Views of west exterior wall and east interior wall

View of south interior wall. The door next to the steps goes into the unfinished storage area where the laundry is located. The door to the western end of the house goes into the mud room, where there is an exterior entry door. I go in and out of the house via the mudroom several times a day. The mud room is finished and I don't want to make any changes to it.

Views of north exterior wall with corner closet. The electrical box is in there and the cable comes in the house in that corner too. There is shelving in the closet. I can store my pink exercise mat and hand weights right inside the double doors, or in any other unfinished space.

You have a nice space for anyone barefoot and under 6’ tall. Post a height limit sign at both entrances and warn taller guests to watch their heads. Give them a foam-rubber beanie hat to wear. Removing the carpet may give you an added 1/2” of headroom.

A question about the bulkhead: is it possible to carve out some headroom between the vertical supports? Maybe arched openings -- even one opening with full height would be useful. Then you can put benches between the other openings so that tall people won't walk there. That would give you lots of seating for parties too.

There is ductwork in the bulkhead. I honestly don’t know very many people over 6’ tall. Anyone who gets so drunk he hits his head - time to go home!!

Lol! Yeah, I thought there probably was. But sometimes there are options, and a full height opening would have been really nice. Ok, leaving aside the impossible...

You've got a nice space there. Are most people entering through the mud-room or from upstairs? For entertainment purposes, it's good to have the bar immediately obvious and accessible upon entry. It keeps people from standing around blocking traffic.

Then you need to think about which way you want to face when you watch tv. I think the long wall is probably easiest. And that would let you install a wide built-in to accommodate fireplace and tv next to each other rather than stacked. Much nicer than a crick in the neck.

The west exterior wall will have lower cabinets in a dark espresso finish, with a light countertop, and faux brick wall that I will paint white. Hubby will put up some floating shelves made from old fence boards.

Chilton Basement · More Info

Here is a mock up - the top diagram has a fridge, the lower would have an under counter beverage cooler.

Here is a real life mock up of the seating area. The pink mat represents a big tv mounted on the wall. Where you see the cedar chest, we will build an angled wall out of old fence boards and put in an electric fireplace. The chairs represent seating.

So that puts your workout area between the mudroom entry and the closet, right? And the bar goes on the short wall to the right of the tv?

I like the full height fridge. Especially nice to have during holiday season when you need extra fridge space. And, I'd go for drawers on the lower cabinets. They are much easier to use than cupboards. (I love my kitchen since we made this change. Nothing gets lost in the back anymore.)

Bar goes on the wall under the tiny window, and I'm glad you like the idea of a full fridge! Hubby was kinda set on the under counter cooler, then I pointed out to him that a full fridge will have...ice cubes. My little workout area will go where ever I can lay out the mat - right now, close to the stairs where the double doors are to the storage area. I do Pilates 2-3 times a week at a studio, and just supplement at home with some weights and stretching. I'll store the mat when not in use.

That closet is going to make putting a bar under the window awkward. Every time you want to open the closet door, you'll block the bar. Same with the mudroom door. From your floorplans, I'd say that the natural traffic pattern is stairs to mudroom and mudroom to closet. That means you need at least 3' and preferably at least 4' wide walking space. I'd put the electrical panel in a small cupboard for aesthetics and move the closet. Something like this:

once more with feeling! Houzz didn't want to keep pic on last post.

Those walls are beautiful, but a bit beyond our skills and budget. I did think about putting the fireplace below the TV, but with a 7’ ceiling, it’s pretty squished? I ordered a fireplace, it’s 36” wide and 22” tall, and we can access the wires from the closet since there is an outlet on that wall. I’m still thinking about how to hide the wires and cable box for the TV. We haven’t purchased a TV yet, and I understand that they are now smarter than most people. We can return the fireplace, so I will see what hubby has to say! He’s going to sand and plane the fence boards this week, so we will know how much material we have to work with. It’s basically free “reclaimed barn wood.”

When you are working on your measured diagram, mark the entire area of the lowest ceiling in a color and plan your walking spaces as much as possible in the areas of the highest ceiling.

So here is a mock up with the fireplace under the TV. Our “free” material is the fence boards. We have 17 boards that will be about 7’ long, and 2 boards that are about 16’ long. If we put the TV over the fireplace, it will be one foot from the ceiling, with the fireplace starting about 6” from the concrete floor. There will be about 8” of space between the TV and fireplace. I did one drawing with fenceboards all the way up, and one with them just around the fireplace.

If I don’t put the fireplace under the TV, I will get a console or buffet or sideboard to put under the TV. I actually do a really good job of painting furniture and am confident I can find something that will work with the scale of the TV and the proportions of the room.

This may help you decide based on the distance between TV wall and seating. Your idea looks to be pretty good as long as the viewing distance is adequate. Not sure TV will be low enough but if you're seated in reclining seats it should be fine.

I truly appreciate everyone’s input. Hubby thinks the tv will be too close to the fireplace if mounted above the fireplace and it may get damaged by the heat. Apparently smart TVs can’t take much heat.

I don't know how much heat an electric FP generates. They may be mostly for looks. I certainly wouldn't put TV above a wood burning fire without recessing it in the wall and putting a mantel between them.

Since you have about 30 feet of wall, they can go beside each other.