5 Tips For Your Next Basement Renovation

Renovating your basement is a very exciting thing to do. While the process can be stressful, you are ultimately adding livable square footage to your house that is meant to be enjoyed. Here are five tips to ensure that you get the most of your next basement renovation and create a space that you will love for years to come.

Make Sure to Add a Subfloor

Your basement is the only room that comes in direct contact with the earth. Therefore, it is extremely important to add a layer of subflooring between the carpet or hardwood and the concrete base of your basement. This is a small, but important step that will help keep your basement from feeling humid or damp. Don’t overlook this step during your basement renovation!

Include Large Windows and Bright Lights

Basements can often feel dark and dingy when not designed properly. In order to combat this feeling include large windows on non-subterranean walls to help brighten up space.

Additionally, you should include brighter lights than you would for any other floor of your home. We suggest that you use recess lighting with high-wattage light bulbs to really brighten up the place.

Put Your Main Living Space Near Windows

If you are putting a sitting area or second living area in your basement, then you should strategically place it near large windows or glass doors. People tend to be attracted to the lightest portion of rooms, so putting your living space near the light will make it more inviting.

The key to any successful sitting area is to make it as inviting as possible. While many people opt to have dark colors in their basement for a more elegant look, it’s easy to achieve elegance with a brightly colored couch or table as well. If you use bright colors in and around your seating area it will make it more inviting and you will want to spend more time using it.

PRO TIP: Make sure your windows shine and hire a professional window cleaning company near you!

Don’t Forget to Include a Running Water and Kitchen Essentials

While you probably don’t want an entire kitchen in your basement it is important to include some essentials so that you don’t have to run up and down the stairs every time that you need something.

We recommend including running water in some form so that you can easily clean up spills. While it may add extra cost to your renovation, you will be thanking us next time someone spills a drink all over the area rug in your brand new basement.

Additionally, you should include a refrigerator for drinks and extra food storage. This way you can keep snacks and drinks in the basement and not have to worry about going upstairs when you are thirsty or hungry.

Don’t Forget About Storage

Chance are that you used your basement mainly for storage before you decided to renovate it. When you turn your basement into a livable are, you still need a place to store everything that you kept down there. We recommend sectioning off at least a quarter of your basement for storage items. You should plan to have your storage area be where your water heater is so that it’s hidden from the finished part of your basement.

With all of this in mind it’s important to customize your basement in a way that makes sense for you and your family. Follow these simple tips and we know that you will have a space that you can enjoy for years to come!