My house is so old that my basement looks like a dilapidated bunker from World War II. I am pretty sure that I could find Civil War bullets and maybe even a few soldiers if I did enough digging, but that doesn’t keep me from dreaming about the day when I have a beautiful finished basement of my own.
There are many worries when it comes to finished basements, from water and moisture to mold and mildew, but the basement is also the perfect place for the man-cave or mom’s little hideaway. Here are some of my best ideas of what you can do with a finished basement.
1. The Bar: Every man dreams of having his own mahogany bar, complete with beer taps and those Tom Cruise “Cocktail” moves. You name it something cool like the Vegas Hideaway or The Gilded Hare and have your friends come over for drinks. People start expecting more drinks, so you end up buying books on mixology and become an expert on everything from exotic beers to using egg whites.
2. Craft/Tool Area: If you have children, then you know it can be difficult to have any kind of hobby in the main area of the house, because they will inevitably get into it. If you are into woodcarving, beading or other crafts, then a finished basement is perfect. You can keep the door locked so the children can’t get it and then enjoy an hour or two to go down and enjoy your hobby while your significant other takes care of the children.
3. Play Area: Many basements are basically one large room, and these can be perfect for play areas for your older children. You can put large items in there, such as a makeshift stage for plays or bins of costumes for dress-up. This keeps toys from getting spread about the house, but I would recommend that there be an adult to supervise whenever the children are down there. If you have limited space in your home, then a basement play area can save you a lot of cleaning effort, and you don’t have an main floor toy room.
4. Home Theater Arena: The worst part about having the main living room as the home theater area is that there is always so much going on. People come over, and the living room is where they go. The kids want to play X-box. The wife wants to watch “Steel Magnolias” … again. Or worse, you start to watch, and they ask you to turn it down. With its concrete walls, the basement is great for acoustics, and you can sit in relative peace and quiet as the rest of the world goes on above you.
5. The Game Room: We have all seen the basements with the pool tables, poker tables and other gaming implements in television, movies and even some relatives’ houses, and there is a reason for that. With such a large area, you can place many large gaming items, like tables and pinball machines, without having it look cluttered. It can be an area for kids or adults and provides the privacy to really concentrate on killing the bad guy.
Basements can be anything you want, from an extra bedroom to a home gym, and should be utilized in some way, especially if it is finished. Too many people forget about the basement and focus on decorating and renovating their main floors, but there is a whole area of the home not being considered.
Image Source:http://www.flickr.com/photos/20179579@N00/2596465411/
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