Basement Tour

Fitting a family of 6 in 900 square feet? Well, it's about 1200 square feet when I factor in our older children staying in bedrooms two stories above ours. This was our challenge for the next year.

I love this basement. It holds such a fond place in my heart. Forever, it will feel like a new beginnings. When we moved to PA from North Carolina, this is where we got settled. There are so many beautiful memories of our kids, being kids, not the almost teens they are now. Growing up, I lived in small places out of necessity; I never appreciated that fact. As an adult, I chose bigger until I learned bigger is not always better. Our townhome taught me to enjoy having just enough space.  It is less to clean, easier to keep up, cheaper to fix everything, less monthly costs, and more time and money for our family and the things we love. A year in the basement with only the necessities was welcome and exciting.

In preparing to sell the townhouse, we went through each room, packing away anything we thought we could do without for a year. Each box was labeled by number, and I had a master file listing each box's contents. Everything left came with us to the Basement.

Our first time living in this space, the basement was a walkout. However, over its 20-year lifespan, this basement has flooded three times. A year after we moved out, it flooded again, and that would be the last time. The doors to the backyard were replaced with walls and windows. The steps filled in, and the entire yard leveled out and raised 3’. It was quite a project, but the next time we got a storm because of a hurricane on the coast, we had 3” to spare on the retaining wall before any water would have entered the yard. This change left us coming and going from the central part of the house like any other basement.

The door at the bottom of the steps opened into the kid’s space. This was to be their living room, the ultimate hangout space where they could play games, be loud, and camp out. We brought our mash-up of seating, which we had acquired over the years. A futon from Walmart, a pop-up lounge chair acquired from a neighbor, and a jumbo bean bag from Amazon. Games and puzzles were put on high shelves, which we installed to keep little toddler fingers away. The art space was recreated in the corner. My mother-in-law already had a playground for the younger kids down here. We opted to keep it, so our toddler had a space that was his. As always, the Walmart bookshelf provided a home for all the kid's books.

Luckily, the art space tucked perfectly into this corner.

Just to the left of the “front door,” we created our entryway. The same furniture and hooks followed us from the townhouse. Despite needing to be set up in a much-condensed space (and accommodating a bedroom door), they functioned precisely the same.

When entering the basement, if you look to the right, a door separates the kid's space/entry from the living room/kitchen/dining room. Once you're in the main space, to the left is the living room. We had not bought a sectional for our last home, so our couch and loveseat, which we’ve had for years, worked great in the space. The matching recliner met its end, as there would not be room, and this furniture set would be staying down here permanently. I thought for a long time leading up to this move about how I wanted the space laid out, and ultimately, this was the best option.

Turning around, you get a view into the dining room and kitchen. Our island and table were with us on the first stay, so we had the same layout. However, we were able to center the table. Last time, the window wall was doors, so we needed to tuck the table in the corner.

Floating shelves house our dishes and some pantry items, while our previous game closet (that was once our pantry) turned back into our pantry. One thing I knew I could not live without this time was a portable dishwasher. It was a pain to get down there, but I was so happy we did. We got this one used for $200. Fun fact: portable dishwashers are more expensive than standard ones. Well, that isn’t so fun, but surprisingly, used ones are fairly easy to find in good shape. In most cases, someone just got it for temporary use, so much life is still left in it.

The primary bedroom is through the double folding doors at the end of the kitchen. It is large enough that we were able to bring everything from our previous bedroom except my desk. The long dresser just doubled as my “desk when needed,” and I would pull over my husband’s music stool as a chair.

The basement does feature its own half bath, which makes this entire situation actually doable. All bathing is done upstairs, so we installed shelves and fitted ourselves with dorm room-style shower baskets that we found at Target. Though there are two vanities, only one works; the other was just being stored down here.

Our children set up their rooms in the main part of the house, similar to how they had been at the townhouse. The girls still shared a room, and our son was in the room he would stay in unless he changed his mind.

It was an amazing opportunity to live small for a year, save money, and make plans for when we took over the entire house. Forever grateful for the opportunities it provided.