Most homeowners in Sanford, Maine don’t use their homes to their full potential. It’s something we’ve seen time and time again in our 20+ years of doing business here. And that’s because many homeowners don’t take full advantage of their basements. In this article, we’ll teach you how you can transform your basement into the perfect home office that can double as a spare bedroom when need be.
With more than 7,000 successfully completed projects under our belt, we’ve picked up a thing or two along the way on how to create the perfect home office. Below are our top three tips.
- Add a bathroom
This first tip is absolutely universal. No matter what your basement remodel will turn into, you should absolutely add a bathroom down there.
First of all, a new bathroom in your basement will increase the value of your house immediately by as much as 15%, which makes it one of the best investments that you can possibly make in your home.
On top of a bump in value that can prove useful when you decide to sell or remortgage your property, a bathroom also does wonders for your productivity.
Instead of having to up and down a flight of stairs every time you need to use the facilities, and then also get distracted by the things that are waiting for you on the ground floor, like a pantry full of junk food, or the TV, you can just go in your bathroom and be back at your desk inside of 5 minutes.
And that’s not to mention the awkward situation where you’d ask a guest to use the bathroom upstairs when they’re over at your place, using your spare bedroom.
- Go for a Murphy bed
The best solution for when you’re building a home office that can double as a spare bedroom is installing a Murphy bed. Nobody wants to work every day in a room that has a Bed right in the middle of it. It’s not great for your productivity and gives a frat-house vibe to your office. You don’t walk into many commercial offices that have a bed in them, do you?
But a Murphy bed can be tucked away completely when not in use, you won’t even know it’s there. It can also double as a bookshelf, as most modern Murphy beds do, and it’s far more comfortable to sleep on than a pull-out couch.
It costs very little and it solves a huge problem, and that’s a win-win if we’ve ever seen one.
- Account for plenty of light
Basements are known for being dark. But that’s an easy fix with a little bit of planning. Just make sure to capture as much natural light as possible by installing windows to the top of your basement’s walls plus see-through or semi-transparent doors that lead to the ground floor.
Then go for warm light instead of cold, or you’ll feel like you’re in a hospital all the time. And you would be wise to account for at least half a dozen accent lights to help elevate the ambiance of your home office.
Now all you need are reliable partners to help you renovate your basement so you can get to designing your home office that can double as a spare bedroom down there. And that’s where we come in! With our Owens Corning® Basement Finishing System® and by following procedures we’ve fine-tuned for the past two decades, we’re able to complete any job in about two weeks. Fill out the form below to get started.