Easy DIY Budget Basement Makeover Ideas

Learn how to do a cheap basement makeover to create a room in your home the whole family will love. We are so happy we were able to update our basement while staying on a budget.

Are you looking for an inexpensive way to redo your basement? We were in the same predicament after we decided we needed to use our basement space to become a play area for our children.

Luckily our basement was “finished”, but it was completely dated. Here are a few steps and products we used to do a cheap DIY basement makeover on a budget.

*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Read our full privacy policy.

Easiest Way To Redo A Drop Tile Ceiling

We chose to cover the existing tiles. This drop ceiling product was absolutely awesome.

You can just take the old ones out, but we decided to keep the old drop ceiling tile and just add these covers. As you can see in the picture, it really brightens our space.

The tiles come in 2′ x 2′ covers or 2′ x 4 depending on your current grid set-up.

Tile Installation

The full tiles were very easy to install. I worked in small sections.

You take the one old tile down and add the cover. You can place both back into the grid or just the new tiles. If one needs to be cut, use scissors to carefully cut a cover to match the existing tile.

It was amazing that just a nice pair of scissors. You do have to be careful to not cut the tile too small. It will hang down if it doesn’t fit in your current drop ceiling tracks.

I cannot say enough about how much this simple drop ceiling cover product, changed the look of our basement. I know it is hard to spend money on a CEILING…but you will be glad you did. I never realized how much a dated and slightly dingy ceiling can really impact a space.

Read more>>>Our full Ceilume Tile Review and more details on how to install with video

Other Drop Ceiling Tiles To Consider

And if you are a price comparer like myself, links to see how much you will pay for the product we used.

I never thought I would LOVE vinyl drop ceiling tiles so much!

If you get any inspiration from my cheap DIY basement makeover we hope it is to finally upgrade your ceiling. I was able to do it all by myself, without the help of anyone else.

Grid Covers

You can also purchase this product by Ceilume to help cover up your drop ceiling grids. One day we might do it. It does look super nice, but right now it is not high on our priority list.

Our space really did transform once we covered our old and dingy tiles! Can you tell how happy a new ceiling made me????

Basement Wall Makeover: How to use a sealer on wallpaper?

Our basement had an ugly ’90s wallpaper throughout the wall space. One of my friends said that it looked like it came out of the TV show, Full House (not Fuller House). I had to update it, but when I tried to take a little off using traditional methods, it just didn’t seem to work. 

Using A Wallpaper Sealer

Obviously, the most ideal situation is to fully remove your wallpaper. However, it was impossible in our basement without completely tearing up the drywall underneath.

We had to research what to do with wallpaper and found an oil-based sealer would work.

Recommended Sealers

• This sealer would work just as well. It is the counterpart to the SW brand that we used.
• We found our wallpaper sealer at Sherwin Williams. If you go and ask them about what product they recommend, they will guide you to it. Just make sure you work in a well-ventilated area or that you take a lot of breaks when using the product.

How To Use Sealer

You simply roll it out like you would paint after you lightly sand the wallpaper seams. For a basement, I think it was a perfect solution. Way better than trying to take all the wallpaper down and having to patch all the walls. 

After it was done, we used a nice neutral, but cool gray.  As you can see in the above picture, you really can’t tell that there is wallpaper under the layer of gray paint.

Update Some Wood Molding & Doors

In this house, we had OAK molding and doors everywhere! It is very time-consuming and a little messy to paint all the molding when you have the carpet already there. I really did not want to have to paint all the molding for this basement makeover.

We chose to paint only the columns and doors instead of all the molding. I am happy with that decision and like have some warmth of the wood in our basement.

Not only does it take time to carefully do this, but you have to wait for each layer of paint to dry before you can do the next step.

Instead of painting everything white, I decided to follow the steps listed above to make my doors and columns white and leave the molding…it is a basement overall!

For the doors and columns, the only difference was that I used a small foam roller to apply the primer and enamel paint. I did have to trim around the columns so that I can leave the top and bottom of the molding the wood color.

My days of painting molding may be coming to an end after doing every single piece in two houses recently! 

Adding Extra Storage With Upper Stock Cabinets

Again, I looked all over Pinterest and Google to find inexpensive ways to add DIY storage to our basement. There are IKEA hacks I considered and different ways to create more storage. We decided that we wanted a more built-in look than just taking a piece of Ikea furniture and redoing it.

Create cheap DIY built-in cabinets by using stock upper kitchen cabinets as base cabinets.

Before my husband could install the cabinets, he had to create a base using 2’ x 4s, so that the cabinets would be off the ground and at the proper height.

Before You Order

Before you order cabinets (they will even ship to you for free from most places), you will need to figure out the size of the cabinets that you want.

Our DIY built-in design had one large cabinet that opened from the middle to store a variety of toys and things. We then added smaller single cabinets to the sides to complete our basement storage.

Get Your Cabinets Level

The biggest challenge with installing any cabinets is to make sure they are level before securing them to the wall. You may have to use shims (or small wooden chips to make sure the first one is level before instilling more). 

Add A Top To Cabinets

We then stained to 2 1’ thick, 8″ wide, and 10 ft. long poplar boards to create the top of our DIY built-in entertainment and toy storage center. Once the cabinets were installed, we used wood glue and a few finishing nails to secure the top of the cabinets.

Cabinet Finishing Touches

• Add quarter-round to cover any gaps due to our basement wall not being completely square. And let’s face it, no wall is!
• Add hardware (we used) and you have your own DIY built-in storage to help keep your basement organized.

If you are looking for different hardware for fun DIY projects, check out World Market. I have always loved their fun collection of hardware and have used their products on several different DIY furniture makeovers.

Organize Your Basement Shelving

My husband and I were going to add other shelving on top but then decided we really didn’t need it. It was a great way to add a more built-in look on a budget.

I have even made some of my own storage containers out of boxes to add another touch of inexpensive DIY solutions for inside the cabinets. 

There are so many fun DIY projects that we did to change this room. From our large string art to using these record cover frames to add DIY artwork to the walls.

Follow us on Pinterest, Youtube or Facebook for more DIY inspiration!

What is your favorite DIY home makeover? I always get a thrill when I am able to transform something for my home on a BUDGET!!!!

Our DIY budget basement makeover really gave us more space to create a kid’s area and an adult area that we needed!