Secrets to Having the Basement of Your Dreams

The number one question that we get before showing a house is if it has a basement or not. Since California is not known for its extreme weather, not many of the homes have basements. When we get this question, we know that the people want a place to have as a “man cave,” “crafting corner,” or “rec room” for the kids. All of this is possible if you have a basement. If you don’t it can become a little more difficult. Well, since we have readers from all over the country, we have decided that we are going to talk about what you can do with your basement if you have one. Keep in mind, you can use most of these ideas for any large room that you have that is currently unoccupied. Let’s not waste too much time deciding where you are going to put these ideas. We will leave that up to you to decide. Just know that the ideas in this blog were intended for a basement. You might have to make some changes if you are not putting it there.

Double Living Room

Quite often, this is referred to as “the man cave.” It doesn’t have to be that though. Anyone in the family is welcome to use this room. The focus of this room is more on the size of the television and the sound system that will accompany it. Generally speaking, you will have a very large television with surround sound hooked up to it. This makes movie night or watching sports a lot more immersive experience. When you are doing the double living room, it is important to focus on the creature comforts. Make sure that you have a lot of view spaces for everyone in the family. Adding a small refrigerator or microwave can make the room complete. There are so many other possibilities that you are going to want to read on.

Recreation Room

Traditionally, this is called a “rec room”. We think the reason that it is called a “rec room” is that the word rec is similar to the word wreck. It is not that uncommon to find this as the messiest room in the house – or a wreck. However, we have some great ideas on things that you can use this room for. Some of the possibilities that we could think of are pool tables, standup video games, dartboards, and even a dance floor. There was one couple that we sold a house that had full intentions on putting in a karaoke machine. They told us they were going to have a wet bar and a stage as well.

The point of having this room is to have a place for you or your family and friends to have a place to relax. With this room, there will be very little reason to go out. This is good for a family that has very little time to do extra things. Just bring those things to you. That way, you will not have to spend hours driving to different places. Simply go downstairs and have some fun.

Bedroom

Perhaps you are growing your family unit. Instead of moving, you can simply transform the basement into a bedroom. Depending on the size, you can transform it into several different rooms. This can be a great idea if you want to keep the kids in a separate part of the house from you. This will limit the mess they make to an area that most people will not go. Just remember when you are doing this to make sure you build in space for them to do their homework and watch television. Keeping the kids in a separate part of the house will make it that much easier for you to have people over. The number one complaint that we hear when we are talking to people about entertaining guests is that they have to clean up after the kids all the time. This makes entertaining a nightmare.

When designing the bedrooms, make sure that you get a licensed contractor and architect to do the design and building. These are not really projects for a DIYer. There are too many things that can go wrong. These professionals are paid to know what walls can come down and what walls have to stay. It would be a shame if you had to call in one of them to fix something seriously wrong with your house.

Apartment

Along the same lines as making it a bedroom, you could alternately make it into an apartment. If you have an older child that needs to have space of their own, you could rent it out to them. Once all of the kids are gone, you can rent out the space by adding a separate private entrance for them. Additionally, you could rent out the space on Airbnb and make some of the money back that you spent on remodeling the space. Just remember, the most important thing is to have a private entrance.

In Closing

There are many other things that you can do with this space. We think the above ideas are your best bet. Don’t be afraid to go off-list and do something of your own. Some of the projects on our list, you could very much do on your own. Some of the others you will need to have professionals help you. Don’t be ashamed to hire an interior decorator to help you furnish it after you have built it. You want to be just as proud of your basement as you are with the rest of the house.

Should you take any of the ideas on this list and transform your basement into something spectacular, don’t hesitate to share some of your pictures with us. We would love to see what additions you made to your house. Additionally, if you have any ideas that you think should have made our list, share them with us. We might even do a second part of this list as there are so many wonderful ideas.