Mid-sized traditional fully buried basement in Detroit with white walls, medium hardwood floors, no fireplace and brown floor.

Designer: Kristin Petro; Photographer: Jad Ryherd.
Inspiration for a traditional basement in Chicago with brown floor.

This is an example of a small contemporary fully buried basement in Detroit with a home bar, black walls, vinyl floors, a standard fireplace, a stone fireplace surround, brown floor and wallpaper.

Inspiration for a large contemporary walk-out basement in Atlanta with a home bar, black walls, vinyl floors, a standard fireplace, a brick fireplace surround, brown floor and planked wall panelling.

This is an example of a large transitional look-out basement in St Louis with a home bar, grey walls, vinyl floors and brown floor.

We started with a blank slate on this basement project where our only obstacles were exposed steel support columns, existing plumbing risers from the concrete slab, and dropped soffits concealing ductwork on the ceiling. It had the advantage of tall ceilings, an existing egress window, and a sliding door leading to a newly constructed patio. This family of five loves the beach and frequents summer beach resorts in the Northeast. Bringing that aesthetic home to enjoy all year long was the inspiration for the décor, as well as creating a family-friendly space for entertaining. Wish list items included room for a billiard table, wet bar, game table, family room, guest bedroom, full bathroom, space for a treadmill and closed storage. The existing structural elements helped to define how best to organize the basement. For instance, we knew we wanted to connect the bar area and billiards table with the patio in order to create an indoor/outdoor entertaining space. It made sense to use the egress window for the guest bedroom for both safety and natural light. The bedroom also would be adjacent to the plumbing risers for easy access to the new bathroom. Since the primary focus of the family room would be for TV viewing, natural light did not need to filter into that space. We made sure to hide the columns inside of newly constructed walls and dropped additional soffits where needed to make the ceiling mechanicals feel less random. In addition to the beach vibe, the homeowner has valuable sports memorabilia that was to be prominently displayed including two seats from the original Yankee stadium. For a coastal feel, shiplap is used on two walls of the family room area. In the bathroom shiplap is used again in a more creative way using wood grain white porcelain tile as the horizontal shiplap “wood”. We connected the tile horizontally with vertical white grout joints and mimicked the horizontal shadow line with dark grey grout. At first glance it looks like we wrapped the shower with real wood shiplap. Materials including a blue and white patterned floor, blue penny tiles and a natural wood vanity checked the list for that seaside feel. A large reclaimed wood door on an exposed sliding barn track separates the family room from the game room where reclaimed beams are punctuated with cable lighting. Cabinetry and a beverage refrigerator are tucked behind the rolling bar cabinet (that doubles as a Blackjack table!). A TV and upright video arcade machine round-out the entertainment in the room. Bar stools, two rotating club chairs, and large square poufs along with the Yankee Stadium seats provide fun places to sit while having a drink, watching billiards or a game on the TV. Signed baseballs can be found behind the bar, adjacent to the billiard table, and on specially designed display shelves next to the poker table in the family room. Thoughtful touches like the surfboards, signage, photographs and accessories make a visitor feel like they are on vacation at a well-appointed beach resort without being cliché.

Lower Level of home on Lake Minnetonka Nautical call with white shiplap and blue accents for finishes.
This is an example of a mid-sized beach style walk-out basement in Minneapolis with a home bar, white walls, light hardwood floors, a standard fireplace, a stone fireplace surround, brown floor, exposed beam and planked wall panelling.

A custom barn door offered the perfect solution to add privacy while maintaining accessibility in this compact space.
This is an example of a small transitional look-out basement in DC Metro with blue walls, medium hardwood floors, brown floor and wallpaper.

Large modern look-out basement with black walls, vinyl floors, no fireplace and brown floor.

Design ideas for a large transitional walk-out basement in Atlanta with grey walls, light hardwood floors and brown floor.

David Frechette
This is an example of a transitional fully buried basement in Detroit with grey walls, vinyl floors, a two-sided fireplace, a wood fireplace surround and brown floor.

Renovated basement in Calvert County, Maryland, featuring rustic and industrials fixtures and finishes for a playful, yet sophisticated recreation room. Photography Credit: Virgil Stephens Photography

A dark and dingy basement is now the most popular area of this family’s home. The new basement enhances and expands their living area, giving them a relaxing space for watching movies together and a separate, swanky bar area for watching sports games. The design creatively uses reclaimed barnwood throughout the space, including ceiling beams, the staircase, the face of the bar, the TV wall in the seating area, open shelving and a sliding barn door. The client wanted a masculine bar area for hosting friends/family. It’s the perfect space for watching games and serving drinks. The bar area features hickory cabinets with a granite stain, quartz countertops and an undermount sink. There is plenty of cabinet storage, floating shelves for displaying bottles/glassware, a wine shelf and beverage cooler. The most notable feature of the bar is the color changing LED strip lighting under the shelves. The lights illuminate the bottles on the shelves and the cream city brick wall. The lighting makes the space feel upscale and creates a great atmosphere when the homeowners are entertaining. We sourced all the barnwood from the same torn down barn to make sure all the wood matched. We custom milled the wood for the stairs, newel posts, railings, ceiling beams, bar face, wood accent wall behind the TV, floating bar shelves and sliding barn door. Our team designed, constructed and installed the sliding barn door that separated the finished space from the laundry/storage area. The staircase leading to the basement now matches the style of the other staircase in the house, with white risers and wood treads. Lighting is an important component of this space, as this basement is dark with no windows or natural light. Recessed lights throughout the room are on dimmers and can be adjusted accordingly. The living room is lit with an overhead light fixture and there are pendant lights over the bar.

This farmhouse style basement features a craft/homework room, entertainment space with projector & screen, storage shelving and more. Accents include barn door, farmhouse style sconces, wide-plank wood flooring & custom glass with black inlay.

Small modern basement in Atlanta with a home bar, grey walls, light hardwood floors and brown floor.

Basement
Inspiration for a large transitional fully buried basement in New York with grey walls, dark hardwood floors and brown floor.

Design ideas for a small traditional look-out basement in Denver with blue walls, cork floors, no fireplace and brown floor.

Casual seating to the right of the bar contrasts the bold colors of the adjoining space with washed out blues and warm creams. Slabs of Italian Sequoia Brown marble were carefully book matched on the monolith to create perfect mirror images of each other, and are as much a piece of art as the local pieces showcased elsewhere. On the ceiling, hand blown glass by a local artist will never leave the guests without conversation. Scott Bergmann Photography Painting by Zachary Lobdell

We refinished the old kitchen cabinets and installed in them in basement bar area. The countertops are poured concrete.
Photo of a mid-sized traditional fully buried basement in Indianapolis with grey walls, vinyl floors and brown floor.