Help me lay out my basement (1 Viewer)

[Chris Wittry]

Hello all. I'm finally getting through the planning/saving stage of redoing my basement and am ready to get to work. What I would like is some ideas on how I should lay it out. I am looking to take the large area (see the picture in the link below) and put in 3 major things. The most important is a theater area (not dedicated) where I will be building in the tv/speakers and equipment. The 2nd is a wet bar and the 3rd is a pool table. I will be completely taking the basement apart, down to the studs, so I can rewire it all and also add network, speaker, etc. wiring into the mix. Please check out this drawing that I did to see what the room looks like, then post your thoughts on where I should put my equipment and other stuff. Thanks!!!!

 

[Rick Mostaert]

3d Home Architect?
OK, I will give it a shot since I am doing the same thing in about half the space. You can see mine here.
I would put the TV/screen on the West wall by the stairs. In my opinion that would be the best for sound. If your seating is 13' from the wall you will have 16' for the pool table which I would put behind it with the long axis East/West. You need a little more than 16' for an 8' table and 58" standard cue. You need a little more than 13' for the short side of the table and with this setup that support pole won't get in the way. The South area is plenty of room for a large bar. It's too bad about that pole. If that was n't there you could put the table on the South side and put the bar on the Southeast side with more room for seating.
Good luck,
Rick

 

[Scott Jelsma]

Chris,
Your basement is very close to the size of mine. My stairs are in the same place as yours and I have (had) a support post in the same place that you have one. See my project here. It might give you some ideas.

 

[Scott Jelsma]

Chris,
I thought about your HT a little more. Here's some ideas...

Scott

 

[Chris Wittry]

Thanks for the replies! Scott, I love the way that you layed that out. I never looked at the room that way and while it would require a bit more work to move the utility doorway, I really like the way that it works out. I only have 1 question and that would be where I could put the rear speakers for my 5.1/6.1/7.1 system. Thanks again!

 

[Scott Jelsma]

Here's a couple of ideas for the surround speakers (5.1) and rear speakers (7.1).

1) While not ideal for sound dispersion, you could install in-ceiling speakers.

2) For wall mounted surrounds, one could obviously go on the north wall in line with where I show the couch, or slightly behind the couch. For the other one, you could build a soffit coming down from the ceiling above the bar. You could even move the bar towards the couch a bit. You could either mount the speaker on the soffit, facing the couch, or you might even consider mounting it inside the soffit with some speaker cloth as a covering if you wanted the speaker hidden. Either way, I think a soffit above the bar would blend in well and may even be a nice accent for the bar. You could even put in some accent lights in the soffit, pointing down on the bar top. Could look really nice. If you don't like the idea of a soffit, you could also either mount a short cabinet or wine rack above the bar and mount the speaker to it. That might also look nice.

3) For the rear surrounds (7.1), you could put a speaker on the north wall closer to the pool table and one directly across from it on the laundry room wall. I realize the typical 7.1 setup has the rear speakers facing the screen rather than facing each other, but I think this option could work. You could also go with in-ceiling speakers. (That's what I'm doing in my project). I'm not sure there is a good option for a single center rear surround in a "6.1" setup. I think putting a singe rear speaker on the west wall by your stairs would be too far back.