Hello all, We've been reading GW for a year or two while we plan our new home. We love all the ideas we've received. We have gotten some great suggestions for our main floor and second floor on the Building a Home forum. I've included our current plans for the basement hoping to get some feedback on our basement layout. FYI, we have 2 daughters (6 and almost 5) and a son (almost 2). The basement will have a walkout on the right side (not to the back). The right side faces east. We'll want a small patio outside the walkout doors and a walkway leading to the backyard/pool. We're planning on doing 9 foot ceilings in the basement and using drywall ceilings instead of drop ceiling but are open to suggestions. We want a home theater that is roughly 15 wide x 23 deep. For our bar, I would like comfortable seating - maybe wrap around bar seats or even a lower height bar? Thought about maybe doing a straight bar and a love seat/couch instead of a L shaped bar but also open to L shaped bar to replace the love seat. We're willing to completely change the bar area. We want a large TV behind the bar that can be seen from the ping pong table and poker table. We want an open area for a ping pong table. For the exercise room, my wife and I would like to be able to do P90X at the same time. I think we'll need about a 15x10 open area to do this together. This 15x10 area will also be used for a golf net to hit golf balls. I've estimated that I need 9' 6" to swing a golf driver - doubt this is doable since we'll be doing 9' ceilings in the basement but considering leaving the ceiling exposed in the exercise room and painting ceiling area black to maximize ceiling height. We'll have a squat rack, bench press, treadmill, free weights/dumbbells, and possibly a stationary bike. We're thinking French doors from the exercise room to the open area but are open to suggestions. We'll need a bathroom and an unfinished area for the mechanical room and storage. On the sketches I created, I was unsure if the basement would be dug out underneath the mudroom and pool house, which are both off of the garage??? Not sure how much more it would cost to dig this out, but it would be used as storage if dug out for basement. Here are our main and second floor layouts for reference. main floor second floor

Looks like a very fun lower level! Just a couple of thoughts: I think the bar area will be popular and it will be fun to sit or stand there, so I'd do an L shape at bar height instead of 4 bar stools and a love seat. Think about your poker friends and whether they'd rather sit at the bar or together on a love seat. Also I think you could get more people at the bar than on the love seat. You might want a closet in the game area (for cards, board games, ping pong paddles and balls, etc.) Try sketching up the exercise room closet in the lower left corner of that room backing up to the theater room, and a closet on the ping pong side of that wall also backing up to the theater room. That will provide some sound barrier, if someone wants to watch a movie and someone else wants to work out or hang by the bar with music or the TV on. (You could split one of the closets so that part of it opens to the theater room, and that could be storage for your AV stuff.) Your drink ledge could be in an L shape from the exercise room doors to the outdoor doors. As for the doors, the French doors take a lot of floor space, and I think are harder to lock (for the exterior doors.) How about sliders that have the divided windows to look like French doors? What will your flooring be? If carpet throughout, will that make it hard to play ping pong? Or will you be doing some kind of tile, wood, or other hard floor with area rugs? Just something to think about. I see the question on your drawing about an entertainment center for a TV behind the bar. A couple of my friends have bars with TVs built into the mirrors. You don't really know it's a TV if it's not on; looks like a fairly regular mirror. Something to check into. You have room to make the bathroom a bit bigger. It might be nice to have a shower in there for after a workout, or if you ever add a sleeper sofa for overnight guests. It looks like this will be a very fun area for your family!

It would help to have more dimensions and know where the windows are (and sizes of windows.) I see what looks like a window on the 17' wall, not so sure about the 30' wall. Are the dimensions shown the exterior or interior dimensions? If interior, do they include studs and drywall, or are those from foundation wall to foundation wall? Did you want to use just the 17' x 30' space for 2 BR and 1 BA, or more of the living space? Can the space below the stairs in the picture be used for a closet? Where is the bottom stair? It's not clear the way this is drawn. A more detailed drawing would be very helpful.

Opinions on your questions: 1. Pocket vs. swing door: I'm not a big fan of pocket doors on bathrooms because they're more of a pain to close and lock. If you close and lock bathroom doors in your house. :-) 2. Benches are not mandatory. I prefer niches for storing shampoo and soap. Benches are usually to put your leg on when shaving. If you do have one in that corner, I'd recommend a triangular shaped one instead of square. There are pre-fab, ready-to-tile benches like this: I think the shower controls are fine where you drew them, on the bottom wall. Other thoughts: 4. code says toilet back to front should be 5' clear. Can you bump the wall a few inches to attain that? 5. I'd hinge the shower door on the other side. That will allow a towel rack on the bottom wall. You can easily fit a 48" vanity in that space. I'd definitely do it. On design, the typical "period appropriate" materials would be subway tiles in the shower and hex tiles on the floor. You could use natural marble on the floor if you wanted to splurge. I used larger hex porcelain in a powder room (not technically "period" but "in the style of"): With a neutral white/gray in the permanent stuff, you could pick your favorite splash of color for the walls. Or use that dark gray that's greenish, and use accessories, towels, etc. for the color. Your dining room is to die for, btw. Great work!