01Family roomThe default, and the best value per square foot in the house.
02Home theatreNo windows is an advantage down here. Wire it before the board goes on.
03Panelled library or loungeDark joinery, a fireplace and low light. Basements suit it better than upstairs rooms do.
04Wet barSink, fridge, glass storage. Check the waste line height before you promise it.
05Full guest suiteBedroom, bathroom and a door. Needs compliant egress, which means a window well.
06GymRubber over the slab, mirrors, and more ventilation than you think.
07Golf simulatorWants ceiling height above everything else. Measure before you plan.
08PlayroomSoft floor, storage on every wall, and sightlines from the stair.
09Office or studyQuietest room in the house. Daylight is the only thing to solve.
10Wine roomInsulated, cooled and racked. It is a small refrigerated building inside a building.
11Second kitchen or kitchenetteTurns a lower level into an apartment. Check the ordinance first.
12Laundry moved downFrees an upstairs room and puts the noise where nobody sleeps.
13Bathroom with an ejector pitBelow the sewer line, waste has to be pumped. Better known at design than at rough-in.
14Egress window and wellA lintel, a well and a ladder. The thing that makes a basement bedroom legal.
15Walk-out to a patioWhere the grade allows it, this is the single biggest upgrade available.
16Services rerouted, flat ceilingDucts and waste moved rather than boxed. Buys back the height that makes the room.
17Exposed and painted ceilingThe opposite approach: paint everything one dark colour and gain four inches.
18Under-stair storageDrawers and a cupboard built into the dead triangle.
19Layered lightingA plan, not a grid of cans. Most of why a low room reads as low.
20Waterproofing firstGrading, drainage and a sump before any framing. Finish a wet basement and you have built a mould problem.
