If you have a finished basement...

What do you have there? What do you use it for? I am looking to finish my basement and need ideas!

Re: If you have a finished basement...

I have a finished basement - it was finished when we bought the house, and it's a split, so it's just really a partial basement.

We use it primarily has a playroom for my son... we have couches down there, a tv, most of my son's toys, his table and chairs. I like that my son has a designated area, apart from our living room and den, that can be just for his stuff. It's out of the main living space and I can just shut the door on the toy explosion when I want to.

I also have several large closets down there that are great, including a cedar lined one for out of season clothes. And my laundry room is in the basement.

I've seen some really great finished basements. Many people like to add another bathroom in the basement (at least a half bath, if not a full). I've also seen guest bedroom set ups (if you have a large, full basement) -- of course, it's not a true legal bedroom in the basement, but it could still function as one. A lot of people use their finished basement as a TV/rec area area, but I've seen really elaborate (and fabulous!) set ups with things like wet bars, pool tables, dart boards. My friend's husband made a Yankees room in their basement, with a wet bar and a huge TV -- he displays all of his Yankees memorabilia there and it's pretty cool. I've also seen music rooms, craft rooms, home gyms, and home offices in finished basements.

A finished basement is a great bonus space to have - what you put there really depends on how your family lives and what type of stuff you'd get most use out of.

Re: If you have a finished basement...

2 extra bedrooms, full bathroom, LR, DR, and an unfinished section that holds the W/D, 2 pantries, extra full freezer.

It's great when we have guests.

Re: If you have a finished basement...

Ours isn't finished yet but we are going to do it in the next year. We have it mapped / planned out already.....

~ Large living area that will be our DC play / tv area, there will also be a corner where my office will be set up

~ 2 large closets one w/shelves for toys, etc & an another for off season clothing

~ A pantry area w/shelves and our deep freezer

***Our laundry is currently on the 1st floor but when we dormer will go up to the 2nd floor***

Re: If you have a finished basement...

There's a guest room and a bathroom.

We have a TV and two big comfy chairs for watching movies, with a soundsystem.

And the best thing: our music room with our guitars, drums, amps and shit.

Re: If you have a finished basement...

55" tv, surround sound, couch, love seat, recliner, bar with fridge, dart board and lots of open space for now in hopes we have kids someday!

We actually also have a kid kitchen and other toys that we were given and our friends kids play with when they are over.

Re: If you have a finished basement...

We have a pool table, large tv and couches and the pc there. We eventually would like to get a bar because. We have a sink.

Re: If you have a finished basement...

We have an unfinished party that has laundry, storage shelves and DH's tool/hockey equip area.

Our finished side has a large living area with tv/couches, fish tank, closet, a new bar that DH built, and an empty area off to the side. Then there is also a room off the main living area which is a playroom.

I love my basement!

Re: If you have a finished basement...

It's finished, we don't use it because I fear basements The kids can use it for whatever when they get older

Re: If you have a finished basement...

Re: If you have a finished basement...

My basement is technically finished but I need to renovate it before I will use it. There is also an unfinished part which is where the washer/dryer is. After we renovate we will just have a couch and TV. I think I want my kids to use it when they are older and have their friends over. I have a big closet down there now so we plan on keeping that for storage.

Re: If you have a finished basement...

Re: If you have a finished basement...

Laundry room,
extra room ( could be bedroom or playroom or tv room)
Bathroom
My husbands office with waiting room

Re: If you have a finished basement...

we have a laundry room, stall shower bathroom, couch/tv area and its more or less the kids playroom.

Re: If you have a finished basement...

We have a laundry closet, a full bathroom, a section where DH's computer is, a living area with 2 couches, tv, video games. Also a boiler room, a room with the oil tank and storage, a closet, and the door to the garage.

Re: If you have a finished basement...

The house we're buying has one big finished area (almost entire basement).

We have plans on making it the Den/Gameroom.

Re: If you have a finished basement...

Our basement is1/3 finished. It was a media room with the tv/surround sound/xbox and we had a small dining set there so we could eat down there or play board games. We le our adult son move back in last year and he spilled something red on the carpet and just generally made a mess so right now the carpet is ripped up and everything is off to one side waiting to get repainted/ carpeted.
I think we are going to set it up basically the same way again. I really never liked using that room, DH loved it.
I'm hoping to finish my laundry and storage area this time too
The rest of the basement with it pretty large is DHs workshop and storage area.

Re: If you have a finished basement...

W/D, couches, TV, tool room, walk in food pantry, full bath with shower stall and oversized jetted tub, full bar, and pool table.

Re: If you have a finished basement...

Ours is finished but needs to be refinished. Right now we have the washer dryer, 4 closets, and a foosball table. We also have all the junk tha we don't use that we should throw away.

When we do refinish it I want it to be the kids playroom. I have a split so theres just 5 steps that go down to it, so I plan on changing the door to a glass pane door so i can see what they are doing.

Re: If you have a finished basement...

ours is finished with a small area for storage (closed off).

we have a big TV and two leather couches down there. we only really use it when we have company or if DH and I cannot agree on what to watch in the den

Re: If you have a finished basement...

The finished half of our basement has a 55' tv and 3 pc sectional on one side and a papasan and armchair on the other side. The sectional is so comfy and the tv makes me feel like we're in a movie theater.

We've hosted New Year's, Superbowl and some UFC fight nights down there and everyone loves it.

The only thing I wish we had is a half bath. Our laundry room is so big that we can probably fit one in, but that will be in the distant future.

Re: If you have a finished basement...

we have a 55" tv...a sectional...two chairs...a bar area...laundry room...storage area and a pool table

Re: If you have a finished basement...

We have a pretty big finished basement. A large laundry room with our old kitchen cabinets down there, extra freezer, and storage. My DH's office is down there with door to the garage. Most of the space is a playroom... kids table, futon, tv. Then the best part- my home gym... treadmill, elliptical, weights and bench with TV in the room.

Re: If you have a finished basement...

We recently finished ours. We have a full bathroom with stand up shower that is nicer than the shower in my master bath.

We also have a main room that holds the ping pong table, beer fridge and treadmill (man cave) and a room off to the side that has a tv, couch, recliner and a lot of the kids toys.

We also have a small unfinished room that serves as storage for all of our out of season junk!

Message edited 5/11/2012 4:41:48 PM.

Re: If you have a finished basement...

We have a HD movie theater, play area, office, and laundry room. We left the workshop/storage cellar unfinished. It has it's own door, as well as the laundry room.