These are the things that we used to make our basement family room more of a place we would want to spend time together as a family.  It was a quick fix which involved painting the panelling charcoal grey(Benjamin Moore Amherst Grey), purchasing a sofa off of Kijiji and pretty much stealing the rest from a school friend who was moving cross country.  Oh and the tv we got from my sister for helping them pick up a sofa they bought from Kijiji. 

Here is the room before we got the house

Here is the before and after of the room once the house was ours

I was a bit worried about painting the room so dark but paint is a super easy mess-up to fix so I gave it a go and am happy with the cozy feel it gives the room.