This is How to Turn an Unfinished Basement Into a Beautiful Family Space

Before Save My Reno this sad, unfinished basement was in need of some serious design love – and drywall. So contractor Sebastian Clovis and designer Sabrina Smelko got to work creating a family-centric space with fabulous grown-up finishes.

Chic grey couch with yellow and blue throw cushions and patterned blue and white rug

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From Scratch

Since this unfinished basement was a blank slate, Sebastian and Sabrina were able to reconfigure the layout to make the ideal family-friendly space that homeowners Nancy and Erick were dreaming of – all for a budget of $50,000.

Modern basement family room with large TV, yellow footstools and two blue bean bag chairs

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Games Time

Since Nancy and Erick have a massive board-game collection (they are devotees of the die), having plenty of extra storage was on their must-have list. Sebastian gave them an entire wall of chic white cabinets to house their Settlers of Catan and Cards Against Humanity boxes.

Cute kids play corner with a star covered teepee, two baskets of toys and colourful piece of art on the wall

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Kiddy Corner

Carving out a sweet little nook for your tots in your newly renovated basement will give your family plenty of space to play. Watch as Save My Reno‘s Sebastian Clovis and Sabrina Smelko make this budget-friendly basement come to life.

An unfinished basement showing patches on the floor of old water damage

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Stuck in Time

After finding heavy-water damage in the basement, the homeowners had to strip back the walls to their studs and rip out the old flooring. The basement had stayed in this sorry state for three years before the Save My Reno team came to the rescue.

Chic basement family room with large media centre, a grey couch, blue bean bag chairs and a white barn door

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Defining Spaces

Defining distinct areas – such as a media centre, home office and laundry room – in this narrow, low-ceiled space was the toughest challenge for Sebastian, but he rose to it and delivered a dynamic family-focused floor plan.

A room in an unfinished basement with silver insulation on the walls and round hole in the floor

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Finding Follow Through

While the homeowners had already sunk thousands of dollars into fixing the water damage in the basement, they were at an impasse as to what to do next to complete the space and make it livable for their young family.

Cute modern laundry room with grey daisy tiled floors, white washer and dryer, and a drying rack with hanging clothes

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Wash and Wear

Sabrina came with a headful of sweet design ideas to help Nancy and Erick get the space they truly wanted – high on the list was a dedicated laundry room. This now-complete space features a stylized daisy-pattern tile floor, a quartz counter for folding, and a new large, top-loading washer and dryer set.

A large white farmhouse sink in a laundry room with laundry accessories on a shelf above

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Sink Into It

A large farmhouse sink set up in the laundry room now provides the perfect spot to rinse out muddy soccer uniforms or soak-stained clothes. The cream-coloured scallop backsplash provides a calming, sophisticated backdrop to those tedious domestic chores.

A closet in an unfinished basement with green walls and crumbling brickwork

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Danger Will Robinson

This old, wall-less closet shows the dangerous state of affairs in this unfinished basement, with hanging electrical sockets, rusted steel jousts, distressed brickwork and water-damaged floors. It’s not surprising that Nancy and Erick didn’t let their kids down here before the reno!

Cozy home office with a brown leather desk chair, industrial shelving and mid century modern blue armchair

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10 / 10

What’s Yours is Mine

Once banished to a tiny table upstairs to do his at-home work, Erick now has a spacious home office set up just for him…although now that Nancy has seen the finished room, they might have to share.