Here's the background. My father has been ill and passed away this spring. This summer we took Mom back to the summer house, opened it up for the first time in 2 years, and discovered the basement had leaked and we had to tear out everything and install a dry-loc system to prevent further water issues.

The basement had been their family room/den and since it was a house built in the '50s it had that really heavy knotty pine paneling. Obviously we had to get rid of all the soft furnishings and tear out the walls, carpet and everything. The room is slightly oddly shaped due to the location of the stairwell and the fact that it's about a third of the actual basement, the rest being a garage and unfinished storage/workspace.

We're planning to leave it about a year before refinishing - because mom needs time to pull herself together after two such big blows (dad passing away and the damage to their belongings in the basement). This will give us time to be certain the repairs we're making now prevent any further water damage as well.

We want to use this time wisely to come up with ideas for how best to re-finish the room when we're ready in a way that will enhance the value of the property. Since everything has been gutted down to the cinder block, the wiring is exposed etc. The only thing we did leave untouched was the ceiling due to the radiant heating installed in it and the gas stove for heating the room.

Here's the big question - what sorts of updates would you make with this kind of space? I was thinking potentially get it wired so the cable tv wiring is in the wall instead of outside the wall - as well as getting it wired for surround sound, etc. since it is their tv watching area and might make a nice small man cave if they sell the place. But that's my ideas and not my mom's, she might want to make it a library or something. Right now it's a blank slate so I'd like to hear your ideas. I will try to add some photos of the space later when I have a chance to download them from my camera.