How I Finished My Basement Stress Free
I recently decided to finish part of the basement in my home and turn it into an environment for the entire family to enjoy.
We tend to do a fairly significant amount of entertaining on the weekends so it was important to me to have a space that facilitated the kind of atmosphere we have in our home.
At the very beginning stage of the process, I started out by mapping out what I hoped to accomplish in the space.
My goal was to provide a room where people could get together, play card games, watch movies or sporting events and enjoy the company of one another.
Once I had an idea of how the space was going to be used, designing it became one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had.
I think it's important to note that I have no design background and I don't know the first thing about contracting.
I was starting from scratch in the truest sense.
The next step in the process was selecting a theme for the room.
I bounced several ideas around in my head (sports theme, classic movie theme, etc) but ultimately decided that I wanted to do something that wasn't going to phase out with time so I settled on simple and elegant.
This also happened to be the general setup for the rest of the house so it really worked with the flow of our space.
I settled on neutral, darker colors so that there wouldn't be too many visual distractions when we watched a movie.
I searched for game room accessories to use as colorful accents on the walls and found some really unique light fixtures to help personalize the space.
Selecting the furniture and equipment was a fun, but time consuming, task.
While searching online, I found some room planning programs that were really helpful to me in figuring out how to map out my space.
I wanted to offer a variety of different options without having to worry about breaking up the space too much.
The section of our basement that we finished was just over 375 square feet so we had ample room to work with.
What we ultimately settled on having an area of the room set apart to use for television, movies and video games, a table for poker and board games and a space in the corner for an arcade game and pinball machine.
I knew that with the number of people who are generally over at any given time and the variety of activities they like to enjoy as smaller groups, it was important to have the right equipment and furniture to suite our game room.
The first event in my newly designed space was a huge success, and I would advise anyone who is considering taking on a project like this to take the time to sit down and figure out what you expect for your space, a theme that goes along with those expectations and the various furniture and accessories that will help to bring it to a whole different level.
Keep in mind that, although it seems overwhelming, completing an in-home project can be enjoyable and rewarding.