What is that space on the left of the office? I can’t see why moving the furnace would help and that would be expensive too. The space you have for the laundry and bathroom now should be big enough to have a shower , toilet and vanity what is that small square space next to the vanity?

Thanks for your comments, Patricia. space to the left of the office was previously a bedroom but I think the plan would be to open up and create a larger single room. Moving furnace is being considered because it makes for an awkward entrance to the basement space at the base of the stairs. Any thoughts on how you would lay out bathroom and laundry room if creating two separate rooms? thanks again.

Before laying out, is there an existing beam in the basement going left to right with supporting steel pipe columns? Or is that an existing bearing wall down the basement center? It’s good to know any structural restrictions and try to work with them first. I’m guessing you have good headroom under that section of the house...

Also is that the current access to the backyard, down 4 winder stairs off the kitchen? Is there headroom for that stair to continue in an “L” shape without conflicting with the existing bathroom just above the second leg of stairs? I’m counting 8 risers down before the turn & want to make sure there is no head bump

good question - it's a load-bearing wall that runs through the centre from left to right. there is the ability to open up access between the rooms so not just a single door through. good height throughout.

Yes, access to the backyard is at base of winder stairs down from kitchen. Sorry, not sure what you mean if that stair was to continue in an L shape. Existing clearance is fine going down the stairs from the backdoor to the basement, but not a lot of additional room to play with, if any.

OK, did 2 sketches to scale, still have lots of questions & without knowing a lot about the house itself or your family or the budget! These are general ideas and lots of variations of these are possible.

-But in general IMHO for basements = the more open and less cut-up the better. Without natural light the smaller rooms get claustrophobic, try to be generous with rooms, even bathrooms. The house desperately needs a 2nd bathroom, might as well make it relatively spacious instead of as tiny as possible.

-Work with existing restrictions as much as feasible at first (leave bearing wall, stair, windows, major utilities as much as possible until there is a compelling reason to change such things). One sketch plan leaves the utilities in place, one moves them slightly. Not knowing what they are - could be electric 30+ yr old utilities overdue for redesign/elimination, or they could be fine and left in place for budget reasons, it depends...

-Try to borrow daylight by lining openings up, using glass in doors, high transoms to maximize daylight, plus excellent layered lighting IMHO,

Don‘t worry about having a specialized wish list of spaces for everything built in with partitions, the “flex space” can be designed creatively with interior design.

/You don’t mention any changes to the main floor so I’ve made no suggestions at this time. IF this basement finishing project is part of a larger scheme of total home renovation let us know, otherwise this is just for the basement :-)