Basement Project: Theater / Bar / Rec Room

Hello all:

Please be patient with the pictures, thanks!

I just bought a new house about 6 months ago. The basement wasn't finished, but it was exactly what I was looking for. I've got some ideas as to what I would like to do, and have got some nice ideas from friends, but I want to make sure I cover everything and am looking for any additional ideas or advice. I've used a neat architectural program to design and get virtual images of what the completed project will look like.

First things first, here is a floor plan of my basement (which is already framed out as shown):


Here is an overview of each room...

Rec Room:
The Rec Room is already wired with 4 can lights on a dimmer, switched outlets and a ceiling fan mount. Speaker wire has been run and exits the ceiling in each corner, all run back to a speaker wall plate. I plan on putting a pool table in this room and since I'm a University of Iowa grad, this will be my dedicated Hawkeye room for decor. Cat 5e is run through the walls, phone is taken care of, and cable is run to the plumbing box-out section (to the left of the window). Since the room isn't completed, any suggestions before I gyp it up?




Bar Area / Theater Room:
I don't want a dedicated theater room with theater seating, but I still want the capability to really experience movies or sports. Currently this room is one long open area, and I have it divided by a ~3" high partition wall (see pics below). I plan on having 7.1 with floor standing speakers in front, component rack between the two front speakers, and a 120" screen above on the wall. All wiring will be run through walls or ceiling. For seating I would like to get a corner couch to go against the partition wall.

Each side of the room will be lit using 4 can lights on dimmers, each set controlled from the front or back of the room using 3-way dimmer switches.

On the bar side of the partition wall I plan on having a "breakfast bar" area with bar stools sitting under it. This is also the area that I would like the capability to set a laptop down and have wall inputs that go to my reciever and projector. When installing cables and wall plates, what connections would you be most concerned with?

As for the bar itself, I would like to make it out of Oak, and make the final project to look very nice. The easiest way to explain my concept for the bar would be to check out the pictures, but I would like my bar to include a kegerator, small fridge, sink (location???), large back mirror, etc. I plan on putting in can lights in the bar soffit to shine down on the bar itself, rope lights above the soffit to illuminate the interior of the bar area, and rope lights under the ledge of the bar to illuminate the exterior.... other than that I'm looking for suggestions and direction.










More pictures can be found here:
http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p197/jmheacock/

If you have any suggestions, please don't hesitate to express your opinion. If you think that I should do something other than what I've shown, let me know.

Thanks for the questions and comments guys.

- Yes, I will be doing all of the work myself. I've got some prior experience with this type of stuff and I'm excited and look forward to the challenge. The part I'm most looking forward to is completing the bar - and I want it to be perfect, thus asking for suggestions!

- The half-height wall was a pretty good idea - for the reasons you listed greg_mitch.

-The speakers will be mounted on the wall. For front center I have a JBL Northridge EC35, and for the surround I have JBL Northridge E10's, the sub is a 10" Klipsch Sub-10, and for the fronts I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on two Infinity Primus 360's (JBL and Infinity are both manufactured by Harman Industries). I think I"m going to run the wire for both 7.1 and 6.1, for flexibility in the future.

- I currently have a Sony STR-DA1ES reciever in my upstairs surround sound, but it only produces 5.1 sound. I haven't decided on a new reciever for the theater, but I'm impressed with Harman Kardon products.

- As for reconsidering the Hawkeye memorabilia... what bowl are the Cyclones playing in this year Greg?

- As for the back room, greg, initial thoughts were an air hockey table but I also dont want to limit myself on storage space. That rear room will be an afterthought...

- Timeline for completion is as funds allows, but once I get an idea and a goal in mind, I'm pretty impatient!

Any better suggestions about the placement of the sink and mini-fridge for the bar? I'd like to move the sink to the front bar on the left side against the wall to hide it a bit better, but I think that's a better location for a kegerator.

What do you guys think???

Not going to take all the credit for the updates since I've been looking at other people's final designs on the forum, but here is the new concept for the theater area.

Let me know your thoughts on this and the bar area!

Thanks

I have updated the bar to show the sink in the front bar, and on the side next to the wall. This would give plenty of room on the back bar (and those wouldn't be wine glasses, but instead bottles of alcohol) and plenty of room on the front bar. I'm not sure if I like not having it proportional either though!



MY OTHER ISSUE: How should I terminate the soffit above the bar, right now the rendering shows it ending over the doorway, but I'm not sure if I like that. The sides of the back bar won't actually be solid with doors, I plan on them being open with shelving. So if I end the soffit in the side, then I'll lose that shelf, and the right side of the bar would have it... and I'm thinking that would look kinda funny?



Thoughts?

Thanks! I'm really excited that I can have a good idea of what the final product will be - other than in my head. It also gives me a way to show others and get good ideas. The program I used is called SoftPlan Architectural Design Software. The learning curve is really pretty easy... I created the floor plan and renderings all in a about a day or two having never used the program before.

I started the construction of the front entertainment center / theater. Check out the constuction pics!

Still time for new ideas on bar and theater...!







Check back periodically for more updates!

Thanks!!

More construction pics:

The basement outside dimension is 36'x52', and the rest of the basement is divided within that footprint. The theater / bar area will be 13'x40' when its completed, the pool room will be 13'x22' when its completed. You can kind of size the remaining rooms off the picture.

Thanks for the comments on the renderings!

Here are some updated pics:

And now for the soffiting... I"m going to do the recessed ceiling look with rope light in the soffit. Check it out...

jwatte, thanks for the advice. I hadn't decided what I was going to do yet as far as sound dampening, etc. Once I get everything else done (soffits, etc) and framed out I'm going to go back through and try to do things to improve sound. Tahnks for the good idea!

Putting my engineering degree and expertise in HVAC to work....

Oh yea, and making room for my soffits while I'm at it

Before:


After:

The framing of the theater area is just about completed. Now I need to run the electrical and all of the wiring/cables associated with the AV equipment. Of course... since I had gotten this far, I HAD TO make sure the projector worked with the stage area! It turned out to be a bad idea... I lost about an hour of work watching several movie scenes - even though it was projected on a cement and stud wall! Check it out!









You can find more pictures here:
http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p197/jmheacock/

I haven't forgotten about the basement... I'm trying to get some new ideas before I move on to the next step. I'm still trying to finalize the bar design as far as dimensions, cabinets, etc. Check out the pics and offer some suggestions....

Thanks



Still trying to come up with a good idea for that soffiting...

Heywood,

Thanks for the comments. Yes, the pool table appears that it will be fairly tight, but I've already got the pool table (have had it for many years) and I didn't have alot of movement with my room size due to the stairwell and bathroom - so I'll have to make due with what I have.

As for the outlets on the half wall, I plan on putting at least one outlet on each side - that it also code where I live.

Speakers: I am going to add a separate reciever, etc. to the pool table room and I already have speaker wiring to all 4 corners of the room at the ceiling. As for the theater / bar area, I am going to go with 7.1 for the theater and since its all one big room, I wasn't planning on adding another set of speakers around the bar area. However, now that you bring it up, it wouldnt' be a bad idea to have some back there for music listening purposes (not so much movie). Hmmm... I'll have to think about that one for a while and see what I can come up with. I have a feeling the budget just got increased!