When we were building our house, we decided to finish off the upstairs first and leave the basement finishing for sometime in the future. We don’t need the extra finished space at the moment. For now, a wide open area in the basement is great for the kids. The kids can practice their sports in the basement, and also ride around on their tricycles and scooters because there are no walls in the way.
Basement Tour
Immediately to the left of the stairs in the basement is our furnace and wood storage area. We decided to get a Continental combination wood burning furnace with propane backup. We didn’t want to rely totally on propane for heat. Wood is a less expensive heating option so we use that for the most part. The propane side of the furnace kicks on when the wood burning side goes out. So far it’s great, we can get the house so warm in a very short time. We throw wood through the window, and store enough of it inside to last a couple weeks. It’s a little messy with all the wood chips and dust, but eventually we will build a wall to contain all the mess within the utility room.
To the right of the stairs is where we will make the basement bathroom. Way back in the summer when we had our plumbing installed, we planned where we would put all the plumbing fixtures and had them roughed in. The basement bathroom will be quite large; it will fit between the stairs and go all the way to the beam support post.
We will also eventually make two bedrooms in the basement at the front of the house where each of the windows are. They will be good sized bedrooms with closets in between. For now, we have a “guest room” set up for when we have family over.
And the other bedroom area we are currently using for the kids toys. One reason we decided to build a raised bungalow is because of the windows in the basement. We dug the foundation four feet in the ground so we could have nice big windows in the basement. These windows let in lots of sunlight so that it doesn’t feel like a dark basement.
Then over at the back of the house is a storage area. We are keep our paints and tools and other random stuff here for now. Eventually we will also finish the upper four feet of drywall and add a drop ceiling. We don’t plan on building any walls on this side of the basement, we will leave this whole side of the basement open for a family room and living space.
That’s about it for the basement! I imagine it will be quite a few years before we ever get around to finishing it, but for now the unfinished basement gives us lots of extra space for the kids to run around and it also provides lots of extra storage.
