Basement of the Week: Personality and Amenities Create a Comfy Lounge
School colors: on the wall. Neon Pabst sign: behind the bar. Exercise equipment, shower, games and big-screen TV: right on tap
A creative couple wanted to finish their walk-out basement with their own personal stamp and use it every day. They wanted an industrial vibe and plenty of room to enjoy the space with their three college-age sons and their friends.
The finished basement includes a bar, a sitting area, billiards, darts, a movie room, a bathroom with a shower and an exercise room. "I'm friends with these clients, and I've been able to enjoy the basement since we finished it," says their architect, Daniel Martin. "No one ever wants to go to anyone else's house!"
Basement at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple with 3 college-age sons
Location: Atlanta
Size: About 1,250 square feet
The finished basement includes a bar, a sitting area, billiards, darts, a movie room, a bathroom with a shower and an exercise room. "I'm friends with these clients, and I've been able to enjoy the basement since we finished it," says their architect, Daniel Martin. "No one ever wants to go to anyone else's house!"
Basement at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple with 3 college-age sons
Location: Atlanta
Size: About 1,250 square feet
In the movie room, a large sofa provides enough room for the entire family to watch TV together. A rustic bricklayer’s coffee table and metal cabinets add industrial style.
Browse industrial coffee tables
Martin moved ductwork to the edge of the room and emulated the look on the other side for symmetry. The lowest ceiling height is about 7 feet, 4 inches; the highest is 10 feet. The generous basement ceiling heights were part of the original 1990s house plans.
Buzz, the Georgia Tech mascot, is a personal touch. One of the owners is a professor there and bought one of the decorated mascots at an auction.
Browse industrial coffee tables
Martin moved ductwork to the edge of the room and emulated the look on the other side for symmetry. The lowest ceiling height is about 7 feet, 4 inches; the highest is 10 feet. The generous basement ceiling heights were part of the original 1990s house plans.
Buzz, the Georgia Tech mascot, is a personal touch. One of the owners is a professor there and bought one of the decorated mascots at an auction.
"My clients are very creative, and they love to do projects," Martin says. They created the artwork on the wall using the school colors of all the schools where immediate family members have earned degrees. The blank rectangle is holding a place for one of their sons while he picks a grad school.
The room also has a large window into the exercise room, which makes both spaces feel larger.
The room also has a large window into the exercise room, which makes both spaces feel larger.
The couple exercises every morning before work, and a bathroom with a shower lets them rinse off down here, too.
The dartboard (left) is at the end of the hallway between the movie room and the exercise room.
The dartboard (left) is at the end of the hallway between the movie room and the exercise room.
Another window in the exercise room looks out into the bar area and beyond to the view outside. Again, Martin created a more cohesive ceiling by dropping a soffit around the entire room to match the ductwork.
The flooring in here is simply the original concrete slab, polished and sealed with polyethylene.
The flooring in here is simply the original concrete slab, polished and sealed with polyethylene.
"Working with a couple who had strong opinions about their likes and dislikes made things so much more interesting," Martin says. "You can see their personalities and their taste throughout the space."
Case in point: "The husband is an engineer, but he's a real blue-collar guy at heart," Martin says. Originally from Philadelphia, he wanted the bar area to have a corner-bar kind of feel, hence the neon Pabst Blue Ribbon sign and reclaimed wood facing.
Martin found the heart pine countertop from a reclaimed wood dealer; it's from an old factory. The husband found much of the accent wood from a Dumpster. While out shopping for furniture, he spied discarded scrap wood behind the store. He combined that with painted beam edges and other reclaimed boards to create the facing around the bar.
The bar includes a beverage cooler, a sink, an ice maker and a microwave drawer. The door on the right leads to the bathroom.
The bar includes a beverage cooler, a sink, an ice maker and a microwave drawer. The door on the right leads to the bathroom.
Across the room from the bar, the husband built a full accent wall from the reclaimed boards; it warms up the space and adds to the industrial vibe. Track lighting highlights the wall.
Martin opened up as much of the basement as possible to the windows, and just to the left of the edge of this shot is a sliding glass door. Swivel chairs create a comfortable sitting area, and built-in shelves hold books and board games. The couple's collection of record albums placed on picture rails is another personal touch.
"What's great about parties in this space is that people can gather in smaller groups throughout the basement but still be together" Martin says. At a recent Super Bowl party he attended here, die-hard fans watched in the movie room while other groups gathered at the bar, played pool and chatted in the swivel chairs.
"What's great about parties in this space is that people can gather in smaller groups throughout the basement but still be together" Martin says. At a recent Super Bowl party he attended here, die-hard fans watched in the movie room while other groups gathered at the bar, played pool and chatted in the swivel chairs.
A hallway leads to a movie room on the left and an exercise room on the right.
Wall paint: Quietude, Sherwin-Williams