<p>In a previous house, we wanted to use our walkout basement without spending much money on it or having the square footage counted for property taxes. In that county, as long as we didn’t hang drywall, lay a floor covering or put up a ceiling, we could do pretty much whatever else we wished and not have it taxed. Dh sprayed the ceiling (ducts, pipes and all) with flat black paint, then hung black track lights and two black ceiling fans. (Just be sure to wear a good respirator mask if you choose to spray your ceiling!) We then painted the walls white with a masonry paint made for areas with moisture issues (there are several good brands.) I painted the floor grey with garage floor paint, after which our kids splattered painted it. </p>
<p>Plywood panels sectioned off a “media room” in which we built a raised platform for tiered seating. After painting the plywood, we hung large area rugs on three walls; they looked like abstract art and helped with sound issues. Grommet top curtain panels made to be used outside were hung in the entrance from the main room. Dh added a vent to the HVAC duct that ran above that area (builders here tend to oversize HVAC systems, so it worked fine.) </p>
<p>In the main room, we divided a storage area from the rest of the space with four tall white bookcases arranged in a zig-zag and fastened together in back. There was enough room for a pool table, two computer desks & chairs, several game systems set up on older TVs, bean bag chairs and some Lego displays. Dh built a base for a preformed Formica counter that we bought at Lowe’s (I think it was 8 ft.) and we used that for art projects, experiments, etc. </p>
<p>It was clearly a DIY job and nothing that added any resale value, but we used that basement more than the nicely finished one in our current home.</p>