Deciding on the floor plan has been the hardest part of the basement reno so far. Luckily we did have time to ponder that until it felt just right. We have so many requirements of our limited space and need to be efficient with every square inch.
Here are our requirements for the basement:
-3-piece bathroom
-Family room to house the TV, with room for guests to sleep
-Storage for large items (winter tires, golf clubs, luggage, Christmas decorations etc)
-Laundry room
-Furnace area
-Storage, storage, storage
We used floorplanner.com to create all our different options.
Here is our final basement layout.
Coming down the stairs and turn left into the large family room with 2 windows. Under the stairs will be built in storage as well as along the far left wall. There will likely also be built in storage around the TV.
The laundry and furnace room are together in one large room with a window and exterior door. On the other side at the bottom of the stairs is a small 3-piece bathroom with a storage room off of it.
We had many, many versions of the floor plan. Where we started was a way off from where we finished. We were stuck for awhile with something that just didn't feel right. We just keep trying to think of every possible option until we got to where we knew it was right.
We did make one compromise, not having a window in the bathroom. That one change allowed us to meet all our other criteria and not have any wasted space. Of course all of this is a rough guide and we may make some tweaks along the way as we finish the space.
