You should know by now that the basement is more than just a storage space, and certainly more than just a crowded area where you can do your laundry. If you are blessed with having an ample living area under your home, you might want to convert that into something more livable. In order to do that though, you might need some major basement ceiling, wall and floor makeover. Consider having the ceilings redone, especially if there are exposed pipes and wires exposed. Have the wall and floors insulated and more importantly, get the HVAC piping into that space. Once you have accomplished that, then here some creative basement decorating tips for you.
1. Build a library, a study room, or a home office. Most basements are naturally soundproof, so this would be a very good place to put in a library or someplace where you can just think quietly on your own. Or in case your basement sounds like a cave that resonates with almost all the other noises in the house, try to put in a suspended ceiling and soundproof the walls as well. Make sure that you have ample overhead illumination too, since light barely comes into this space. This means that you do not have to spend most of your time in the basement straining under one desk lamp.
To make your area less cluttered, try to build in overhead shelves instead of installing free standing ones. This would be great if you have low basement ceilings. On the other hand, if you have tons and tons of heavily bound books, you might want to install very low bookshelves that may double up as benches. A small toilet or bath would be a great addition to this space.
2. It is all about finding your Zen. Call it what you want: a meditation room, a yoga room or just some place where you can reconnect with your inner self. Again, because the basement is usually the most soundproof and isolated room in the entire house, this would be a great place to literally hide away from the hustle and bustle of the world. If you want to really a more defined atmosphere, wall-to-wall carpeting would be great with large ceiling mirrors to match. Or you could go for bamboo floors and keep everything in earth tones. Low furniture like seats and tables would be ideal for such setup.
3. Set up a second living room. Who would not love to have a second living room, especially if the one upstairs seems a bit to space restrictive in the first place? You could basically set up your dream living room down in the basement with a bar, a large TV monitor for watching the games, or all the table top spaces where you can put your figurine collections on display. You could also put in all the shelf space you want for your books or your CD collection. When you have your friends over, you could have them comfortably lounging in your basement living room without having to worry whether the noise will wake up the kids upstairs or the neighbors around your property.