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Having a sister is *absolutely* the best. Not only do you get to share (or steal) clothes, friends, and boys, but you get a lifelong BFF — from birth! Recently, B+C fave femme and sloth enthusiast Kristen Bell surprised her big sis with a classy basement makeover. That’s right, Bell coordinated with Houzz to show her appreciation for sibling Sara by giving her Michigan home a dreamy lower level remodel. Bell organized a total gutting of the cramped space and revamped it to feel spacious and bright. Then she went all out and decorated the upgraded space with chic AF furnishings. Let’s just say this renovation is total #decorgoals and we are in love.
Sara has lived in Detroit for 12 years with her husband, Tom, and their children. Originally, they felt like they had plenty of space in their three-bedroom, one-bath home. But after their fourth babe was born, space began feeling tighter, and according to Bell they are now “busting out of the windows of this house.”
So why the basement? Bell felt the downstairs space could be used more efficiently and wanted to help her hardworking sis out. “Sara hasn’t had the time to reimagine it for the kids,” Bell says. “I wanted to figure out a way to maximize the house and make the basement someplace they would all gravitate towards.”
The renovation is part of a video series called My Houzz that documents celebrities surprising their family members with partial or full home makeovers. Because she lives across the country in Los Angeles, Bell hired local Detroit design pro, Melissa Kennedy of Meadowlark Design+Build, to make the big decisions. “I knew she was the one I wanted to trust with this project,” Bell says. Kennedy is responsible for the “simplified traditional” design of the basement renovation. Aesthetically this translates as “warm colors, warm textures, nothing too cool, comfortable furniture, nothing too frou frou or overly ornate,” Kennedy says. Once the facelift was complete, Bell bought most of the furnishings from the Houzz Shop to round out the look. Since the basement lacks natural light, Kennedy chose to replace fluorescent bulbs by swapping in 3,000 Kelvin temperature ones. “We didn’t want to go too warm. We went a little bit cooler to simulate natural light,” she says.
Long story short, Bell’s home improvement project was v. successful. Her sister’s basement went from cluttered and dim to chic and vibrant. Sara was thrilled with the renovation. “There isn’t one thing I would change,” says Sara. “Nothing.” Watch the full reveal below:
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(Photos and video via Houzz)
