Blog

Basements / Lifestyle

We seem to be making basements a lifestyle of today. They are no longer a place to send the kids. They have bars, media rooms/home theaters, full bathrooms with steam, exercise area, storage area and of course play areas for the children and don’t forget poker, pool tables, oops wine rooms!

We don’t look at how many enclosed spaces we can make, but how much of an open feel can we create, while allocating for the functional areas.  We conceal lolly columns or remove them with integrated steel beams. We can create angles, a mixture of flooring, i.e. hardwood, stone and carpet. Wonderful colors and a mixture of textures, patterns, woods and metals.  Some basements do not have high ceilings so we try to raise in areas where possible to give interest and a sense of height. Coffers work well in some cases – definitely crown moldings (even if there is a dropped-in acoustical ceiling) it really gives scale and good bones.

When you are in the basement lighting is very important. Let’s not do the typical grid of recessed lighting. Yikes! Mix it up with sconces, surface mounted fixtures and directional recessed lighting. We want interesting space well lite. What we want most if you go down to the basement you say “Oh my God it doesn’t feel like I am in a basement.”  That means it met the criteria and it is a job well done.

Enjoy your new living space.

Gail Whiting
Design Consultants