One of the things that made us fall in love with our Victorian terrace house when we first viewed it was the cellar. There’s not many houses in the UK that come with a basement.. I thought it was so cool! Just think of all the things you can do with a cellar! Well.. for over a year we did nothing with it. It sat gathering clutter and became the new home to a large family of spiders.
But a few months ago I decided to start working on it to try and make it into a more useable space. It was originally intended to be Gavin’s ‘man cave’, but because he didn’t do anything with it for a whole year, I decided to take it over. That’s fair right?! Obviously I wasn’t going to turn it into a girly pink princess palace. I wanted it to be a neutral and multifunctional room which we could make better use of. It wasn’t in terrible condition but the paint was peeling off the walls in some areas and the floor was patchy and had previously painted red.
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What is a Victorian cellar?
Our Victorian cellar not a huge space – it’s directly beneath our dining room so it’s not massive but a decent space. Luckily it has enough head space so that you can walk around without banging your head on the ceiling, which can often be a problem in old cellars. It also already had a window built in which allows for some natural light and ventilation, plus a radiator piped in.
Damp can often be a problem in Victorian cellars, and when we had our survey done when we were purchasing the house it was noted that there was slight damp on one of the walls where there was some peeling paint, but nothing major. After doing some research locally, although pretty much all of the terraced houses here are identical, they don’t all have cellar.
Most Victorian houses here just have a door leading to a pantry cupboard (cellarette) rather than a staircase down to a full sized basement. And those that do have a cellar often find that they flood when it rains heavily. Luckily we don’t have that issue! The cellar would have been used in Victorian times for storing coal, but I’m unsure what the purpose of the nice archway is.
How to damp proof a Victorian cellar
But as one wall had some slight damp, we wanted to make sure that the problem didn’t get worse in future, so we used some damp proof tanking solution to make the wall waterproof. We used Sika Waterproof Coating which wasn’t too expensive to buy, and it comes in powdered form so you just need to mix it with water and apply two coats with a paintbrush. We were really impressed with how easy it was to use and what a good finish it left. Although we did have to scrape off as much old paint as possible from the walls before applying the tanking – this was definitely the hardest bit!
Painting a Victorian cellar
Once we had scraped off all the old paint and damp proofed the problem wall, we then gave the whole room a coat of white emulsion paint to freshen it up a bit. We also used No Nonsense grey garage floor paint from Screwfix to give the tatty old floor a clean up, which worked really well. It’s very hardwearing and can be used on concrete or over the top of old paint. So now the cellar was a blank canvas and ready to furnish and accessorise!
How to furnish a cellar on a budget
I love saving money and furnishing our home on a budget, so we were thrifty when it came to furnishing the cellar. We bought a second hand treadmill off Facebook for £100 a few months ago, and the cellar is the perfect place to have it. The floors are nice and solid and there’s power sockets to run it. Plus it’s nice and cool down there which is ideal when exercising! We haven’t felt the need to turn the radiator on yet.
So the treadmill is in one corner and then directly opposite is a TV (which someone on Facebook was giving away for free!). The TV is sitting on top of an industrial console table which fits perfectly in the little alcove. It is made from a black steel frame with a grey wood finish, and it includes two drawers and a bottom shelf for plenty of storage and display space. I love this console table and think it gives the room the contemporary, on-trend look that I was going for. Here’s a few photos of the cellar, taken in the daytime with the main lights off – it’s surprisingly light down there.
We then have an Norraker Ikea bar table and two chairs which is currently placed under the archway. This set was another Facebook freebie that someone was giving away – it was originally £300 in Ikea! The dark wooden bookcase was also a Facebook freebie that someone up the road was giving away, and I thought it would make useful storage in the cellar for Gav’s books and CD’s. We also have a little grey sofa in the cellar which I bought off Facebook for £10. Ideally we’d like to have something a bit bigger down there, but unfortunately our stairwell is so narrow that nothing big can get down there!
Accessorising the cellar
The cellar is still fairly neutral at the moment, but I have tried to accessorise with a few artificial plants, a throw and some cushions on the sofa and we’ve hung some of Gav’s favourite band prints on the walls. He also has a Stella Artois beer fridge on the windowsill which looks pretty cool. I also bought a standing lamp off Facebook for £5 to go next to the sofa, and a little side table which was only £7 in Homebase. The rug is actually an outdoor rug that I bought last summer for the garden but never used, which I think looks quite cool. I also used some cool white LED light strips which run along the ceiling to add a bit of ambient lighting. I also wrapped some twinkling fairy lights around the stair handrail and added a neon sign.
So that’s it really! We currently use the cellar as a gym and watch the TV as we run on the treadmill, or I watch a fitness video on Youtube to workout to. But we’re thinking of using it more as a bar/drinking area when people can come over again! It’s pretty soundproof as it’s underground so hopefully loud music or chatting won’t annoy the neighbours! It’s also very handy for general storage too.
What do you think of our Victorian house cellar transformation? What would you use the space for?
You’ve done such an amazing job, it looks fantastic! Ruth ruthwrites.blog
I am guessing the archway is a support for a fireplace and chimney above.
I am guessing the archway is a support for a fireplace and chimney above.