Basement Renovation

The brief was clear: not a man cave. The family wanted a contemporary lower level that worked for adults and kids, with the soccer obsession woven in as design rather than memorabilia stuck on walls.

The original basement was a museum of 1990’s builder details. Arched openings between rooms, decorative columns mid-floor, two fireplaces eating up wall space, a single back door flanked by a stuccoed concrete chase and a small window. Tan walls, polished marble-look tile, a layout that broke the floor into rooms that didn't connect to each other or to the yard outside. The space had real square footage and almost none of it was usable in the way the family wanted.

The biggest move was the back wall. We took out the existing door, the fireplace next to it, and the concrete column on the far side, and rebuilt the wall as three large openings: a sliding patio door at one end, a picture window in the middle, another sliding door at the other. New headers, new framing, new exterior stucco to tie back into the rest of the house. The yard, the pool, and the turf field the kids actually use are now part of the room. The second fireplace came out too, which freed up a full wall on the lounge side. Both gas lines were capped, the chimneys closed off.

Inside, we removed the arched openings between zones and reframed everything as clean rectangular openings. The decorative columns came out where we could and got cleaner profiles where they had to stay for structure. The ceilings were reframed in places to lose the dropped trim that was cutting the room down. The result is one continuous lower level with defined zones, including a lounge, game room with ping pong and pool, wet bar with seating, and a soccer ball display that all read as a single space rather than a chopped-up basement.

The wet bar is the working center of the room. Custom cabinetry in a dark moody finish, a soapstone island that seats six, a soapstone perimeter counter, a patterned black hex backsplash with a small pendant over it, and a beverage refrigerator built into the run.

The design elements include a recessed niche with two floating white oak shelves displaying the family's collection of World Cup balls, a television sits against a vertical slatted wood panel that warms the room and keeps the dark paint from feeling heavy, and a jersey wall behind the ping pong table showcasing the family’s collection of signed memorabilia.