Rock ‘n Roll Basement

Shortly after moving into our home in 2003, I began to dream of building a home theater in the basement. It would feature a frame and panel proscenium, wainscoting, and super cool reclining leather theater seats. Then we started having kids and priorities changed…dramatically.

A few years later a new plan emerged – it was going to be a super fun playroom with a slide, a treehouse, and even a boat. I managed to make some progress towards this new goal. Up until this point the basement was used solely for storage – it was finished (ugly but finished). Unfortunately, following the first step in the remodeling process, cleaning up the room, the kids discovered the basement space and almost immediately moved in. Mom and Dad too found it was great to have a space where the kids could run around out of sight and at least somewhat out of earshot for a bit during cold winter days. So this plan too was shelved…the basement would simply have to wait.

So here we are, or at least were in October 2014, when I was finishing up the LCA SG electric guitar and rehearsing with the company band for our holiday party. Over the summer we had inherited a drum kit from a cousin, and an electronic keyboard from Grandma. For years we had joked about starting a family band and the older two had already started music lessons. Now that the kids were a bit older, I figured it was time to re-make the basement.

The Plan

A view of the stage from the initial design

The finished part of the basement is basically “L”-shaped and can be considered as three separate parts. I would put a small stage for the band on one end, a sewing/craft room on the other, and a general living space that will someday feature a projector for watching movies and playing games in the middle. The whole thing was planned and drawn up in SketchUp.

Guitars hanging above media cabinet at bottom of stars

Sewing and crafts area

Front projection video area

Next up…chalkboard walls and setting the stage