Game Day Ready Basement Renovation

We’re delighted to share with you today some more details about one of our latest basement renovations: The Game Day Ready Basement!

Our Dreamers contacted us in January of this year after being inspired by one of our Top 2020 projects – The Homebrewer’s Basement Bar. They had a basement that they spent a lot of time in and they wanted similar for a big, empty, undefined space.

The main goal of the project was to build a bar (with custom tap!) in the big, undefined corner space but after connecting with our team, the entire project was expanded to include 2 smaller projects which would extend and unify the family’s gathering space: (1) add custom carpentry to existing, well-loved, and extremely functional storage [these were actually bought from Ikea but after the painful ordeal our Clients had assembling it themselves, they really wanted to keep it and elevate it with a more “built in” look] and (2) build a custom bar in the television space for additional seating and gathering.

Here is a view of the space before – this is where the bar will be going in:

And here is a view of the well-loved family area where we built additional, complementary seating:

We began with the bar area first:

The bar features: shiplap wall details, butcher block counters, a custom tap, tons of storage, beautiful seating, custom shelves, bar sink, and wall-mounted TV. With a hidden ledge behind the bar, this is a bartender’s dream.

and here’s some photos of what it looked like in between!

Once the bar area was complete, we set to work pulling in the family space.

Like many Dreamers, our Clients had some Pinterest pictures for inspiration:

This is what the space looked like before:

It wasn’t too far off from the Pinterest visions but it was definitely missing some of those details that make your friends say, “Wow!” when they enter your space. For this particular project, those details included shiplap wall detail (which would also complement the bar space) and crown molding:

Last, but not least, we created a custom seating area that matched the bar to expand the footprint of the gathering space. The additional seating would solidify a seat for every adult on those important game days.

Here is a picture of the space before:

here are some photos from in between (oh, you thought we were jumping straight to the “After” shot – fooled you!)

And here’s what it looked like after!

It was hard every day, honestly, NOT to pull up a seat and just hang out:

We love all our projects and try really hard not to play favorites but we will always remember this project because who can forget such an awesome basement bar, with three televisions, and Pac-Man!

Would you have noticed if we didn’t tell you?


American Dreamers Renovations is a boutique home renovation and construction company owned and operated by leading female contractor Morgan Kumpfmiller. If you are considering a home renovation or construction project, we invite you to call us today at 412-290-1108 or contact us via message to schedule your FREE estimate.