Organize Basement or Bonus Room

Everyone needs a place in their home to store belongings, a place for kids to play, and somewhere that is just out of the way. Over time, these rooms get filled with old furniture, large toys, a sofa bed, and any other cast-offs from the more visible rooms in the home.

The basement or bonus room needs to have a defined purpose and be neat and orderly when a home is on the market. Your staging choices will tell buyers how to use the room. But first, we need to clean and organize this space so that it can fulfill its promise of being a lot of extra usable space.

The space should first be defined as a play space, TV watching space, game playing space or storage space. Pick one use and try and stick to it so you don't confuse buyers.

• Remove and pack away anything that doesn't fit in with the specified purpose of the space. This will give you an opportunity to get ahead on packing to move and make the items that are left in the room much more manageable.
• If you have an unfinished basement and you have decided to stage it as storage, you will need to pack away two-thirds of the storage items already in the basement. Move these boxes to a temporary, off-site storage facility so that the basement looks about one-third full. Potential buyers want to see that there is a lot of storage for their things. Also, it will help buyers envision how much space is in the basement should they want to finish it at some later date.
• Less is definitely more in a basement or bonus room space. Old furniture or half-finished projects should be stored somewhere else or donated. You want the space to look fresh, clean and updated....not like a relic from the past.

Since the room is now decluttered and few items remain, cleaning this space should be much easier.

Basements can be creepy. Years of neglect can result in a lot of dirt, dust and cobwebs. Bonus rooms are usually so cluttered or filled with toys and such that they usually not as clean as the more public areas of the home. Needless to say, these rooms will be examined thoroughly and they need to be up to par with the rest of the spaces in the home.

• A good shop-vac can make short work of the cobwebs and dirt in the basement. Just vacuum up anything that is loose from the ceilings, between the joists, in the corners, behind the furnace, in the crawl space and from the floors. Just doing this one thing will make the space feel that much better and more tolerable to be in.
• If the basement or bonus room has windows, they need to be extra clean. These spaces tend to be dark in the first place. Let in as much light as possible.
• An unfinished basement can usually benefit from a good wall washing. You can use a bucket and sponge, or if the basement has a floor drain, you can hose off the walls. Use a brush on the end of a broom handle to really scrub down the walls if necessary. The same steps can be used for the cement floor. TSP (tri-sodiumphosphate) is a terrific cleaner to use on cement surfaces.
• For finished basements and bonus rooms, clean the baseboards, mouldings and doors. We like to use Murphy’s Oil Soap concentrate for this task.
• Clean the light fixtures and replace any bulbs that may be burnt out or replace with a higher (but allowable) wattage bulb to make the space brighter.
• Flooring in the basement or bonus room should be professionally cleaned if it is in good shape and you won’t be replacing it. These spaces tend to be larger-than-average rooms and you don’t want to give the impression that the flooring needs to be replaced. Any flooring material that is worn, ripped, dated or in bad repair should be replaced by you before the first open house. It will cost you must less to replace than your prospective buyer will deduct from your asking price if they need to do it.

Basements and bonus rooms represent extra space in a home. You want to showcase the most space you can for the particular function you give the room.

• Basements that are unfinished are usually designated as storage spaces. Don't overfill the basement with things that you will never use again. Reserve this valuable space for storing things that you have packed up for your move.
• Finished basements can be used as entertaining spaces, play spaces, table games such as billiards or ping pong, or workout spaces. Pick one function and pack away any items that don't fit with this particular usage. Also pack away any items that you won't use while the house is on the market so that the basement looks as if it has room to spare.
• Bonus rooms also serve a variety of functions. Again, pick one use for the room and pack away everything else that doesn't match that function. If your bonus space is a play area for children, two-thirds of their current toys should be packed away and the remaining one-third will define the space. By limiting the number of toys to one-third, there will be plenty of floor space for the children to play with the toys. Buyers will note how much great play space your home has - bingo!
• Guard against using these spaces as storage for old furniture or half-finished projects. Old furniture just clutters up the space and marks the room as "dated". Half-finished projects signal to buyers that there is a lot of work to be done -- and no one wants to buy a project.

Cleaning and decluttering the basement or bonus room brings you most of the way through Step 2. for this space. Organizing the space is now much easier because you have limited the amount of stuff in the room by defining its purpose.

• An unfinished basement or bonus space is usually defined as storage. Boxes can be stacked neatly in this space, but not too high. If you have shelves, then by all means put the boxes on shelves. Also, don't line every wall with boxes, it just looks too constricting. We like to stack boxes about four feet high and leave some walls open. You want prospective buyers to see how neat the space is and how clean it is, not how much stuff you have packed away.
• If the basement is going to be staged for game playing, then organize the games on shelves nearby the actual play space. If you have a pool table, then have a wall rack for the cues and accessories so they are accessible and neatly arranged. Everything else that doesn't suggest that activity should be put away.
• To use these rooms as entertainment spaces, they should have places to sit, some side tables with lamps a television and one or two shelves. Put the DVDs and video games in alphabetical order or by genre so you can find them easily. This will help you keep the space organize while the home is on the market.

When you define the function of a basement or bonus room, you instantly limit the types of items that you put in the room. This weeding out of items will not only give buyers a clear picture of the space and its function, but will enable you to spend less time preparing for a last minute showing.

Your basement and/or bonus room are now well positioned for Step 3. Staging the Basement or Bonus Room for our home staging guides for those rooms. Return to Step 2. Clean, Organize, and Declutter another room in your home.

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