Why must you keep it? Remove it and put up regular walls.

If the whole basement is like this it probably feels a bit like a dungeon. However, it's nice stone and would probably make a nice accent wall.

Can't it just be drywalled over? My contractor drywalled over a wall of brick in my house.

Removing 1500 squ ft of stone on a full basement may be structurally damaging to this house & very costly. Plus it's historical & I'd lose the designation, if I removed it. I've seen some whitewash ideas that I felt was appealing . Also partially adding some dry wall in some of the rooms is a great idea too.

what do you want to use the basement for? I would get a bright ceiling up with some nice lighting and some nice floor and make it a swanky lounge aeea

There's several rooms with the same stone. This particular one will probably be a Tv/movie room.

That's the foundation. You can't remove it or the house will break. Have some poor soul power wash it, point it up, and seal it. If the area isn't climate controlled, the walls will sweat all summer. It would be a shame to cover it up, it's really pretty stone work, even though it's better for the house covered with closed cell spray foam

I don't think I will cover it up in this particular room. It will make a great man cave. I was thinking about the bedroom & other areas in the basement.

Is there a moisture problem. These old stone foundation walls were notoriously difficult to seal. Make sure you understand that before anything. Then, if good to go clean it up and put some great LED lighting down there maybe even colors, depending on how you want to use it.

None detected during inspection. The drainage system as extensive as the full stone basement.

The bedroom has better have a legal egress window, or the appearance of the stone is the least of your problems.

Don't ever remuddle the original details of a home.

Everything is up to code with ingress & egress. Basically a remodel of the existing rooms more than a rehab. As stated, it's on the Historical Register, I can't move walls or I lose the designation.

I’m finally ready to rehab the basement. The picture is what I wish the existing basement could look like. We’ve pulled down the falling ceiling & want to GENTLY pressure wash the stone walls as there is some crumbling. Does anyone know if there’s a process to revive the walls? I’m going to start searching for stone masons, but would like to be a bit more knowledgeable before.

Find the stone masons recommended by your local historical society before you pressure wash crumbling mortar. They will know more about what kind of mortar you have and what the process options are for making it sound, and possibly lighter.

Illuminating the stone walls with wall washer lights will highlight their colors and texture. The wall washers can be on dimmers as part of your overall lighting plan.