First in the upper left-hand corner is the storage room/tank maintenance room. I want to put in some big metal shelving units to organize food storage on the left side of the room. Also, Doug and I used to have a salt water aquarium upstairs that we absolutely loved, but maintenance on it was overwhelming with Doug's long work hours from his last job, so we had to get rid of it. He now has a job that has more reasonable hours (for the most part) and the location of the tank near the bathroom would make it easy to design some automated systems that would make the management of the tank a lot easier.
I call the place in front of where the tank is the "Tank Room" where the front of the salt water tank could be seen. I'm thinking that there could be a couch or a built-in bench with storage underneath up against the bathroom wall. I figure that area could also double as a play area if/when we get to have kids.
Doug has ideas for the TV room that involve surround sound and other such man toys. The office is below the laundry room upstairs and it's kind of this random area that juts out of the house. I figured we could put a desk and some shelves in there and call it an "Office" even though is really just an awkward 8x8 space. The bedroom has a egress window so it technically can be called one. The gray area next to the bedroom is a storage place under the stairs.
Now, I know absolutely nothing about construction or building anything. I simply took measurements of where everything was in the basement. There were a few things that I had no choice over like the two support beams in the middle of the room seen on either side of the blue tank. The area where I have placed the bathroom is where the rough in's are located. The workroom contains the water heater and HVAC system for the house, so that is dead space as well. And of course the location of the stairs can't be changed.
This would move our house into another buying category, a 4 bedroom 3.5 bath house which would be good if we ever need to sell. Also, it would just be nice to not have it unfinished. I lived my whole life in a house that was in various stages of unfinishedness so the current state of our basement basically drives me insane.
I tried to look up some basic guidelines for quotes on finishing the basement and I got a range from $4,000 to $24,000. So right now we're looking for an actual quote that can narrow down that range a little further. If it is in the upper end, I will just have to deal with the current state of my basement basically forever. I don't think Doug would ever go for a price tag like that. I'm hoping that we could get it ALL done for somewhere between 10-12,000, but that may just be hopeful thinking.
Any know someone handy in the Northern Virginia area that can do a job like this?
If you want a quote you would have to talk to a company, but I would guess that if you are going to pay someone to do it, probably not under 15 grand. But if you did it yourself Im sure it would be less than 10k and additionally you would learn some great skills. Most of these things don't require "handy-ness" but to just take the time to research and do it.
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