22 Jan Basement Finish- Where it all starts!

As a residential remodeling company, which finishes a lot of basements, the first question which must be answered is how the basement will be designed or laid out room by room, or what we call space planning. While most homeowners have some specific ideas about the layout of their basement, most struggle with the complete basement layout. 

When I first meet a homeowner and visit the project my first question I ask is what is their main reason for finishing the basement?  As you can imagine there are many responses to that question and they are all personal to that homeowner. The reason that question is so important to answer is it drives the design.

What I encourage homeowners to do is design and finish the basement with utilization in mind. As an example you wouldn’t want to finish a specific exercise room in a basement if you only use it twice a year. Conversely if having a home bar is the number one reason because of entertainment purposes, then the bar should be the focal point of the basement.

More times than not the basement finish is desired so as to accomplish a number of goals at once. This goal can easily be accomplished with a good plan from the start.

Flexibility also plays an important role in space design. What I mean is a room in a basement can be finished to serve several purposes though not all at the same time. A room in a basement can serve as a office now but a bedroom later…or even that exercise room. The point is it can be used for different applications and also serves well for resale…future homeowners want to be able to see some flexibility for their needs.

As an example here’s a basement which shows a room labeled “multi-purpose” (upper LH corner):

We have finished a number of basements and developed and executed many different designs, and they all work…you just have to put some thought into your space planning goals and through a proper plan you’ll reach those goals for your basement finish.

If you would like more information on this subject please feel free to e-mail, [email protected] or call me at 404-374-1477.

Best!

Mark