The Best Basement Ideas!

April 16, 2019

We love living in Colorado, and in particular Southshore, where basements offer additional living, sleeping, game room and recreational space! We pulled together some of the most creative ideas for basements, whether you want a playtime habitat for family fun and bonding, a workout room where you can sweat in private, or a big-screen-TV-watching refuge. Here are some of the coolest things to do in and with a basement, finished or not!

Modern Basement Ideas

While there are hundreds of ideas online for turning your subterranean space into dream surroundings for everybody in the family, one of the most eye-popping sites we found is that of a designer in Illinois, Sebring Design Build. Take a look at these examples, starting with the kitchen/rec/leisure image and work your way down to 50 more basement ideas featuring bars, crafty nooks, a bowling alley (!) and combination blends of industrial, modern and urban funk décor. And if you don’t find something to inspire you there, check out thousands more luxury finished basements at Houzz!

The Home Gym 

A room in the basement exclusively for workouts makes it easy to roll out of bed at dawn, pop on some sneakers and hit the treadmill, elliptical or weight bench. Whether you have lots of aerobic equipment, or just a few weights and an exercise ball, having a space at home where you can work out in private is the ultimate gym. Take a look at these ideas on Pinterest for inspiration. And while you’re looking, multi-task with some lunges and squats! And how about a motivational wall stencil? Check out these inspirational quotes from Etsy for a larger-than-life nudge in a fitness direction.

We found some climbing walls for kids that you can build into your basement, too. How cool would it be to turn the littles loose to build functional, core-driven skills that benefit all the other sports your kids want to play? Climbing walls require strength, flexibility, and coordination to successfully maneuver and Architecture Art Designs has 23 different options to DIY. And while the kids’ climbing wall at Atomik Climbing Holds is built in a garage, check out the variety it offers! 

Field Hockey and Basketball…in the Basement!

Okay, admittedly, not all of these ideas will fit in every basement, but if you’re looking for inspiration, there’s plenty to scroll through in this curated collection on the Architecture Art Designs site. The beauty of these ideas is they combine recreation and leisure (i.e., big screen-TV-viewing from a huge comfortable sofa!) with multi-purpose playrooms and craft tables. Don’t miss the media room with a stage for budding American Idols, and the one with a locomotive train track rimming the ceiling!

More Cool Things to Put in a Basement

Oh, the options are endless for toys and games and equipment you could haul down to your basement for family play! You’ve seen the pool tables and tennis tables (ping pong, for the uninitiated), but what about pinball machines or full-size classic arcade games!  Dream Arcades makes multi-game video arcade machines, although you can find them at your local Walmart and Target stores — just minutes away in Aurora. And if none of those sound like the kind of fun you want to set up downstairs, look at the Game Room Guys where you’ll find everything from bubble and air hockey machines to dance games, skee-ball, shuffleboard and old school table games. 

Perhaps that cool subterranean space is the perfect place for a wine cellar. You can build your own, or order a custom wine cellar online at Wine Cellar Innovations. Check out the sample floor plan for a 10-foot-by-12-foot wine storage room. That should hold quite the collection!

And who wouldn’t love a custom pallet bar made from reclaimed pallet wood? Pallet Bars by Joe on Etsy insures that no two bars are ever the same. Joe can make L-shaped bars or linear bars with your choice of stain color — and freight-ship them right to your door. 

More to Explore at Southshore

The master-planned community of Southshore offers an “away-from-it-all” ambiance with access to Life at the Lake, but with a location convenient to dining, shopping and all kinds of recreation. Experience lakeside living with a tour of several exquisitely-designed model homes from Century Communities, Richmond American Homes and Toll Brothers. Available in ranch and two-story designs, Southshore homes are priced between the $400s and the $700s.