Got an unused basement space in your house but not sure what you should do with it? Here are some popular basement remodeling ideas that will help you make the most of this often underutilized area.

Untraditional Basement Bathrooms

Adding a bathroom, which will likely be needed no matter what the overall theme of your basement remodeling project, can be tricky for several reasons. The placement of basement plumbing that currently exists may be in the exact place you want the office or bar or pool table or plasma TV. There are ways to change the situation of the basement bathroom if you sit down with basement remodeling contractors and discuss the situation. Pipes can be extended by drilling out the concrete floor so as to extend the drainage.

The thing you DO NOT want to do is create a tiny cubical where you can barely turn around, even if the basement bathroom is not the feature and is solely to facilitate not having to run upstairs. You can make a bathroom entirely out of glass blocks or frosted glass panels or add windows to the walls. You can use a semi-permanent corrugated room divider to give privacy to the toilet area while leaving the basin or sink in the open. The basement shower area need not be in the same place as the toilet or sink.

You can have a glass enclosed walk-in shower or tub in one corner and a toilet in another with a pedestal sink under a funky mirror beside a glass counter or a small loveseat in-between. Forget what’s traditional and open up the basement space. By the way a glass bathroom wall or a glass shower area need not be expensive. Shop around and discuss the options with a basement decorating specialist or a basement bathroom expert.

Basement Games Room and Bar

For a game room you will want the entire space as open as possible to accommodate guests. Situate a counter bar around a pillar and use a sleek barstool style to keep furniture down to a minimum. And for a basement bar, which is one of the most popular basement renovation ideas, you’ll want subtle indirect light that comes from the floor pointing up or from the ceiling pointing down but not pointing directly on people’s faces or heads.

You may also consider that if your bar is an odd shape to accommodate a pillar or nook, you may be able to leave enough space for a parakeet or hardwood dance floor. You should plan remodeling your basement around unconventional ideas that you might never have considered for the upstairs.

Basement Bedrooms

Basement bedrooms are trickier than regular ones because when you get up and turn off the light, if the switch is near the door, there is usually no other natural light to guide you back to bed. This is irritating for guests who don’t know the layout of the furniture. It is quite simple to have a second switch installed beside the bed headboard so your guest can just lean over and click off the light.

Also consider having two sets of lights, one for bright central lighting and another with halogen bulbs embedded over the bed for reading. Since basement bedrooms are usually small this will avoid having to incorporate cumbersome lamps into the basement décor. Keep it simple, functional, sleek.

Basement Storage without the Dungeon

Basements have nooks and crannies that lend themselves to being storage areas. But please install lights if one of these places will be under the staircase. Brighten up the storage with shelves made of light wood, pine or painted white or a light color. Do it yourself basement remodeling is easy if you select cabinets that have plexy or glass fronts so the light is reflected.

Organize storage boxes on open shelves instead of dark wood cabinets that are heavy and absorb light. Use every single corner or odd shaped area for organized storage because in this way you will avoid the junk trap that happens all too easily in confined spaces. You can never have too much storage space so incorporate plenty into your remodeling plans.

Bright Basement Home Office

You want privacy and peace and quiet but not dreary, drab or dark. The worst thing about basement offices is that are often a place that makes you feel isolated and shut off from the real world. Avoid this by selecting a place for your desk that is near a window and if there are no windows don’t be afraid to hang a large bright piece of artwork where a window should be.

Do not use mirrors, they are distracting. But you can paint the basement walls bright colors and furnish with chrome or white furniture to make seem lighter. It is ill advised to use the same style of lighting as you may have planned for a basement bar or family room. In a basement office you need very bright light to work and to keep you awake. Basement ideas are endless but here’s just one simple tip: since there may not natural light to let you know if it’s day or night, try hanging a large wall clock so you know when it’s quitting time.

Eliminating clutter is the hardest part of starting a basement renovation project, especially if you’ve lived in your home for several years and have not had an effective storage system in place. Perhaps the basement has become a garden shed, workshop, tool shack, mechanic shop, laundry room and general junk trap without you even being aware of it. And for some reason, the hardest thing in the world for some people is tossing out the items that “might” be useful “one day”. If this is a really big issue, then gather some of the “useful” items together and have a garage or basement sale to avoid waste, but GET RID OF anything you have not used in the last few months.

1. Start with paints, solvents, chemicals, fertilizers, cleaning solutions and any toxic items you have kicking about. The rusty cans or bottles that are not used, dispose of them in a safe manner. Most cities have a toxic chemicals and paint or solvent disposal center or neighborhood drop center. Keep only the items that you will use in the next 6 months and you have used in the past 6 months. Set these to one side. Part of your renovating basement storage plan will include an area to store these items away from furnaces, vents, hot water heaters etc.
2. Basement renovation ideas will come more naturally if you eliminate the items you think you need to store but really shouldn’t. For example, do you really need to keep a toaster or blender or other appliance that you plan to fix when you get a minute? Do you really need to keep old Christmas gifts that you hate and will never use but can’t bring yourself to throwing away? What about old Christmas decorations that you will never use, strings of lights with half the bulbs burnt out, etc? If you eliminate the junk, you eliminate the need to store it. Pick up and look at each item you think you want to store and ask yourself if you really need it, if you ever use it and what real purpose it serves. Boxes full of papers, mementos, keepsakes that you look at once every 10 years, look at once more and ask yourself if you really need to keep “things” in order to remember. If your life won’t change by not having them, throw them away.
3. After a good clean out, a garage sale, lots of donations to your favorite charity, and filling the garbage with junk…..look at what’s left. Evaluate the things you’ve decided to keep and make sure they are in categories. Nails and screws can now be placed in organizing trays, tools on peg boards, necessary papers in small organizing boxes with LABELS. When you have everything categorized and stored in a systematic manner, now you are ready to consider basement renovation ideas for storage systems that will work for what you really need to store.
4. Renovating basement storage will now mean finding a system that works for what you most need. If it’s papers and office supplies, invest in a cabinet that has a filing system. If it’s tools and paint and equipment, invest in a peg boards, open shelves or even a storage chest like the ones by Rubbermaid, or even a shed that fits in the basement.
5. Categorize your storage based on what items are used for: Home office, paperwork and memorabilia in labeled boxes and filing cabinets; crafts and hobby items in see-through plastic so it’s to use; barbeque and picnic supplies in their own area away from laundry and linens. You will be able to see clearly how many shelves or cabinets to build or purchase.

Basement renovation ideas begin with eliminating the junk that clutters your space and your mind. Free yourself of junk! Finding renovating basement storage solutions will be easier and much cheaper if you have less to store.

4 Light Colored Basement Designs

There are three main aspects to consider, the ceiling, the floor, the walls. Everything else will be secondary. Basement ideas, be they decorative or structural, will begin with these three basic areas.

1. If you have your heart set on wood, then go with light pine or the newest bamboo wood flooring that is whitish-yellow. However, even light colored woods will absorb light, so try to limit the use of wood panels to one focal wall – not all the walls. You can achieve a textured look on the walls without taking away the lightness by using a textured stucco finish, even over drywall, and painting a basic white or bone color and adding antique accents with a brush or sponge. Keep the central part of the wall light, but accent around doorways or baseboards or even ceilings with a border in a rich or brighter color.
2. One of the most innovative light colored basement designs is to use metal panels, ordinary corrugated metal. Instead of wood paneling. Accent the room with sage colored ceiling, a light bamboo floor and furnish with tubular chrome or steel and glass pieces and add mirrors where possible. Take away the industrial look with soft shag rugs in bright colors, and add matching toss cushions or accents in a darker shade but still keep with bright blues, lavenders, yellows, white and cool greens.
3. For basement ideas that incorporate light as a feature, use long narrow wall lamps over and inside cabinets and shelves, above art, along the baseboards, built into the ceiling, like round halogen spot lights and track lighting, and do not use one central overhead fixture. Use glossy flooring, the cheapest solution is to paint the cement with a special paint, but you can also use tile. Do not use stone, dark colored tile or carpet. Use light or bright colored tiles to reflect the light. For warmth add area rugs in vibrant colors.
4. Use white on white and add accents in cream, beige, eggshell and other very light neutrals. Moldings around ceilings may be a slightly different shade than the walls. Flooring is white or cream, baseboards are a shade darker; ceiling is light beige, accents are eggshell. The slight contrast between the whites and beige or creamy colors will be noticeable if some areas are pure white. Accent with chrome or black wrought iron for a touch of contrast. Keep window treatments to a minimum by using sheers or no curtains at all, just frosted windows. This white on white look is very chic and works best in home with no children.

Why? Because it’s underground and dark! People are attracted to open space and light. It’s simply human nature. Cave dwelling, for most of the world, went out of fashion long ago.

Your first priority in remodeling a basement, no matter what it will be used for, should be finding the means to open it up as much as possible and bring in light, be it natural or electric.

There is no reason why one of your basement remodeling ideas can’t be similar to loft designs. Low ceilings can be given the illusion of being higher and pillars can be focal points, as can exposed pipes and tubes and industrial equipment such as heaters and furnaces. Some of the greatest bars and restaurants in New York, and around the world, are located underground where, after remodeling a basement these savvy entrepreneurs (and their basement remodeling contractors) have not even attempted to hide basement pipes or ducts. If you are determined to hide them, then use paneling or boxes that take up as little space as possible and leave the main area open, but remember that these pipes or ducts may need to be accessed for maintenance so don’t hide them without providing a way to get at them later.

Maximize your basement finishing remodeling projects with basement remodeling plans and décor that incorporates light colors and smooth textures, track basement lighting, mirrors and open cabinets or shelves and avoiding heavy drapes, bulky outdated furniture and dark or drab colors.

… because this will make a basement seem cluttered and claustrophobic even if it’s not. And although bedrooms and bathrooms unavoidably require basement walls, there are tricks that can maintain the illusion of openness while providing privacy.

Glass for Internal Basement Doors and Windows

One trick in basement renovation is to build a wall but make of it mostly a window. A large internal wall that separates a bedroom from the living space could be designed with glass block windows to make the area appear more open.

Doors can be French doors or glass paneled doors instead of solid wood. Use glass blocks and frosted window panes so the windows will not need to be covered with drapes or heavy curtains. If anything, use sheer or light colored cotton for accentuating internal windows.

The key is to be able to give precise basement remodeling ideas to your contractor showing exactly what you want based on your personal needs. Also tell them about the dreamy ideas you may have gotten from books and magazines so the professionals can guide you and maximize the space you have.

A well executed basement remodeling job can facilitate entertaining, accommodate out of town guests, give privacy to a home based entrepreneur, make watching a movie a theater experience or even give you a spa instead of just another bathroom.

The key factor that will determine if your basement remodeling ideas were successful is how much you use the space once the basement finishing is finished.

Here are some tips that will help ensure the success of remodeling your basement.

• Basements should be heavily lit, much more so than above-grade rooms.
• Maximize the little natural light you have and accentuate with lots of artificial lighting.
• Chose your ideal space from open and airy basement remodeling plans.
• Use interior windows and French doors instead of solid wood doors or solid basement walls.
• When selecting what you will use for basement decorating incorporate light colors and mirrors.
• Select basement flooring that will add warmth because basements are naturally cold.
• Discuss with a basement remodeling company how to best add a secondary heating source.
• Consider a wood burning stove, a fireplace and most of all a built-in floor warming system.
• Eliminate as many pillars and walls as you possibly can without the house collapsing.
• When repositioning air ducts and pipes or existing plumbing try to keep them at the edge of walls or near pillars to leave as much open space and headroom as possible.
• If your basement is narrow incorporate horizontal lines in basement decorating.
• Due to moisture issues, contact a basement waterproofing specialist to seal the floor, ceiling and basement walls.
• Consider alternatives to carpet for basement flooring such as tiles or stone or hardwood.
• Do it yourself basement remodeling can be more effective if you consult an architect or interior designer to help you get the most benefit out of your space. You need not contract a basement remodeling company to do the final work but get advice.
• Use bright colors as much as possible when basement decorating, even if its just accent toss cushions.

Basement remodeling and basement finishing is not something that must be stressful. You can do it slowly with a few home improvement tips from this site or watch as basement remodeling contractors (or the do it yourself basement remodeling team) transform what was junky, grungy and dark into what is neat, organized and bright!