Designing people’s homes should feel like a reflection of who they are and the basement shouldn’t be any different. Often people move into their homes and think they are limited to the footprint that was left by the builder, but this doesn’t have to be the case. By talking to your contractor or designer about the ultimate goals for the space, you might find out that spending a little bit more money on moving things around can result in the room you’ve dreamt about.
I recently helped a new family design the basement they had always hoped for. We had many long discussions about how to effectively use the space, what their "must have’s", and what would be nice to have but not of crucial importance. One of the very big decisions we made, although not a popular one, was to not put in a bedroom. Their main reason for developing the basement was to turn their basement into the main entertainment hub. For this family, having a bedroom that only got utilized a few times a year was not as important as having a large open space to enjoy with their friends and family all year round! However, we did manage to squeeze in two beds in the event guests needed to stay overnight Here’s how we created this perfect multifunctional space.