rec room/ bedroom? ...............(long)

16 years ago

Hi All, I posted a similar message in the small homes forum and would like to get your advise too. My DH and I live in a raised ranch with half of the basement being a garage and the other half finished into a small (15' x 10') rec room with a bar. Last year we built a detached 3 car garage and now are planning on finishing the garage side of the basement for more space. We have narrowed the design down to 2 options. The first would give us a master bedroom 11' x 15' with TWO 6' x 6' his and hers walk in closets, and a small bathroom. Currently our master is 11'x10' and we only have ONE 2'x5' reach in closet with a small bathroom. OR we could turn the whole basement into a huge recroom with a bathroom.

Bedroom pros: Larger master

2 large closets vs 1 small closet

Bedroom cons: In basement so probably a few of those

yucky wolf spiders :( (I am terrified of

spiders)

Either all of the computer and workout

equipment or all of the kids toys would

have to go into the old master bedroom,

so on my main level I would always have

one 'junky' room.

We would be on a different level than the

kids.

Rec room pros: All of the junky 'basement' stuff ie.

computer, workout equipment, toys, etc would

be in the basement.

Bigger open area for entertaining or family

get togethers

Kids could play downstairs and out of our

hair.

Rec room cons: I have to live with a very small master

with only one closet and transfer all of

my off season clothes to a closet downstairs

every single season for as long as we live

there.

On the small home forum someone suggested that we make it a rec room and possibly convert it to a bedroom later when the kids are bigger, but our stairs come down in the middle of the house and if we go with the rec room, we'd like to open the stairway up so it would visually connect the two sides of the basement, also I probably won't build 2 walk in closets in the room if we go with a rec room. So that is my question, its kinda an either/or situation and I'd love to hear some input on what the masses would prefer. There is a door to the outside which would be in the bedroom so it would be up to code.

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Comments (5)

jasper60103
16 years ago
Kinda tough decision.

You would love having a large master BR w/bath and more closet space. And not to mention privacy!

When the kids reach their teen years, they would like a rec room to hang out with friends. Also, you mentioned you would like the extra entertainment space as well.

I think I like the idea from the person on the small home forum. Add a rec room, but could you possibly add a closet to the space? This could free up upstairs closet space by storing off season clothing.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your decision.

-jasper
funnycide
16 years ago
I think when selling most people would find it odd to have a master bedroom in basement. Even if you have decent windows I'm assuming part of the area would be underground. What are the options for turning either the existing rec room or new rec room into a kids room with bathroom? It would probably be more acceptable to have a kids room on the lower level. Then maybe you could expand the existing master bedroom.
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kathyanddave
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for your replies
jasper60103: We do have a fairly large closet planned, however the staircase comes down in the middle of the basement and if we make it into a rec room, we plan to open the staircase walls up and just put railings so that you could see from one end of the basement to the other to really open up the space (we've already confirmed that they aren't load bearing walls). So I don't think anyone would be comfortable using it as a bedroom since the only door would be at the top of the stairs.
funnycide: We talked about that, but we only have 2 kids so we really don't need another bedroom, we just thought that it would be nice for us to have larger closets and a larger bedroom and since we JUST gutted and remodeled EVERY room on the main level, I think my DH would divorce me if I asked him to reconfigure and enlarge the master :). Due to lot restrictions we can't enlarge the original footprint of the house so we have to work with what we have.
Vering off on another subject, if we do make it into a rec room how appealing would a mini kitchenette be to people? If you were looking at a house would it be something that would interest you, or would you rather see an open blank space that could be used for anything?
cburch
16 years ago
I think a mini-kitchenette would appeal to me. We have a rec-room that was once a garage and having to run upstairs to the kitchen for popcorn, snacks - etc is sometimes annoying. We haven't really had many people over, but we did have a couple over right after Christmas and it would have been nice to have a countertop to put the food out on and a sink for quick clean up.

Christy
bmrbabe
16 years ago
Keep the master bedroom upstairs and add a closet in the basement for out of season items.

A bathroom in the basement is an excellent idea - especially with kids who might not make it running up the stairs!

We added a six foot wet bar (with a bar sink), and a small fridge built in underneath on one end. I also have a two burner "stove" that can be plugged in if necessary, and a microwave. The kids will love this area when they get older!