Turning Virginia Basements into Winter Hideaways

The winter is probably the last time of year that you want a general contractor stomping through your home to create the latest masterpiece, but surely there is some kind of indoors project that industrious homeowners can tackle themselves? This is where many homeowners can get much needed mileage out of their Virginia basements, both for a project to undertake and floor space to earn. If you are lacking indoor square footage of living space, you can get some great results in the basement with a little work.

Heart and Hearth

Often the basement is one of the coldest places in the house, but this can be counteracted in a few ways. If you are unable to finish the walls, hanging tapestries and other warm decorations can help keep the heat in a room. Another great idea that can instantly create more warmth in any part of the house is by adding a fireplace. This decorative piece adds value to the home and direct heat to the room.

A Little Cosmetic

If your walls are finished, it never hurts to go over them with another coat of paint. This acts like a facelift for every room you paint, and can make old spaces seem new again. In the basement you can try color combinations that you would never think of using for upper floor areas for a few reasons, one the lighting in the basement will likely call for bold color choices, and two less people will see these spaces, so there is a little more freedom to be creative.

What Lies Beneath

Cold feet are a big mood killer, and concrete basement floors are typically the coldest in the house. You can alleviate this problem with insulated or even heated subflooring. The best part about subflooring is that it is invisible to the finished product because your flooring completely covers anything ugly. The fact is that living with the 3% of a home’s energy going down out of your house is simply wasteful, which is why you should have subflooring installed by a licensed general contractor.

Let the Light Shine In

Being underground, it can be virtually impossible to get high volumes of natural light into a basement. This gloom combined with the colder nature of the basement can make it a very foreboding space. If you are unable to bring in sufficient quantities of natural light, then it becomes practically impetrative to install large amounts of electric lighting. With the right combinations of lighting solutions, you can make sure that every corner of your basement is well lit.

What it boils down to is that if you haven’t taken the steps to make your Virginia basement a usable living space, and you are dying to take on some kind of project, there are lots of things that you can do in the basement, with or without the help of a general contractor.