Matching your new basement with your main level

When developing your unfinished basement, an important consideration is whether to match your newly developed lower level with the main areas of your home. You can certainly make the new basement different and sometimes this will depend on what it’s going to be used for. If for example you’re going to be using it primarily as a storage area, a wide open space for a children’s playroom, or for a home gym, matching the upper level might not be that important, particularly if your don’t intend the lower level area to ever be used for anything else. However, you’ll still require a few doors, fixtures, trims and other items, no matter what the space is used for and it’s usually better if the basement has the same feel as the area upstairs.

Even if you don’t see the need to have your basement look a certain way, consideration has to be given to the next owners of the house. When you’re moving for the first time, it’s often very difficult to envisage leaving again, particularly if it’s your first home. Yet if you conduct any kind of renovations, whether in the kitchen and bedrooms, the exterior, in the basement, or even landscaping, if your investing a lot of money you need to consider the home’s resale value. Anything that’s very unique or entirely to your taste might seem like an ideal addition at the time, but if it’s too different to the rest of the property it will have an impact on the prospects of selling your home in the future.

If your new basement is going to be used as a separate suite that you intend to rent out, any new owners in the future might also want to use it for this purpose. In this case, the basement doesn’t have to be an exact match for the upper level and you might want to keep it different. However, it’s very important to avoid trying to save money by doing things too cheaply, whether for a tenant suite or for your own purposes. Even if you decide to match the area and try to cut costs, prospective buyers will always notice poor quality. Even though your cheaper alternatives seemed like a good idea at the time, other people are unlikely to agree.

When developing your basement, the quality of the finish is very important. It can be tempting to reduce your expenses as the project comes to a close after spending so much on the construction, but adding poor quality fixtures is usually a bad decision. Think of it in terms of renovating your main level but leaving the kitchen with old-fashioned cupboards and counters and dated appliances. This will be instantly noticeable to anyone viewing the house if you decide to sell and the same applies to a basement that’s been finished cheaply. If you’d like the developed downstairs to look like an integral part of your home, you need to match the rest of the house, if not exactly then certainly in terms of the quality of the materials. In some cases, you might of course not be able to find the identical fixtures if the upstairs was developed several years earlier and the various items that you need are no longer available. Nevertheless, it remains vital to avoid a poor match and ensure that quality is consistent throughout your home. At Basement Builders we can help you to ensure that your finished basement will match the rest of your home once all the work is completed.