looking for great ideas for using spaces in basement/playroom..
Comments (12)
bronwynsmom
11 years agoncdel
11 years agoRelated Discussions
finishing a basement, looking for ideas you love
Comments (8)Storage, storage, and more storage. Think about how you want to use the space, and plan plenty of closets to accommodate all the things required. Otherwise, you will have a job on your hands to keep it from getting junky. So here is more than you wanted to know about what we did: When we did our basement, which also included a long one-car garage along half of one side, we put in a u-shaped light shop space (no power tools except drills and the like) at the end with a deep sink in the center of the U, one side dedicated to plant care and flower arranging, peg board (painted white) lining the walls up to 6'8", and a deep shelf on ordinary white hardware store brackets above that. I recycled two L-shaped wooden countertops that were cast-offs from another project, stained them, and finished them with spar varnish. I designed the supporting structure (painted dark gray) to accommodate three mobile storage basket units that I already had. I painted the wall over the sink (no pegboard there) with chalkboard paint, which was great for jotting down measurements and things to go on the shopping list. We used plain old rectangular florescent tube fixtures in the ceiling, which gave exactly the kind of clean light we needed, and a couple of boxes of peel and stick vinyl tiles on the concrete floor. The short wall of the house which had the garage door and the entry door from the driveway was our foul-weather entrance, and had a fireplace in it, so I allocated half that space to a warm sitting area, and put a trestle table to serve as a desk behind the small sofa that faced the fireplace. I dealt with the high little windows along the long wall (with a lovely view of the bottoms of the boxwoods along the front of the house) like this: Behind that area, I created a hallway to the back space by building a cedar closet on one side, which ran under the staircase, and a long deep closet with three doors in the wall and deep shelves lining the whole thing on the other. Where the cedar closet ended, under the low part of the stairs, I built in a niche for a long 2-drawer lateral file cabinet. We had the stairs rebuilt to create a 3 x 3 landing at the 3rd stair up, so we could turn the bottom stairs to face into that hall, and create an easier and more attractive entry to upstairs. Beyond that hallway was enough space for a pantry closet and a wine closet along the short wall, and a chest of drawers perpendicular to that. Beyond the stairway was the door to a new laundry room and a walled-off area for the HVAC and hot water tank (with louvered doors), and between the laundry room and the back wall of the garage workspace, we put in a big bathroom with changing space for anyone using the pool, or coming in from the garden all covered with muck. We did the bathroom very economically - the things we spent any money on were a Venetian marble shower stall and long countertop with an integral sink. Instead of a vanity, we mirrored the wall and attached a simple framework with a stained birch plywood fascia along the wall to support the countertop, built a 10" high plinth along the floor under it, and put big baskets of towels and washing and sun supplies on it. Then we ran a 2x10 along the wall opposite the shower with many hooks for damp towels and bathing suits, and added a simple garden bench. I loved it. It made my too-big house completely manageable....See MoreBasement Design ideas- bedroom/entertainment space??
Comments (13)Airbnb may not have any rules but your insurance and town have very specific rules about what can safely be used for sleeping in. Proper ceiling height you have but a bed room, due to fire safety concerns, must have two separate forms of egress. If there is a fire and a paying guest was injured or heaven forbid died due to no safe egress your insurance would not cover your liability costs or you could be charged with neglect manslaughter....See MoreHelp- Basement Playroom Ideas
Comments (1)Across the whole back wall I would build a deep shelf with an open bottom at table height. For now it will be good for parking ride on toys under and setting larger playsets like Little People, Barbie, and Hot Wheels. You can add a couple of baskets to catch miscellaneous small toys. I like to group them by people/animals, cars, etc. Later, it will serve as the perfect place to stand and build with Lego, and finally when they are Middle/High School age you can create a study area there. Under the window you can place a bookshelf, and use a sofa floating in the room facing the toy shelf to divide the play area from your work space....See Morebasement bonus room ideas (office and playroom)
Comments (2)Since it is going to be a play area I would go for the vinyl. Although carpet is warmer, play dough and paint is easer to clean off of vinyl. You can always add a area rug for floor play....See Moreontariomom
11 years ago
Annie Deighnaugh
11 years agoncdel
11 years agoOK here goes... (if anyone can tell me how to edit my original subject to read 'updated/photos included' that would be great :) )
Area 1: this wall has a column in front of it, door on the left is to an unfinished storage room, I'm taking the 1st photo from the area of the stairs.
Area 2: This wall makes a corner with area 1. The doors are just standing there to dry right now. You can see the wet bar area next to it (those cabinets were supposed to be flush with the ceiling & now I have no clue what to do w/ that small space between...grrrr...) . I had a weird dream last night in which we put an L shaped desk/drawing area around that corner...!
Area 3: This is probably the easiest one, it would make a nice corner area for my kids to have a tent or a table & chairs for crafts or whatever. The bottom shelving will have bins to hold toys, books & things for the kids, the top shelves will likely just be display for photos & what have you. I thought maybe I could find a neat corner bench or something that a table could be pulled up to for arts/crafts, but I'm not sure... (again, was not told that the bulkhead would get in the way of that shelving being flush with the corner, it looked like it would not be like this in the drawing, I'm not too thrilled about that either. This wall backs up to a bedroom and the left side of the wall= the closet in the bedroom. we are going to paint the corner under the bulkhead white instead of the color of the wall so it will hopefully blend a little more, any ideas of something to do w/ that awkward space would be good as well.)
Re the other suggestions, thanks! We don't want to build or do anything permanent in these spaces. We actually have a large closet w/ shelves in this area already for additional games & toys and we don't want a bar area b/c we just don't think we'll use it. We suspect we'll be moving in the next couple of years and therefore don't want to sink a lot into custom things that can't come with us or that a future buyer wouldn't want.
Annie Deighnaugh
11 years ago
ILoveRed
11 years agoLooks like a great basement. My 10 yr old twins have a playroom in the basement that they don't use much anymore. But when they were small it was a lifesaver. I didnt want anything permanent either. I had several of these for small toy storage.
When they outgrow the toys, donate the drawers. The brand is Sterilite. . Cheap.ncdel
11 years ago
likewhatyoudo
11 years agoplayhouse built under stairs in the closet. Easy, fun and inexpensive.
INSPIRATION PICTURE
The inspiration for my playhouse is pictured. Built by Linda McDonald of "Restyled Home blog" for her daughter"
camlan
11 years agoncdel
11 years ago
camlan