I think a bedroom generally has more value, although in most cases it would be diminished (vs. a 1st or 2nd floor) because its in a basement.

Also, based on your description, you would need to do some renovations to make this room into a bedroom. All bedrooms must have a closet, and a basement bedroom must have an egress window in the bedroom, not somewhere nearby in the basement.

Bruce

Yes, we are planning on the window, we just are trying to decide which room to put it in. And adding a closet would be less work/money than finishing out the whole storage room.

We had a foundation guy out to give an estimate for an egress window and his comment regarding the theater room was, "that's the coolest room I've ever seen, I wouldn't do anything to it". So I was just wondering others opinions.

I would love to add a room upstairs, but that just isn't feasible, unfortunately. We only have 2 upstairs and one is extremely small. If I had all the money in the world I would totally reconfigure the floor plan cause with 1500 SQ feet I should be able to have 3 bedrooms, but oh well.

I appreciate the opinions, I guess I just hold no value to theater rooms (I've never been big on big screens and loud surround sound) but know that some do. Curious how others think.

You might be able to add the needed window(s) and turn it into a bedroom that can be returned to a theater room with a set of good blackout drapes or something.

I would have to have a lot of extra space in a house to dedicate a room to movies. I'd want the bedroom, or a workshop, or any number of things first. If you need a bedroom, make a bedroom. If it's for resale, see what a local realtor thinks.

Don't feel guilty about demolishing someone else's weird room that happens to be in your house!

(Psst--it would probably make a great torture chamber!)

Since you have no plans to move, why are you renovating to sell?

If you have no need for this space, then leave it until you plan to move and then make a decision about what would be best for that space.

If you need the room for something, then reno the room for your use. If you need a bedroom, make it a bedroom. If you need a play area, paint it brighter so that it isn't a dark dungeon. Paint is cheap. You can always paint it back to theatre room dark when you go to sell (if that kind of space is desirable at that time).

We are pretty sure this isn't a forever home so we want to keep resale value in mind that's all.

We've considered the idea of just adding the window and painting to make it a bedroom for our use but leaving it in a way that it could still be a theater room too. I would like the idea of adding two windows, one in each room, but the cost is on the higher side of what we were expecting and so don't know that we can do that.

But 3 bedrooms in the basement would make it easier to sleep on the same floor as our young kids and the rooms upstairs could be an office/guest room and a play room where there is tons of natural light. I don't mind a dark bedroom when I just use it at night anyways. My husband is rightly concerned, though, that we could end up spending more money on this place than we will see in return.

I have put theaters in a lot of houses I was selling. I make the raised seating area removable by just attaching it to walls rather than the floor and the flooring always extends under it.

None of the theaters would have been acceptable bedrooms so I am not making that choice. I market the house as theater furniture and equipment negotiable. I don't know that I get more money than I would get for a bedroom, but they tend to sell much faster than houses without the theater.

Side question and it may not pertain to your area but have you tested for Radon? Several houses in this area have tested high enough that people have started installing Radon exhaust fans in their basement.

We tested for radon when we bought it and put in a mitigation system, but you are right, it's very important. Our level was super high before we had the system put in and now it's virtually none.

I will have to talk to local realtors i guess to see what is more desirable in this area. Of course it will all just come down to who is looking for a house at that time...

I would think a bedroom would add more value, and there are certainly a number of people who "need" X many bedrooms.

IME, the biggest cost of theater rooms is the equipment. If you don't have the equipment and it is just a theater room by the paint and configuration, I would not think twice about changing it. And if you have the equipment, try selling it and make that room something you love rather than avoid.

Edited to add: We love watching movies and I hope to put a theater room in the basement someday. That said, we toured a home with a theater room already installed. It was just paint and a riser and not impressive to this movie lover at all.

A bedroom should usually add more value to the house. But the question is whether the value increase will be more than the cost to put it in. It isn't cheap to add egress windows to a basement.

If you need a bedroom, then spending 50g* to add 40g* in value to your house may be worth it because it may be worth the 10g to improve your quality of life while living there for many years.

If you were selling soon, then spending 50g* to add 40g* in value would be a waste.

So while it's a good idea to keep resale value in mind, your own personal needs should factor in way more than a potential future sale.

*Note: Values shown are for demonstration uses only. I have no idea what the actual cost or improved value would be for your specific situation.

One other thing you might have to consider, do you have a septic system? If so, they need to be sized based on number of bedrooms, so adding a bedroom and marketing it as such if you tried to selll could be a pricey endeavor as the septic might need to be redone. If you have city sewer, carry on :)

You can call it a bedroom but in some areas, if you have a septic system, you have to upgrade that for a legal bedroom. Use the house the way you need to use the house. What you call rooms makes no difference.