Finishing Basement

We're looking to finish our basement soon. We have a "standard" cape in Wantagh, that we did a dormer too, 24x32 footprint. Right now we have laundry, utilities, my tools and storage down there.

Currently the plan is to make a laundry room with the washer, dryer, add a cabinet with a sink. Move the basement fridge in there and the shelves that we have that store food and cleaning supplies into there. That will be a little less than 1/4 of the basement.

We intend to have the utility space and a small unfinished portion for tools etc.

The remaining 1/2+ of the basement we intend to make a family room/ playroom for the kids, we currently have toys everywhere in our living room (we only have a living room). We plan to have a TV, couches, some storage of toys and play area. Ideally a closet or 2.

Does anyone have any good ideas for the basement? Things to think about. tips and tricks?

We're planning on no bathroom due to space complexity and that we have 3 in the house already. We're planning on vinyl plank flooring and sheetrock for the walls/ceiling

Message edited 9/20/2018 11:39:03 AM.

Finishing Basement

We just redid our basement. Try for an egress window if you do not have another way out of the basement (door). I like the porcelain tiles that look like faux wood for the floor. Just in case of a flood or leak those bad boys will not get damaged. Think about what you can do under the steps. Some people put shelving, other make it a nook, or do built ins.

Re: Finishing Basement

I second the egress window idea. Especially if DC will be spending a lot of time down there in the playroom.
How much natural light do you have in there? That will affect how much lighting, and what type of lighting, you'll need.
My basement is partially exposed, so in the middle of the day, I don't always need to turn on any lights, or just task lighting.

Finishing Basement

Be careful with plank flooring as I’ve read your basement needs to be 100% level. I’ve also read it scratches easily and if your children will be down there majority of the time I would take that into account.

Re: Finishing Basement

do you need ac or heat? Those European units are popular in basements

Re: Finishing Basement

Re: Finishing Basement

If it's in the budget, I would definitely try to add an exterior entrance/exit (instead of an egress window).

Finishing Basement

Thanks everyone
Hi, sorry, forgot to mention. we currently have a door to the outside in the basement with Bilco doors.

We don't have a lot of natural light in the basement. Really only 2 windows. and unfortunately, not much opportunity to add since we have the garage on 1 wall, the front porch cover another and the utilities and door covering a 3rd.

We definitely need to decide on how we will heat and possibly cool the space. Currently we have forced air heating with a duct running across the basement heating the first floor. I'm not sure if it makes sense to tap into that, add baseboard, add a mini-split or what.

we will consider tile in the basement. Was thinking the vinyl would look good and be soft and warmer underfoot.

Finishing Basement

what you described is exactly what we did (we have a cape too). We moved our washer/dryer to the same area as our heating/hot water system so that it's all together and not wasting space in two areas. We put sterilite shelves in that same area for an extra pantry space for paper towels, toilet paper, soda, etc. It is the room to the right when you walk down the stairs. The room to the left is my husband's office. It's a small room with our extra fridge (mostly has his beer in it lol), an L-shaped desk with his computers and stuff set up on there, and our file cabinet with important documents and such are in there. So between the office and the laundry room that is essentially the front half of the basement. The entire back half, which is HUGE, is a play room and full bathroom. We have a sectional sofa off to one side with a TV and entertainment stand, DD's play kitchen, her teepee tent, an IKEA toy storage system, and a play table with chairs with all of her tea party stuff in it. We also have a standard closet with shelves for extra toys and our winter clothes, and we made an additional closet underneath the staircase

Finishing Basement

The majority of my basement is one big room. There is a beam in the middle and one half is tv/coffee table/sectional and the other half is DD's play room. We have a closet under the stairs. We also have a fairly large utility/storage room (unfinished) and a finished, dedicated laundry room. If we were planning to stay long term we would finish the storage area and make it a home gym.

We have ceramic tile in the laundry room and just put in wood look linoleum in the rest of the (finished) part of the basement. The stairs are carpeted, which I originally thought was ugly but now having a toddler I'm glad we didn't rip it up.

Let me know if you want pics. My basement is my favorite part of my house. It is AMAZING to have have toys all over the living room (though some do seem to creep upstairs no matter what I do).