Home > Basement > 10 Basement Room Design Ideas

10 Basement Room Design Ideas

From home cinemas to family kitchens, a basement doesn’t have to simply be storage space. These properties show a range of design ideas for basement rooms

By on
storage space for children in a basement to a London family home
Clever cupboards offer a way to keep the playroom tidy, with a large slice of glazing in ProDisplay Intelligent Glass film offering frosted or clear with the press of a button. View Project →
This ultra modern basement, containing a media room, bar and study/gym ensures natural illumination with sections of glass ceiling creating light wells. View Project →
A full 4m deep cellar was dug beneath this Georgian-style property offering storage space, work and utility rooms, along with extra-deep structural footings. View Project →
The glazed staircase offers light and a sense of space to a long basement kitchen-diner. A cosy atmosphere is created through careful ambient lighting. View Project →
Newly built basement studio below glass box extension – double height void to living area above & small courtyard with glass doors. View Project →
Precast concrete basement as original house (replacement dwelling) had basement, as hideway for large games, football watching and wine-drinking retreat. View Project →
Replacing a small cellar area, this basement extension houses a contemporary media room with floor-ceiling glazing, covered by a thick curtain for privacy. View Project →
The garden has been dug out to create a basement kitchen extension, with strategic glazing and sliding doors to the landscaped outside space. View Project →
This home cinema utilises the typical darkness of a basement to provide a cosy media room, with LED lighting giving subtle brightness when needed. View Project →
Reminiscent of a spacecraft, a ‘pavement’-style roof arrangement by Luxcrete brings light to this basement play/study area beneath a converted listed barn. View Project →
storage space for children in a basement to a London family home

Scroll through the gallery to see how some of our readers have used rooms under their homes.

Converting a Basement: the FAQs

Some homes have existing cellars that can be converted, but you can create a new basement with the right expertise and approvals.

Q: Do we need any approvals?

A: Converting an existing cellar to a habitable space involves only a change of use and so does not require planning permission. Reducing the floor level of a cellar or creating a new basement will enlarge the volume of your home and is therefore treated as an extension, so may need planning permission. Either way, you should always check with your local authority whether or not planning permission is required.

The creation of new lower ground floor living space will, however, require Building Regulations approval. The renovation of an existing habitable basement, or the repair of a cellar that does not involve a change of use is excluded. Visit www.communities.gov.uk for advice.

Q: How long will it take?

A: Converting a single-room cellar using a membrane lining system can take just two or three weeks, including digging out the sump and fitting the pumping system. Find out more about the conversion process.

Q: How much will it cost?

If you have an existing cellar with enough headroom, this can be fairly easily converted from around £750/m². However, when floor levels need lowering, drains diverting, underpinning is needed or a whole new basement needs excavating, the costs will sharply rise. Your can read more about the associated costs in our guide to converting a basement.

Q: How do we find a builder?

A: Choose a specialist contractor with experience of the waterproofing system you have chosen. Search the website of The Basement Information Centre (www.basement.org.uk) for a company registered with the British Structural Waterproofing Association. Look for an insurance-backed guarantee that will pay for repair works even if the contractor goes out of business.

Our Sponsors