7 Design Tips for Your Finished Basement

Do you dread going down into your basement? If exposed pipes and wiring or unfinished flooring make you uncomfortable in the lowest level of your house, you aren’t using your space to its fullest potential.

Check out this before and after post from Better Homes & Gardens to see how unappealing basements can be transformed into bright, inviting spaces. With the right remodel, your basement can become unrecognizable; it might just become your favorite space in your home.

Here are seven design options to transform an unfinished basement - or update a half-finished one - to improve your quality of life and expand the ways you use your house.

Basement Design Tip #1 - The Basement Theater Room

Since your basement likely gets little natural light (at least compared to other areas of the home), it could be a natural fit to set up a big screen and projector to create a home movie theater there. Another benefit of setting up a theater room downstairs is that it already adds a degree of sound isolation, perfect if you are considering a surround sound speaker system to bring the movies to you at home.

Basement Design Tip #2 - Children’s Playroom

If you have children in your home, a finished basement can offer more open play space and storage room for toys and games. It could also centralize where toys and other children’s items live (especially bigger playsets like play kitchens, jumbo building blocks, train tracks, and so on), freeing up space in other rooms of the house. A redesign like this might make you feel like you’ve added more rooms to the upper levels of the house, though all you’ve done is rearrange storage and play space.

Basement Design Tip #3 - The Basement Bar

If you love to entertain at home, adding a basement bar or "wet bar" (which includes a sink and running water) is sure to impress. Plus, the basement level is cooler than the rest of the house, so it can make sense to store alcohol there. 

A slightly different option for the basement could be a wine cellar, which is designed to feature wine above any other type of alcohol. A wine cellar may include recessed shelving to hold wine bottles specifically, and could also include a climate control system to manage humidity to protect the wine stored there.

Basement Design Tip #4 - Home Gym

Housing home gym equipment on the lowest level of your home will offer privacy during your workout routine. Getting on the treadmill is hard enough - no need to be self-conscious about family members walking by or neighbors peeking through your upstairs windows! Plus, a basement gym allows for more functional space on those more frequently used levels of the house.

Basement Design Tip #5 - Home Office

This design option utilizes the privacy offered to a home gym in the basement, as well as the sound isolation of the home theater, to provide an appealing work station. If someone in your household telecommutes or runs their own business, transforming the basement to a home office could be a great fit.

Another benefit is that locating the home office on a lower level ensures that the desk worker will have to walk up and down stairs throughout the day, folding in some healthy movement to break up sedentary time.

Design Tip #6 - Basement Dining or Living Room

Most of the ideas on this list are for "bonus rooms," or rooms that are used for reasons beyond functionality. (A bonus room is not a bathroom, hallway, closet, or kitchen.)

But a finished and comfortably furnished basement can also be a den, family room, or living room. A cozy lower level space can be a social room for all to enjoy together.

Design Tip #7 - Basement Living Space

Maybe you have an adult child living with you at home, or perhaps an older relative has moved in to be cared for by family. You may even take on a paid tenant in the basement level of your house to earn extra income.

Whatever the reason, finishing a basement and setting it up as a full and independent living space means adding a new dimension to how you use your home. A bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen with appliances would transform a basement into a complete and comfortable living space.

Redesign Your Basement With a Company You Can Trust

These are just seven ways to remodel a basement to maximize its utility and reimagine its style. Your basement should serve your family’s needs and be fun to spend time in, however you set it up.

If your basement needs a remodel, Marks Building Co. has the experience you need to make your vision a reality. Contact us today!