I’ve never had a basement before and I’m not sure what to do with it.

The garage is tiny but I’ve always worked in stuff with the door open and projects spread out in the driveway. I’d like to put a workshop there. Basement workshops seem popular but schlepping everything in and out if the house seems impractical. Maybe two shops - winter and summer.

The finished part of the basement looks like it was used as a family room. I’m not sure I see the advantage to using it instead of the living room upstairs. Might be a good place for jam sessions?

I like how much storage space there is in the unfinished part but I fear it will encourage hoarding behavior.

How do you use your basement?

Our previous basements housed art studios and fly tying space and extra guest rooms and storage, and it was where the gaming tv and gaming computers and toys were for when the kids had friends over to play. We have no basement here, I wish we did.

Finished side is Mr. SK’s studio/office. On the unfinished side is: washer/dryer, exercise bike, treadmill, Mr. SK’s home gym, lawn equipment, Xmas tree and ornaments…. Oh and since COVID started, our home hair cutting station.

Since covid started, I go down there at least once a day to take a dance break and/or use the treadmill.

I love our basement.

Ours was unfinished for the first ten years were were here, other than building one wall for a wine cellar. I finished it in 2003 at which point it became a second family room my daughter could have friends over in and have some privacy. Once she moved out it became mostly storage. Now we are tearing it up again to turn it into an exercise area. The demo work was this week.

Do not let it become a storage area. At this age you cannot possibly need that much new crap.

Don started calling the garage, which is oversized and most of the first floor, the basement soon after we moved in.
At present, there is no room for a car. There is a kayak, a rowing shell, a rowing machine, two recumbent trikes, and various and sundry.
I must get the boats on the wall and hung from the rafters. The trikes will go to Tucson for the winter in my truck.
Then Don can park indoors for the winter.
I don't deserve a basement.

Ours used to the place the kids had friends over.

Now it is the place the whole family gathers for a movie. So our biggest tv, a couch and recliner, fireplace, lots of blankets and space heaters.

The unfinished half is a storage room. When I was growing up it was a workshop/storage room. Now (following the perfect carp law which says "carp expands to fill the space available") it is 97 percent storage. The laundry room is semi-finished and also holds the exercise bike and the freezer. The rest has also turned into some storage space and features the futon for guests, the harpsichord and digital piano, lots of bookshelves, a fireplace that hasn't been used in 40 years, and when the futon is folded up, there is theoretically room for a sewing/crafting table. The "bedroom" in the basement is my office and (now) banjo room. There are shelves on three walls with books and more boxes of stuff.

A lot depends on whether it is an actual basement or a daylight basement. My house is on a hill so the front door is upstairs and the back door is in the basement, so getting things in and out is easier than if everything had to go up and down the inside stairwell.

It is basically the messier part of the living space. Its use is somewhat limited by the furnace being in the back corner of the unfinished part and when it kicks on, it goes ***VAWHOOOM!!!***

Oh, and it is at least ten degrees cooler than the upstairs during the summer, so sometimes I or we sleep downstairs when it's hot.

I keep a small exhaust fan running all the time so the basement doesn't get too damp or musty.

I guess my question is why I would choose to watch TV in the basement when the main floor is nicer, closer to the kitchen, and has windows?

Store a mind numbing number of recordings - LPs and CDs, a workbench/tool area, laundry room, overflow pantry area and spare refrigerator & freezer.

In Massachusetts, I used it as storage. It was too damp and there was a small amount of seepage in heavy rain conditions, so I wound up storing everything higher than floor level.

It was 95% stuff I should have gotten rid of.

I also used it as work space for construction projects.

No basement in Oklahoma.

Mine has shelves that became a pantry during Covid. Our odd home design is such that the egress to the garage is through the basement, so we keep most of our coats and shoes down there.

Besides that it’s just utility - furnaces, water heater, washer/dryer. What tools I have (not many).

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
I guess my question is why I would choose to watch TV in the basement when the main floor is nicer, closer to the kitchen, and has windows?

Some folks set it up like a home theater. It is more sound proof so easier on other household members who might not want to hear all the adventure movie explosions.

This old house has a dry basement, a rarity. Unfinished, it has an old homemade work bench, storage shelves for all sorts of things, and the washer dryer.

Ping pong table or pool table? Couch, art and game space when the kids lived with us. Wine cellar/Auxillary pantry (stays cooler in the summer)

We never really liked the family/tv rooms in the basement, but when the Mrs wanted to watch something I'm not interested in - or didn't want to see/hear something like "Band of Brothers" again, it's nice to have another viewing space away from the center of the house.

I always had a small shop space in the basement - our garages over the years weren't attached, so got much colder in the winter. Also most of the piano/instrument/types of projects I worked on required less space than carpentry type projects.

In my neighborhood of 1960s homes, we're seeing most basements turned into usable living space. People want that extra room.

I'm personally not a fan of basement living space because it always feels like a basement to me but I can see it as a great place for kids to spread out their stuff and crash. Or a craft space where you can leave projects out and not worry about your main living space looking messy.

From a comfort perspective, it *is* the place to be in the summer. Natural A/C.

Our basement is well lit with a suspended ceiling, painted walls, and inexpensive vinyl tile floor. We have the usual utility stuff....washer, dryer, hot water heater, furnace, electric panel, dehumidifier.

We store a lot of useful stuff down there, and even more not-so-useful stuff we accumulated over the years. The useful stuff includes a big pantry shelf and a freezer to store Costco food purchases. Wine rack.

Also cabinets for storing paint, light bulbs, paper towels and cleaning products. Workbench and tools area that keeps shrinking as we get rid of power tools we no longer use.

I used to have an area dedicated to orchids, but I got rid of those years ago.

One piece of advice I'd offer is....It's a basement. It has the potential to get water. Assume it will at some point and plan accordingly.

edit: cross-posted with rontuner. Can you tell we hail from the same neck of the woods?

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
I guess my question is why I would choose to watch TV in the basement when the main floor is nicer, closer to the kitchen, and has windows?

Our basement TVs were never the ones I watched, they were for the big loud video games. Now that tv is in mr Jodi’s office, and our main tv is in the family room, so I can see it from the kitchen. Basement family rooms really are best when you have kids so they have someplace to go and don’t mess up your main living space. Now (if I had one) I would use it for exercise equipment and extra craft/work space.