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Working Moms
groovygrl
member
xp finished basements- what do you love or wish you had?
groovygrl
member
in Working Moms
we are going to get some estimates to finish ours & I'm trying to get some ideas. Our basement is pretty large (1200 sq ft maybe?) & is not just a rectangle, it is irregularly shaped so there are options for separate "areas".
What do you love about your basement? Have you ever seen anything really unique in a basement that you wish you did have?
Things we plan to include:
1. a full bath down there plus a 'bedroom' next to it (room w/ a closet, we won't use it as a bedroom but will prob put exercise stuff in there).
2. We have a rough in for wet bar & plan to have something installed including sink& small fridge but I don't think we really want a full bar type setup (with stools, etc) b/c we just won't use it for the cost, but probably a wet bar.
3. I don't know that we want a full fledged media room/area but likely somewhere where a flat screen tv of various sizes could be mounted w/ seating, etc- mostly for resale potential, less for us right now.
4. there will be a room where the sump pump is located that will not be fully finished & we will have shelving/storage for seasonal items & to get stuff up off the floor in case of flooding.
Thanks!This discussion has been closed.
Re: xp finished basements- what do you love or wish you had?
I don't have a basement where I live now. However, I grew up w/ basements and we always had a play room for the kids (own room w/ door and a window to peek thru), couch/tv area, closet for storage, full bath, wet bar and an area for adult recreation; pool table, poker table, darts. I would incorporate this now. If I had the money, I would have a separate wine room and media room w/ theater seating.
We redid ours last year, it is by no means as big or nice sounding as yours.
We have a full bathroom; a separate utility room with the boiler, sink, laundry, etc.; We have a tv area with couches, tv, shelves, etc; we also have a table and chairs for eating/working; DH has his office set-up on one end.
Two things that I am really happy about:
1. I like having storage space - in the untility room, tv area shelves/cabinets and in the bathroom, and LOs toys in a bin.
2. We have the whole space carpeted, except by the doors (to the backyard and garage) there we put tile (~6' x 12') as an entranceway and space for shoes. It has made it easier to keep the basement cleaner. I like how it separates the space.
Good luck! Your basement sounds like it will be amazing!
I really like our basement in this house, we have an area with an L shaped couch/lazy boy/ giant flat screen w/ surround sound, wet bar w/ sink/mini fridge, full bath, bedroom (with a window and walk in closet), enlarged "hallway" which houses my husband's guitars/weights, and a whole unfinished section in which we build large shelves and DH has his tools so he can do whatever including wood working.
I am a big proponent of having enough unfinished area for storage.
What I love: we are huge wine drinkers so we get a lot of use out of the cellar, and I love the kitchenette b/c we use up every bit of the full size fridge.
What I would do diff: cancel the weight room that never gets used and make it a playroom instead.
It doesn't have and I wish it did -- a bedroom. Seriously not sure WHAT those people were thinking as it clearly has room for a bedroom.
Things we like: decent sized "closet" storage area in addition to shelved storage near the furnace and water heater. A workman's alley behind the TV and electronic gear. That is awesome. Little door leads to a walkway where it is easy to access and hook up all the electronics and maintain the steam shower stuff. Makes that very easy. The wet bar area with fridge is great when DH is having his poker nights. We do have the media area and that is honestly great.
DD -- 5YO
DS -- 3YO
Sounds great! One comment, if you want to have a bedroom down there, it has to have a window (fire escape) and a closet to be called a bedroom.
I would build an exercise area, and consider the big tv/media area you are talking about to be a playroom for the kids (ie, playroom now, great 'sleepover party' area later). Also, not sure your basement layout, but the back of ours walks out into the back yard so we'd put the bathroom right next to the back door. Then kids are not trudging in dirt all over my house, they can just use the one right there.
Maybe some sort of sports equipment storage area?
We have a finished basement with a full bath, storage closet, and laundry room/storage. It is fully carpeted, and it's primary use is to watch TV on fabulously comfy sofas. When DD is old enough, it will also be her play area.
I wish we had another small room we could use for an office. And more storage. Always more storage, so we could get a fridge and a storage freezer in.
mm 2/17/11 * dd born 4/20/12 * bo 1/3/14 * edd 1/21/ 1/15
We finished our basement (about 700 sq feet) a couple of months before DD was born. I love it.
We have a family room/tv area that closes off with french doors and then a larger area with a pool table, eliptical, etc
I do wish that we had finished the bathroom, but we ran out of time/money. I also think that a bar would be great. We didn't think about it until after the basement was complete and it would be a pain to go back and add it now. We did leave a good amount of unfinished space for storage which has also been wonderful.
DH wishes we had put in surround sound, but we can always go back and do that later.
My big regret is the carpet. We chose carpet because stone or wood floors would get too cold in the basement, but we went with a really light colored berber. It is horrible. Within a few months it snagged several places and had stains. I really want to replace it but we have several other home improvement projects in line before that.
Your basement sounds exactly like mine. We've had it finished for about a year now and absolutely love it. I don't know how we ever lived without all that extra space.
We have a huge main room that has a TV/stereo system, wet bar, office nook, and a small storage room. The bar has stools, a bunch of storage, a sink, and a kegerator.
The next room is DD's playroom. We also have a pantry for extra food items, a deep freezer, and a treadmill (that rarely gets used...) We also put in a bedroom, a half bath, and a storage room that has the sump pump in it.
One thing we did different is we didn't put in a ceiling. We felt that it would make the space feel much smaller since due to plumbing/etc it would have to drop down lower that we'd like in a lot of spots so we spray painted it brown. I was a bit hesitant about it but I love the look of it.
Here are some pics. This was right after it was finally finished and we've added a lot of storge and decor elements to the space.
https://sweetsunshinesofmine.blogspot.com/2011/11/thankful.html
Thanks all for the ideas!!!!!
We can't do a walkout and it was built to have the basement finished so all plumbing etc is already roughed in & windows/escapes are in place. We chose not to have the builder finish it mostly so we could move in earlier but also so we could do it more custom, as we live in a home that is made by a big builder & wanted to be able to do something that would be a little different than other nearby homes if we need to sell in a few years...
The price is of course what is killing me, since I'm anticipating around $30K or so???? I'm not really sure but I think the basic builder one (with full bath but no wet bar or anything) was $20K....ughhhh....
I'm also not too sure about how it works when you're working & have contractors coming & going for weeks/months? I may have to post about that