Do you have an unfinished basement in your home? If so, chances are you’ve wanted to do something more with that room at some point. You have an entire room in your home that you don’t want to spend time in, simply because it isn’t finished yet. By finishing the basement, you can turn it into a spare room, an office, or even just a place to hang out. Here are a few tips for getting started and finally finishing your basement.

Replace the Floor
One of the first things you’ll want to think about is replacing the floor. In your unfinished basement you may have a hard, concrete floor, possibly even with cracks in it. Before you do anything else, you’ll want to get a good floor in there. Trying to replace the floor after you’ve done everything else in your basement will be more difficult, so it’s better to get it out of the way now.

To replace your floor, you have a few options. If you want to put new concrete down, you’ll either want to hire someone to do this, or look into getting a concrete form rental. After that you’ll have to think about whether you want to put some hardwood over the concrete, or if you want to lay down some carpet to make the room more comfortable.

Add New Walls
Another thing you’ll want to do before you tackle the rest of the room is the walls. In some unfinished basements, there are concrete walls around the edges that don’t look so great. You can cover these up, or divide the basement into multiple rooms by adding in some walls. Adding some drywall is an easy way to remedy this, helping to make your basement look the way you want. Here are some tips for putting up drywall to get you started.

Cover the Ceiling
Does your unfinished basement have some pipes or wires running along the ceiling? If so, you probably want to cover these up if you’re going to spend time in the basement. You can add some affordable tiles to the ceiling to cover up some of the insides of your home, but keep in mind this will make the ceiling a little lower in that room. Make sure you’ll still have room to walk around before you start adding things to the ceiling.

Regulate the Temperature
With the large projects complete, now you can move onto things that will help make the room more enjoyable. To do this, one of the first things you should consider is the temperature. Basements are often large and drafty, making them colder or more humid than the rest of the home. To regulate the temperature in your basement, you have a few options.

If your basement is too cold, consider adding in a wood burning stove or pellet stove to introduce more heat. You can also go with a plug-in electric heater if the room is small enough. For a humid room, a simple dehumidifier should be able to do the trick.

Decorate the Room
Your basement is starting to look better, but it isn’t quite done yet. With the major stuff out of the way, now you can focus a little more on the small details. This means decorating the room to suit your style. Paint your new walls, hang up some shelves, add some potted plants – whatever it is you want to do. Empty, colorless drywall will lessen the appeal of the room, and you’ve spent so much time finishing your basement, that you should go that extra step to make things look truly great.

Add Some Furniture
Finally, what finished basement would be complete without furniture. Find a nice desk for your office. Order yourself a comfortable couch to watch TV on – along with the TV. You likely have a few ideas in mind for what you want to do with that room, so go out and get the furniture that suits your needs. If you’re working on a budget, try searching some local garage sales or a discount furniture store to get started.

Start Finishing Your Basement
There are a lot of benefits to finishing the basement in your home. Not only does it give you another room to enjoy in your home, but it can also help to improve the value of your home. The best part is that finishing your basement doesn’t have to be difficult, and with a little time and effort, you can do a lot of it yourself. We hope this quick guide was able to shed some light on the process and before long you have a basement that you love.

Photo Credit: Akipi via pixabay