I generally chime-in on when there is a basement post because they often see limited response. We did ours DIY several years ago and learned alot.

My first recommendation is to have a scale drawing of your plan. Allow for ample artificial lighting as basements can be dark. With dimmers you can control light as wanted daytime or night.

Soundproof around your equipment room to silence the furnace and for sure have cold air return(s). Make provisions for a dehumidifier too in order to control odor and prevent mold.

A suggestion for the vinyl floor is to install it with a mastic even if it is self-stick. Your concrete will have many slight low/high spots which the self-adhesive will not adhere to tightly thereby causing a hollow sound when walking around.

As to color, create a palette to suit your planned use and personal taste. Our main living area is rather formal so we livened the basement, actually selecting colors from a rug for inspiration and using them to define individual areas, with the ceiling and primary color an off-white.

As to your bathroom with children, I recommend concrete board and tile. Nothing else will withstand constant water. And a good exhaust fan. And I'm meaning tile on the floor and walls around the basin and shower. Tile baseboard too. Just my opinion but you indicate you only want to do this once.

I've linked photos of our basement but you will need to go to the second page to really see the room. Also, comments following some pictures may provide ideas.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: Basement

Thanks! I have seen your pics before and have been admiring them. I got the idea from you to use a glass door. Is the door at the top of your basement stairs? We have a regular door right now at the top of our stairs and you see the door right when you walk into our front door. I would like it to feel more open to the basement. I also have been throwing around the idea of just having no door there. Thoughts? For our vinyl plank. The one we are looking at is a click and lock system. Do we still need to use mastic with that? I'm nervous about tile in the whole bathroom. My parents have that in their house that they built about 15 years ago and now the tile looks really outdated. It does make sense, though, as we have 4 boys and I tell you they are messy in the bathroom.

Thanks! I have seen your pics before and have been admiring them. I got the idea from you to use a glass door. Is the door at the top of your basement stairs? We have a regular door right now at the top of our stairs and you see the door right when you walk into our front door. I would like it to feel more open to the basement. I also have been throwing around the idea of just having no door there. Thoughts? For our vinyl plank. The one we are looking at is a click and lock system. Do we still need to use mastic with that? I'm nervous about tile in the whole bathroom. My parents have that in their house that they built about 15 years ago and now the tile looks really outdated. It does make sense, though, as we have 4 boys and I tell you they are messy in the bathroom.

ivparker - Our stairway actually has a 180 degree turn at a landing mid-flight and that is where we installed the glass door. The builder had a solid one which opened into the main hallway at the very top and it was both an obsticle and a hazard. As to no door, guess that is an option. We have a dog who considers the basement to be her "apartment" and we need a door to confine her so as to not set off motion detectors if the security system is armed. Door remains open unless she is confined.

I can't answer your question about mastic with click install planks. Those are considered floating floors and have a foam pad on which they rest. One of our sons has a townhouse with a slab (concrete) first floor upon which a previous owner installed a floating floor. It sounds really cheap (hollow). I suggest speaking with a specialty flooring company about their products. The Big Box stores sell "low hanging fruit" and often their staff are lacking in knowledge to answer a question like you will have.

I hear you on changing styles. If you do something trendy, it will soon look dated. Nature doesn't change though so if you choose a natural look, most likely you will be safe for much longer. There are natural-looking ceramic which look like stone tiles. When we updated one of our bathrooms our tile install was overall less costly with real stone vs ceramic because the installer was able to make the baseboard tiles rather than our having to purchase very costly bull nosed ones. And only a 1/32 grout line vs. maybe a quarter inch. All I can say is we had two sons and now two grandchildren and I can tell you that drywall (even greenboard) will not last even 5 years with the abuse kids will inflict so you'll still be $$$'s ahead if, after 15 years, you decide to replace dated tiles.

I know gray isn't your color scheme but here is a photo of the bath we updated about two years ago using marble tile. This bath only required about 35 sq. ft. and I believe the tile were only about $10 each and installer labor was the same for stone or ceramic but we basically got the baseboard (which we wanted) at no cost by using waste pieces and cutting/polishing them on-the-job.
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Just my opinions though and perhaps you would rather redecorate more often, which tile does make difficult.

Your floors look beautiful. So I see the grey drywall on your floors. Did you extend the marble around where the toilet is? Honestly it is a really great idea, espeicially since our bathroom is small and the wall space by the toilet is very small. The toilet is right next to the vanity. I'm just trying to picture it design wise. Would it look weird to just put behind and in all the exposed drywall area around the toilet to the height of the vanity? I guess it might look better if we continued it as a backsplash to the vanity and ended it all at the bottom part of the mirror. Hmmm. Its so hard for me to pick tile on tile. Our vanity top is black granite and we wanted a blackish wood looking tile, but if we put all the tile around I"m not sure how the blackish wood looking tile would look next to the black granite.

We are also in the process of finishing our walkout basement. We picked a tile -- dark gray wood like ceramic tile 12 x 24 format -- for the mudroom area. it sounds similar to what you're considering for your bathroom. The one we have selected is Happy Floors Natif, pictured below. It should be going in next week -- I'm hoping we will love it...

We're also doing a glass door at top of stairs -- half glass w/one raised panel at the bottom.

Have you considered a pedestal sink instead of a vanity if you have limited space? Just a thought...

ivparker - Glad you like our floor and hope I haven't been too opinionated in my response to your questions. I call it "voice of experience" and have learned not to attempt luck when predictable events are likely.

About the tile install, yes the baseboard goes all around. We actually removed the vanity and WC for the install.

Go to a quality tile shoppe, we bought from The Tile Shop. They had many displays to give ideas and will sell you sample tiles to take home and see in your environment, then return. Since you initially indicated that a dark floor was your preference, slate might be a good choice. Knowing that young men don't always aim well, a sealed stone or tile/grout will be easily cleaned and maintained. As far as installing on the wall, the retailers have designers who can inform you of what others might have done in similar circumstances. And their pricing will be competitive with the Big Boxes but the selection options far wider. In a small bathroom like ours you couldn't invest over $500 for the priciest tile.

I've linked an album of the bathroom where the marble floor is installed. We also have a black granite vanity but had the fabricator make a matching granite backsplash too.

Color is so personal, and looks different in every environment, changing with accessories and lighting. But personally, I'd be uncomfortable with everything the same. A combination is normal and that's why seeing showroom displays can be so helpful.

Your mind will spin during the decision process but you'll know when you have the right combination for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Guest Bathroom