Haven't got a chance to finish my basement which isn't a walkout but it has 9 foot ceiling.

Storage, and more storage! lol we don't usually have basements in Florida, nor do we have those humongous attics that are common in northern states. Just enough space for holiday decorations and old files :)

First the basics. I spent a bunch of money remodeling my basement and 2 years later, I lost everything because of a failed foundation. If your basement is cinder block construction and more than 30 years old, you could have issues. Long story short, you can do an interior channel for $5,000 or $6,000 and you're dry for good.

In my last house, my brother finished a 1,750 sf basement, which had sat unused for 30 years. I used it for a second living area and my office, and eventually moved my entire office there in 2008 before the crash. He added an entire full bath and two storage closets, one of which housed the furnace and water heater, with storage space galore. It was a godsend.

I live near the coast so no basement, sadly. I also have a very shallow attic which is normal here in the south but we did put down plywood so that we could use it for storage because we have great access to it. Storage is an issue here so it's become the perfect place for Christmas items and extra blankets and such.

Not yet. The current basement is just storage. HOWEVER, the walkout basement on the house we're building is planned as a rather large art studio. I will finally have water access in my studio which will allow me create my batiks at home and I can wash my oil brushes without having to go downstairs to the other end of the house to wash them in the bathroom sink. I'll even have 9' sidewalls!

A small portion of the area will also be a dog room. The dogs will have outdoor access via dog door during the day from a small "dog lounge" room (lockable from the inside to prevent intruders coming in the dog door……IF they manage to get past the dogs). When we're home and the dogs come indoors they can go right to their crates to dry off if they're wet or we'll have a dog tub (for muddy days) and a grooming table right there as well as storage for food and supplies.

I can hardly wait!

The basement is not finished yet. The plan is to start working on it this Spring. It will mostly be an open plan with a bar, lounge area, games, movie area, bathroom, and a soundproof music room. The attic cannot be used. We have the heating unit for the upstairs in the attic, but that is all that can fit in there.

My husband and son spent a weekend finishing walls, laying flooring and installing a door so I could use half of our walk-up attic as a sewing/craft room. Instead of getting rid of our daughter's furniture from her teen years, we put it to use as material storage. These days, thanks to almost constant use, it doesn't look this neat any more!

We use our attic as sleeping-room and also to store things. This way our three kids had each his own room.

What is an interior channel, please? Thank you:)

Out basement has a closet, a bookcase, a little office, laundry and a service restroom in it. And a twin bed w a TV. Used to be a play room when your son was young the kids adored it. It even has a heater. In need of attention now...

Too cluttered for me to attach images ops. Of it has a filing cabinet we've outgrown, too...fun CA basement though

Pool anyone?

I am just starting on our basement. I will upload pics in the next couple of days and throughout the project. I am building a craft room, a rompus (media room) room with gaming and a photo studio for my husband, who is a new photographer. I am also building a theatre area for our girls, so they can use the rock star stage daddy built them, and a food storage pantry system built into the area under the stairs.

One end of our 2400 sq ft finished walk-out basement was renovated last year to accomodate my aged parents, who moved in with us this past September. It also has my husband's office and my storm room at the far end.

I have a huge walkout basement begging to be refinished but I simply don't need all that space. Maybe if I win the lottery or something I'd make it into a self contained suite/income potential.

My old basement has an awesome ancient slate sink with 6 faucets, the furnance/waterheater, a freezer, my darkroom equipment and lots of storage and fairly high ceilings, BUT no internal access to it. Would you believe. the previous owners who gutted the first floor in 1962 tore them out to make way for a larger powder room with a makeup counter for their 3 daughters. Now it is a Mad Men time capsule (which I don't mind, but sure wish they kept some of the old woodwork and those steps!) and I have to keep the Bilco doors shoveled so we can get into the basement. I utterly underestimated what a challenge it is to put them back!

to printesa,
wow, you just put my words in writing :)
we are planning finishing this summer.
mostly open space with movie area, ping pong area, open bar/kitchenette and one soundproof music room (my teenage son copmoses and records music). also 3pcs bath and some storage.
pls share your design and floor plan ideas when you ready to start. how big is your basement? ours about 1100 sqf.

My children and relatives use my basement for their personal storage. I have big plans next summer for remodeling and a date with VOA.

Our attic is used as storage. The clearance is too low to do much with it.

@irakar, we do have a ping pong table, too:) The music room will have the drums, and all the other music instruments (our girls play more than one instrument and they want to be able to write some stuff in the future; I need piece from all the drumming:))
The area is probably close to 2000sqf, but it might be less than that. I will post some photos once we start. We've been going back and forth with ideas, but I think now we have a pretty clear idea as to what goes where. I'm sure I'll change some things when it gets closer to starting the project, but the big things are there. It's always a challenge to incorporate the poles from the basement that are so many times sprinkled through it without any logic.

Yes, we use our basement almost everyday. One room is my husband's office and guest bedroom, another room is for laundry and storage, there's another storage closet I want to turn into a 3/4 bath, more inefficient storage under the stairs and the den/media room is the least used room in the house. All this fits in less than 700 square feet. I don't think the original builders of our 1941 bungalow intended for this space to be used so often and in this way.

I have a attic that if you undo the nails of the wall in my bedroom closet . If we get all the rafters gone to make more space, (and were gonna make sure the roof doesn't collapse) then we don't want, to spend much money buying stuff to put in it. Andnf it's going to be a kids secret attic. So any ideas

We have a full basement that is mostly finished---two bedroom/office areas (one of which is lived in my adult son) full bath --small but has shower stall toilet and sink plus storage shelves and our pressure tank--and some other odd stuff is stashed in there I think!--large finished main room that we used to use for play room when our kids were small and we ran a wood stove. Now that our two young grandkids live here too we need to get this cleared again. Also a laundry room with a large upright freezer and door to the outside and a small workshop. Oh and a small storage room.

Sadly I have not been able to get down there for quite some time after an injury so I have NO clue what might be hiding! Wish either the inside or the outside entrance did NOT involve steep and somewhat uneven stairs. Miss using the office for my from-home business--now EVERYTHING is upstairs and we have even less room for 7 people.

Need to get after others to get this valuable real estate back in use!

Sadly no attic---we have double rafters--for what we have no idea--but the clearance is almost nil! Couldn't even get a conventional furnace as the room was not there for ducts. But we have a LOT of insulation up there! And a whole house fan---

Every year, I've been planning to finish the basement, maybe this year. Have a great walk out one that I can't seem to fix up. Could it be my dislike for basements. If there's a next time, I'll know to skip the house with the basement. Don't need the space, but would be a good resell value.

Intersting

I use my unfinished basement to matte and frame my art for art shows.
But, hope to have it finished and sectioned off into work areas eventually.
Our basement is 32' x 37' and 1,184 square feet of space with a 9ft ceiling.
5 of our older oak kitchen cabinets I'm painting and putting in the basement once we have our new ones installed in the kitchen.
Would like to make it a walkout basement like this [houzz=]
In fact this is the company I am hoping to do it for us :)

office/ guest room / laundry room /storage /in house garage ping pong table room

We finished half of our basement it is a multipurpose family room. We do not have attic space.

We use our basement daily. Gym, office, bar, living room, bedroom and bathroom! Took a long time and did most of it ourselves until we got to the bar. We'll worth the investment.

A few more pics...

Basement is used to store hot water heater and furnace. And men who've wronged me. They keep well near the furnace (dry).

Basement is furnace room, full bath, workout room, family room, 2nd utility room and 4th bedroom/library. There is also a two car garage. We have about 1,100 s.f. finished in the basement. Currently have vinyl plank flooring going down and re-drywalling one room (burst water pipe).

My basement is a work in progress, comprised of a family room/library, 12 x 26, where I have just finished installing floor to ceiling book shelves on 3 walls, the fourth wall having the large flat screen TV--I love watching movies!--and the other half of the basement is my laundry/sewing room, also holding the H2O heater and furnace, and my new craft room, with more built-in bookshelves on two walls and my newly-built craft table, huge at 60 x 80 inches, with lots of room for storage under it. It is a wonderful space to work and relax in! Plus, best of all, I have done most of the work myself, so I REALLY appreciate it!

Yes I made use of my basement! I converted it from unfinished to space for my interior design firm. It was perfect for while I was raising my son. Now it's just to convenient to leave.

Ours is fully used, partially finished. There is one large room with a massive fieldstone fireplace with a barn-beam mantle. It was newly refinished when we moved in, with carpet, an egress window, and a closet that--on closer inspection--is actually a disconnected shower. We haven't altered it at all (the rest of the house is higher on the agenda for redecorating,) but it's big and bright and clean and makes a perfect playroom/guest room.

The rest of the basement is all concrete floor and concrete walls. I'm laying green and yellow tiles, but that's just in the laundry area at the moment. There's a tiny room under the stairs that will be used for storage, a small jam closet that needs to be repainted with glossy paint for easier cleaning (being, as I am, not particularly fond of the flat apricot paint currently in place), two larger storage areas that need shelving, and then an exit to the potting shed. Oh, and the stairs--all nasty indoor/outdoor carpet and country-duck wallpaper border. That'll be getting a makeover when we've finished with the main space!

We have a two story with an unfinished basement. Per plans we could do a bed, bath and family room, but we have enough places to watch tv and use a toilet. So with two young girls we bought mats and the area is a circus playroom of sorts. It's perfect, especially with our long, cold polar vortex winter!

( ok, we use the space for storage too. The pic is when the mats were new and bins were needed to prevent curling)

My basement is unfinished and I want to keep it that way. I don't want one more square inch to clean on a regular basis!

My basement is finished and we use it everyday.....we had 2 bedrooms , a full bathroom and a tv game room. We just sold this house and are renovating and older country house

I love basements with exposed ceilings....so practical!

Lol @jpp221 !