piece of furniture on which everything got placed when he was required to clean his room.  It has floated from one place to another in our house ever since, never really fitting in anywhere.  Most recently, it acted as a footrest in the basement in front of the TV.   I decided that was actually a great place for it, if I could just make it look like it belonged.  The couches we have there are leather, and I have discovered that finding an ottoman to match leather couches is nearly impossible, unless bought at the same time as the couches (didn't happen!) (no longer available!).  So, since the rest of the basement has black furniture, and red drapes, I decided I would stay with that color scheme for my new ottoman.  

First I painted the legs black.  I bought a piece of foam at a craft store (about 2 inches thick), and cut it to the size of the table top.  I stretched a piece of rectangular fabric over the foam, and staple-gunned it underneath the table.  Finally, I added upholstery tacks around the outside and to the top of the table.  Because this was a very cheap table to begin with, and I hope one day to get an actual ottoman that "goes," I didn't spend a lot of money on any of the materials for my update.  I think the final product is CONSIDERABLY better than before, though, and adds some character to the room.  

As for the exercise part of the basement, I don't know that there's anything we can do for it!