Tips to find the best basement design & renovations options
With several basement design ideas to choose from, you can turn a wasted and abandoned basement into something exciting and useful place in the house. A basement design doesn’t have to be costly and difficult. All you need is careful planning and a little creativity. Here are some ideas that you can use in remodeling that useless basement.
Design Options for Your Basement
You can turn your basement into a home office. With the number of Internet-based jobs growing these days, people are increasingly finding it more convenient and cost-efficient to have an office in the house. The basement is a perfect place for this because it is quiet downstairs. A table, some chairs a computer with Internet connection, a telephone line and some cabinets are basically the things that you need.
You can also choose to make a home theatre out of your basement. This basement design is among the most popular these days, considering the availability of reasonably priced LCD flat screens available in the market now. A spacious movie/TV room complete with large speakers and cozy chairs will be a wonderful experience for the entire family and friends.
You may decide to make your home theater basement to double as arcade room. Just place a pool or ping pong table and some game machines in one corner away from the LCD screen. Basement Design and Renovations works best in spacious basement.
Need Proper Design for basement
Building a basement takes a lot of time even just in planning alone. You have to be very careful especially if you already set your budget. Looking at finished basement designs will save you time and I’m telling you that you can find tons of pictures online. Other people upload their finished basements not to brag about their gorgeous basements but to help people like you to design your own basement. If you want to copy the entire color scheme and design then it’s up to you. But personally, I think it’s better to improve the design and incorporate your own style and taste to make the basement more personal. And of course, when people come to your basement, you want them to associate the design with your own personality.
Work Those Fats Out
If you and your family go to the gym, a basement workout room may be your best option. Tread mills, weights and other gym equipment and machines are becoming more available at cheaper prices these days. But while you can create your own gym at the basement, continue hiring the services of fitness experts in monitoring your workout progress.
If parties and other social gatherings are a common event in the house, the basement can be converted into a bar, or an entertainment room, especially if there’s not enough room upstairs. Parties can be held in the basement even late at night without ever disturbing the rest of the house. You can convert a corner into a mini-kitchen to confine all party activities in the basement.
Spare Room for The Guest
For small houses, basement can be made into a guest bedroom. A guest bedroom in the basement can free up the rooms upstairs for exclusive family use. But as a matter of course you have to construct a toilet and bath in the basement if you want to convert into a guest bedroom.
In any of flooring renovations designs, all the basic elements in basement construction should still be applied. Of prime consideration are ventilation, heating and cooling features, drainage, sewage and lighting.
Whatever basement design you will choose for your basement, you might have to consider subdividing it to maximize space. You can add some movable dividers instead of constructing permanent walls for mobility and flexibility. Depending on the design, you can install glass panels to make your basement appear wider. As mentioned earlier, designing your basement for comfort and utility all boils down to creativity.
Hire Contractor or Not?
Hiring a contractor to do basement remodeling is determined by your budget, set of skills and time and effort that you are prepared to exert for the project. The advantage with hiring professionals, of course, is that they are trained and experienced to finish the job at hand. Hence, make sure to do a background check if your contractor is certified and reliable before hiring him.
Do it yourself basement can save you money if you handle it properly. But it entails that you are capable or willing to learn of such skills as flooring, roofing and plumbing. If you have a fulltime job, bear in mind also that it might take you between two to six months to complete the remodeling. Nonetheless, being able to remodel your basement is fulfilling and gives you greater freedom to accomplish your desired look.
Other Considerations
Whether you end up deciding to hire a contractor or not, consult a professional on the get-go. During the planning stages, a professional can give suggestions on the repair works needed, building codes to follow and general idea of the remodeling cost. You can just pay the contractor for his consultation services. But the amount of insights you get in return is definitely valuable.
Basement remodeling is akin to constructing a mini version of your house. You have to consider everything from your general aims for the basement to the specific details such as basement drywall, lighting and flooring space. You have the option to make your basement a space for work or for leisure, or both. The important thing is to remember that careful planning on basement design ideas is perhaps half the battle.
Finished basement designs are readily available in different reading materials especially on magazines. Some even include step-by-step guide on how to complete the look. Some basements are brilliantly designed that they don’t look like basements at all. This is where the challenge comes from. To convert a dark, damp, smelly, cool basement to a warm, cozy, bright and inviting room is truly an achievement and what’s the better way to show it off but to post it in forums or in your blogs. This will make you help other people as well to get ideas from you.