Room ideas

[BasementIdeas]

Hi

We’re viewing a property with a basement - hopefully ground floor and basement floor plans are attached

The thing is, I’m struggling to think of what we would actually use the basement for and want to have some ideas of things to look out for before we view

My main questions are

• is the room marked as a games room / cinema light enough with only 1 window at 1 end?
• what could we actually use the “lounge” and wine cellar for? Are they light enough with no natural light? We have no use for a wine cellar! I’m thinking that we could actually use the lounge as a cinema seeing as we normally shut the curtains to watch a film anyway
• you have to walk through the kitchen to get to the only ground floor WC. Will this be mega annoying? Is there anywhere else to put a WC? Property is a semi with the hallway adjacent to next door

Our kids are 6 and 9. What could the best uses be for these sort of rooms as the kids grow up? Maybe a pool / air hockey table in 1?

Many thanks for any ideas!

Mainly don't use it as a bedroom for safety!

a games room/kids lounge/space for a large dining table (for xmas) etc.. but tbh, I would not worry about this. As your kids get older just having more rooms so that you can all have your own space is good, so useful to be able to grow into a house

As the kids grow up they’ll love having the basement space - pool table, running machine, cinema room etc.
I would set one of the rooms up as a laundry room with the ironing board up and ready! I don’t currently iron so a lot of my clothes are now unused. Even wine and cinema sound more interesting.

Great ideas, thanks guys

I agree it will grow with us. Ironing room sounds fantastic as does a room to let all the messy out!

Will definitely have more ideas when we have a look now. Still worried about the WC and guests potentially having to walk past everyone in the house to use it!

Also, it’s a semi whereas we have only been looking at detached so far. Not sure if the extra basement space is worth it or not!

You could change the wc so that is accessed through the utility if you preferred but that might also not be that nice for guests. We have a wc off our utility and it’s great as a dirty wc (it has the cat litter tray in it) but I always tell guests to use the one upstairs!

The basement I would use the windowless room as just storage ( suitcases/ decorating stuff/ tools) as this would also make your garage a lot clearer. And the front part of the basement as either a playroom or cinema room. My husband would use the whole basement for his brewing equipment but appreciate that is a niche hobby.

I'd use the windowless 'lounge' as a store room. I would so love to have a big clean space to keep suitcases / boxes of memorabilia / christmas decorations / sports kit etc.

and the front half could be a cinema room / gym (exercise bike in one corner) and would be well used by teenagers to hang out away from parents.

Where we are there is a lot of granite and all the basements have radon gas. Didn't stop lots of folks turning them into living space but it was a bad idea.

No idea if that's a problem for you but maybe ask?

@Aria999

Where we are there is a lot of granite and all the basements have radon gas. Didn't stop lots of folks turning them into living space but it was a bad idea.

No idea if that's a problem for you but maybe ask?

Thanks, I’ll definitely ask

While I have everyone, what are the thoughts about the WC? Only one is on the ground floor and you have to walk through kitchen to get to it - sounds annoying/ embarrassing if you have guests!