I don't like the look of a brick front with siding on 3 sides. I see a beautiful brick house, turn the corner - and I feel cheated! I wonder if the builder ran out of money (which would be silly, since you usually see it on grand-scale homes), or perhaps thought we wouldn't notice. Brick accents on the front are completely different, can be a lovely touch. No one would expect brick accents to go all the way around. Wood floors last (theoretically) forever, so no matter what you choose, it will probably go in and out of style 3 times in its lifetime. Choose what you love. I you plan to live in the house for a long time, do whatever you want. I hate to see people pass on their favorite color/finish/style for fear of it "going out of style". Let's face it - the chances of new buyers having exactly our style are pretty small, and they will re-do what they don't like anyway.

Nice pictures, fnmroberts! Thanks for your comments. We really, really want carpet. (Although I may come back asking about tile when we update the other part of our basement with the walkout - eventually want that to be more of a "mudroom" since it has the walkout and open stairs up to the kitchen - it's really separate from this part of the basement though) Thanks for your thoughts Jan. I thought about gold too, but wasn't sure how it would look with the furniture. Your descriptions sounds like my style though. I should clarify about the lighting - we have tons of recessed lighting down there. I don't think that needs any improvement (or really could be improved). However, I still think no matter how much lighting you have a basement is always going to have a darker or at least different feel because there is not much natural light, and I want to factor that into our decisions. Keep the ideas coming please! Any pictures anyone has to share are greatly appreciated! :-)

Anyone? We are in Michigan. I am not even sure if I can have a room with a door and a closet without a window, even if we don't call it or use it as a bedroom.

This is pretty much what the builder had as their finished basement. They had a closet in the room at the right of the plan and where I have a bar they had another closet. My concern about this plan is that it may make the space feel small and that I won’t have enough space for the second tv area.