Hi Sarah,

I think you should hire an architect for this. It's complete space planning. An architect could give 2-3 options understanding your all requirements.

Regards

Prity

Have you identified all of your supports? I think some of your walls are probably load bearing or have posts that need to remain.

Also ductwork and pipes will in part define your basement layout. I'd do another sketch with your supports. On youtube look up "Basement Finishing Man - Plan." That guy has a video of designing a basement that is just like your layout. Good luck!

Thanks everyone! We will definitely follow-up with someone who can speak to the structural issues and do the space planning. We're a few years out so I was just trying to brainstorm. :)

I did a little more looking around and the yellow is the load-bearing wall/beam. The red is a post. The walls that are left in black are not load-bearing.

The furnace ductwork is in blue. The plumbing (Green) and also gas lines are along the back wall.

So it looks like my draft above would put a post right in the middle of the game room, which isn't great.

GN Builders - we would need to put in an egress window, which is why the bedroom essentially has to be in the top right of the plan as that is the only place where an egress window would work from the outside. I also think that since there isn't a stove in the kitchenette (just sink, micro, fridge) it would be okay without venting right?

So maybe something more similar to this which leaves the movie room kind of small....

This is more just for fun - just seeing if anyone had any ideas! I can't figure out a good way to not just have a big empty space in the back...

Just a few things to think about;

• If you put the kitchenette in that location where would be the eating area?
• Having a bedroom next to a furnace room, you would have to more or less provide some sort of soundproofing for the walls to muffle down the sound of the furnace when running.
• Also, have to talk to a plumber if that the ideal location for the bathroom and how he planning to vent plumbing fixtures. We usualy put bathrooms near the garage so the vent can run through the garage wall cavity without opening up anything in the living space above unless he plans to run the vent out and along the outside wall because the vent must be extended above the roof.

movie rooms don't have to be huge. ours is in about a 12x12 space now that's open to the rest of the basement. we have an 80" 4k TV which is amazing. we sit about 8 or 9 feet from it. wouldn't want to sit farther because you lose definition. we have 4 theater seats, and planned to put a bar counter behind the seats for extra game day seating. unless you were planning on providing seating for 12 or more, you can reduce your space significantly.

Thanks GN Builders! I was actually mainly thinking of it as a place to grab snacks and drinks for the movie room, or for the au pair to refrigerate leftovers etc. So no eating area per se.

Thanks for the thoughts re sound proofing. I'm currently telecommuting from the basement so I'm in the "bedroom" area all day and it hasn't been bad, but I will keep listening through the winter.

Great point about the bathroom... will keep thinking.

anj_p thanks!! Definitely just trying to pull in a sectional and maybe a bean bag for the kids, not actually a home theater. We have a projector so we'd like to use that, but we currently use the space that way and so maybe we just keep the size instead of thinking about expanding it...

I made an account to reply to this old post to say it seems like you dont need a kitchenette but just a wet bar. Just a sink and refrigerator tucked into a nook. Im brainstorming my basement and this gave me an idea to include a WB .

Thanks James! I think you're right. That plus a microwave should work. Initially I had wanted to have a back up kitchen set up for a kitchen reno. But I realized we could do a portable induction hob, and honestly that we would probably move out for a kitchen reno!