Making a basement games room – tips for a beautiful finished product
The basement is one of the best places to turn into a games room. It’s out of the way of the rest of the house and more often than not winds up being a storage space and nothing more.
However, you can easily take this commonly poorly used area and transform it into a place of fun and excitement.
Doing so requires you to design a spacious area with plenty of options for entertainment, and to aid you in this endeavour we’ve come up with some tips for the design process.
Create a selection of entertainment
The perfect games room is one that offers a variety of options and entertainment packages.
Buy pool tables, invest in a cutting-edge gaming console, get a fancy new TV – these are all good choices for people who want a practical and beautiful-looking games room from start to finish, with no chance of getting bored.
Consider utility-based needs
A first step in creating a space which is going to be suitable for a games room is to assess the level of electrical outlets you’re going to need. All common appliances, such as televisions, games consoles and mini-fridges, will require you to have a plug socket.
Be aware that the cost for this can vary widely from one electrician to another, especially if you’re needing to create totally new outlets. It’s not a task you can complete yourself, however – electricity can be deadly in untrained hands.
Heating and lighting needs should also be considered when designing a games room, and all of the necessary modifications to the basement made accordingly.
Address moisture issues
Conventionally, the average basement is not all that well ventilated. What this means is that there’s often a surplus of mould or moisture in the air. This environment isn’t ideal for people to spend large amounts of time in, so you need to make sure that you are taking the appropriate steps to deal with these issues as soon as you can.
You might have to put a new window in, or at the very least invest in a dehumidifier to make sure that you keep the levels of water in the air to a minimum. Too much moisture can lead to illness being spread more easily, so you have to make sure that you’ve taken adequate steps to prevent this.
So, it’s obvious that you have to be sensible about how you turn a dusty basement into a room people may spend entire evenings in. Addressing structural issues and making the area habitable for extended periods have to be the first priority – and then you can focus on the entertainment side of things.
