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How a basement can ease your locked-down life

Lockdown's effect of having everyone at home led to re-evaluation of living space.

Why is now the ideal time to dig deep and extend your home with a basement?

With everyone working and living under the same roof during lockdown, it’s no wonder many of us are starting to reassess our home spaces. Even though restrictions are lifting, it may be some time before office workers are back in the office full time, if at all. Many big firms have even taken the step of making office work voluntary. All of which means we need to make our homes work better for us.

Digging down to create a basement beneath your home, or better still, converting an existing cellar, is a great idea. A basement can offer you multiple uses depending on your needs – no wonder basement conversion is the most popular form of home extension in Fulham and West London postcodes. Here are some ideas for basement conversions that you may have felt you needed over the last year!

Work from home: with hours of Zoom meetings and phone calls you need to be somewhere you won’t be disturbed or where you won’t disturb the rest of the household! An office in the basement gives you the solitude you need to focus while also not being too cut off from the family. For a home office to work well you need all your files and devices in one room, organised and structured to create a calm working environment.

Teenage den: lockdown has been tough on this age group so give the teens somewhere to hang out by creating a cool basement room. Naturally sound-proofing exists below ground which means you don’t need to hear what they get up to at night! Creating a basement with external access can also give you and your teens some privacy and create natural light wells.

Home gym: with gyms being shut for the best part of a year, the only option has been to lift weights in your bedroom or garage. None of which is ideal. Bench pressing with your nose up against a chest of drawers or in a sub-zero environment is not conducive to a good work out. Establishing your own home gym in a basement is an ideal alternative: you can choose proper gym equipment and make sure it is positioned safely. Air conditioning, spot lighting, rubber flooring and pumping music all help to create that dynamic environment you’ve been missing.

Family room: as your family grows, adding more space to your set-up can offer relief from certain stressful situations. Very quickly, it becomes apparent that members of the same family don’t always want to watch the same TV programmes or even sit with each other so a basement offers a safe retreat. Depending on the age of the members of your family, your family room could become more a children’s play area, a teenage gaming zone or even a quiet snug for live-in grandparents.

Airbnb it: the lack of holidays abroad has led to a boom in UK-based getaways. Airbnb allows anyone with a spare room to make money from their home and demand is going through the roof as people are keen to book a change of scene. It doesn’t matter if you live in London or the Cotswolds, renting out your basement conversion to paying guests is a no-brainer if you want to earn some extra income.

To discuss how a basement may benefit your family and to get a free initial quote just email or call us today!

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Author: Peter Little (CEO)

Peter Little is the CEO of the Property Conservation Company, with over 35 years experience in providing an exceptional and sympathetic approach to the restoration of period properties in London and The Cotswolds.

This article was first published on 21st May 2021

(Updated 23rd August 2024)

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