I am trying to come up with layout design for my unfinished basement. I would like to include a laundry room, bar, family room and small home office in the space. Any ideas are welcome.
I am looking to decorate the area in an urban, contemporary style using dark reds, browns, and neutrals.
Any advice on design layout would be helpful.
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We have really finished our basement nicely and the bar was there when we moved in, but we love it. I can have all my friends over, set up a buffet on the bar area, there is a sink and a bar fridge and plugs - can set up slow cooker with chili or whatever and we are away from my kids rooms so we don't wake them up with all the noise (we are in a bungalow). Also if we have friends with kids over, they can play with toys while guys watch the game or whatever and all the food can be layed out there - It is also a great place to store the kitchen stuff you don't use everyday if you have a small kitchen like us. Doesn't have to be tacky and neon.
We have a 30-year-old home, and the areas downstairs where we have plumbing (bar sink, small bathroom, laundry room) are all in place beneath our kitchen and upstairs bathroom. It might be most cost-effective for you to have all your areas requiring plumbing in one spot. I would probably suggest adding a small bathroom to your plans.
If you have an exit door to the back yard, I would make that area the laundry room. If you have kids coming in from the back yard with muddy boots, have the small bathroom off that room, so they don't track the dirt in too far.
I would make the bar part of the family room. Having a sink is a convenience, even if it is just a wee bar sink. A mini fridge of some kind may work for you, under the counter. Plan task lighting for the bar as well.
Be sure to equip the bar to adequately suit your needs. Would you use a microwave? Need storage space for dishes? Would it bother you to have to carry items up and down the stairs from the kitchen? Before you know it, your bar could end up as a small entertainment center, equipped like a small kitchen.
Good luck with your plans.
We actually DID a basement bar, and found it wasn't that difficult. We divided two rooms, cutting a "window" into one far wall, making that our bar. The bar fridge and glasses are in the rear room and then we built an oak countertop on the outside for the actual table, complete with two oak barstools. It's simple but nice, and above it all we cut out letters for the words "On the Rocks" and is rear lit with a black light and mirrors to reflect it. At night it looks great! I've got a pic somewhere if you need or wish to see it as well as our faux brick treatment we did in the games room beside the bar. Good luck hon!
About the bar in the basement, I'm torn between the other replies as I was thinking also about putting a little bar in the basement. Our home isn't that big either but then again when we entertain it is nice to be upstairs in our comfy living room. I guess it depends on how much you drink and who you entertain :0)
I didn't realize having a bar in your basement was such a terrible mistake!
I would seem to me that having another area to entertain people wouldn't be such a bad thing. Especially since some people (like me) don't have a very big house and therefore have to make use of all the space we have available (including our "subterranian lyre"). Seeing as though my kitchen holds about 4 people, my dining room doesn't exist and my living room is about 8 feet b 8 feet, I am seriously considering finishing my basement and think a bar would be a nice idea. I haven't done much research into it yet but when I do I'll let you know what I learn. And if Tom Cruise is participating in this forum, I'd love for you to come tend bar at my grand-opening!
I don't have any design suggestions for you except one: WHY DO YOU WANT A BAR IN THE BASEMENT?
Seriously - when you entertain friends, you intend to throw them into your subterranian lyre so you can pretend that you are Tom Cruise in "Cocktail" for twenty minutes, then get bored with it, and continue, as one really should do, to entertain in the nice rooms of your home - like the living room/dining room/kitchen?
Don't waste your money on building a "Bar". The last time a self-respecting designer installed a bar in the basement - Flashdance was still in theatres.