The basement is an underappreciated part of the house, but with renovations and proper furnishing, it can be turned into a space everyone wants to spend time in. Just ask Sydney Levy, who designed this unique basement build.
Levy is an interior designer for Anthony Wilder Design/Build, a Cabin John-based design firm founded by the eponymous Wilder and his wife, Elizabeth. The firm started out with a focus on architecture and construction, but demand from clients led to the creation of an interior design team. Before their basement, Anthony Wilder Design/Build also renovated other parts of the clients’ house.
The basement has been transformed from a storage space to a place for the house’s owners to hang out and entertain guests. With a large sitting area, a pool table and a countertop bar, it’s become a sleek space for events and casual family time alike.
“Our clients have kids who are just out of college, and they were telling us how they never used to go down to the basement,” Levy says. “It was gross down there, and filled with old stuff. Now, they’re all fighting to go down to the basement. It’s nice to hear that the client really enjoys the space, and not just the husband and wife, but the whole family.”
Raise the Roof
A common challenge when working with basement builds is the ceiling. Many older basements were not designed to be living spaces, and may have exposed pipes or odd bulkheads. While some people may enjoy the industrial vibe that these basement ceilings offer, they often pose a problem for renovations. Because of that, this kind of design is less common in more modern builds.
“If you’re looking on Zillow and you see a brand-new house, you’ll see the basement has
one flat ceiling,” Levy notes. “Otherwise, it looks grungy, and the lighting can be bad.”
This was the case with this basement, so Levy and the other designers at Anthony Wilder Design raised up the piping, added recess lighting and smoothed over the ceiling. The result is a space that does not feel like a basement, but like another living room. There are still some nods to the original, more industrial feel of the basement, though, such as the faucet on the basement bar’s sink.
Monkey Business
Perhaps the quirkiest feature of the basement is not in its main room, but in its bathroom. Turn a corner and you’ll find a bathroom covered wall to wall with monkeys in funny situations—hanging from branches, smoking cigars and drinking vodka.
Levy notes that the bathroom was actually an important part of the build. The clients have a pool outside of their basement, so they and their guests would often spend time in the bathroom changing in and out of their swimsuits. The space is very modern, with wooden furniture and golden fixtures, but the wallpaper gives it a cheeky touch.
“This is their ‘cool bathroom,’” she says. “We wanted to jazz it up and make it feel like more of a powder room than a basement bathroom.”
