• Burlap makes an excellent ceiling cover when remodeling a basement.stock image of burlap frame image by Ruslana Stovner from Fotolia.com
  
  Ingenuity is the best avenue to take when wanting to remodel a basement with minimal expense. Being creative and open-minded to alternative ceiling and wall covers allow for a unique and versatile living environment to be created. Traditional and nontraditional items and applications are used to turn a basement into a usable room.
  
  

Burlap

• Basements with low ceilings or that have numerous pipes and venting that hang beneath the floor joists can pose ceiling coverage problems. Use burlap to cover the ceilings by attaching the burlap to the bottom of the floor joist with a staple gun. The burlap is then draped between the ceiling joist and attached with the staple gun on every other joist. Wood strips can be attached over the stapled area to help with strength. Make sure not to cover any light fixtures with burlap because the heat can cause the burlap to catch on fire. Cut out the areas of the burlap to fit around the light fixture.
  
  

Block painting

• Prime the concrete walls with a light-colored concrete suitable paint. This type of paint can be found at any hardware store that sells floor and porch paint. Excess wall paint or purchased small cans of wall paint can then be painted on each concrete block to form a type of checkerboard effect. The colors can be painted on every other block or any type of pattern can be created depending on how many colors are used.
  
  

Wall covering

• Secure a strip of wood to the top and bottom of the wall that lay perpendicular to the ceiling and floor. Attach strips of colored fabric that extend from the ceiling to the floor using a staple gun. Overlap the edges of the fabric by two inches. Place a strip of quarter-round on the top and bottom edge after finishing to help hold the fabric into place.
  
  The amount of fabric required can be figured by measuring the room's length, width and height. Add the length and width together and multiply by two. Divide the answer by the width of the fabric. Add one to the answer to get how many strips of fabric will be needed. Multiply the height of the room by the number of strips needed to cover the wall. Make sure to make all measurement conversions to yards to make purchasing the material easier. Purchase fabric that is less than $2.50 a yard to make fabric wall covering less expensive than drywall and paint.