Comfortable Basement Suite

Candice gives a beloved grandmother a comfy space of her own in her daughter's basement.

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Hide CaptionShow CaptionMarie needed this drab basement to be turned into a stylish suite so her mother would feel at home when she visited.

- Before: Drab Basement
- After: Elegant Luxury

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By Candice Olson

Before: Drab Basement

Marie and Alex are exhausted. Not only are they busy with their demanding careers and two young children, but the couple has also just lived through a long, tiresome home renovation. They redesigned most of their two-story house, but ran out of steam and ideas when it came to finishing the basement — one of the more important rooms in their home.

Marie has a very close relationship with her mother, Sandra (affectionately known as "YaYa," which is Greek for grandmother), and since YaYa lives out of town, she needs a place to hang her hat when visiting the family. Marie wanted her mother to have a space to call her own that didn't make her feel like she was being banished to a cold, dark basement.

The existing room was an empty, bright-blue space with a builder's kitchenette and not much else. Marie asked me to add some style, warmth and ambiance for YaYa, making it a stylish suite where she could relax, have a little privacy and cook up batches of her famous mousaka and other traditional delicacies.