Finishing your basement can increase your home's value.
Finishing your basement and adding a bedroom can give you a convenient guest room or more space so each of your children can have his own room. The extra room can also increase the amount your home is worth. Designing your own bedroom allows you to decide how much closet and shelf space you want. You can custom-build the shelves, which allows you to create a room that is both functional and inviting. This plan is for an unfinished room. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
Building the Closet
1. Mark the area where you want to put your closet. Measure the length of each of the side walls and the front wall. You need two pieces the length of each wall to act as the top and bottom of each frame. Measure from the ceiling to the floor and subtract 4 inches to find the length of the height pieces. Measure the top of the door frame to find the length to cut the piece for the top of the door frame.
2. Cut the 2-by-4s with the circular saw to the correct measurements. You need top and bottom pieces for each wall and enough height pieces so that you can place them 18 inches apart across the length of the wall. You need one piece that is the length of the door to make the top of the door frame.
3. Create the wall with the door in it. Lay out the bottom piece and nail in height pieces 18 inches apart across the length of the bottom piece, leaving a space where the door will be. The 4-inch side of the wood should lie flush with the floor. Nail the top of the frame to each height piece. Then put a height piece on either side of where the framed door will go. Measure up and nail the piece for the top frame at the correct height.
4. Frame out the other two walls by laying out the pieces and nailing the height pieces into the bottom pieces 18 inches apart across the length of the wall. Nail the top piece into place.
5. Put the walls up. Nail the side of each wall frame directly into an already existing stud, using a nail at 18-inch intervals from floor to ceiling. With cement nails, nail the frames into the basement floor, using one nail on each side of the stud. Nail the top of the frame into the ceiling joists. Connect the frame corners to each other by nailing them together every 18 inches from floor to ceiling.
6. Hang the drywall using drywall screws, when you drywall the rest of the room. After hanging, seal the seams with drywall tape and compound. Sand it after it dries and then paint it.
7. Install the door frame by nailing it into place at each corner and then 18 inches apart from the ground to the top of the frame.
Build the Bookshelves
8. Cut the plywood into two pieces that are 36 inches by 12 inches and four pieces that are 24 inches by 12 inches. This makes a bookshelf that is 3 feet high and 2 feet long with three shelves. You can adjust the pieces according to your measurements. Sand the pieces smooth.
9. Nail the pieces together. Start by nailing the top of the shelf and the bottom of the shelf to one of the side pieces. Then nail the other side piece onto the other end of the shelf pieces. Make sure that they are square. Nail the shelves according to the height you want them, about 12 inches apart from each other. Paint each shelf.
10. Anchor the shelf to the wall using an anchoring kit or nail it into a stud, going through the drywall you have already installed.
Tags: inches apart, door frame, height pieces, across length, apart across, apart across length, each wall