We Used the Space Under the Stairs to Make a Wine Room
When we brought our home the basement was unfinished. We always knew that we would eventually finish it and use it as an entertaining space and gaming area. With just about 1800 square feet to work with, the possibilities of what we were able to do were endless. However, leave it to life to alter your plans. After my father died and we asked my Mom to move in with us, we dedicated more than half of the basement space to making her an in-law suite, complete with a kitchenette, en-suite bath, and living room area on her side of the basement. In the remaining part of the space, we decided that we still wanted to use it to entertain so we added a bar, an open area where we could add a pool table, a sitting area, a game area for kids, and a half bath.
Before the walls went up during construction, I told our builder that I didn’t want the space under the stairs to go to waste. I wanted to maximize the square footage we had left, to the fullest. Looking on Pinterest, I saw that many people use under the stairs space for dog areas, kids’ playhouses, and storage. I initially suggested that the area be used for storage but my husband said we have more than enough storage in the garage and our crawl space. I headed back to Pinterest and saw a post about a wine room under the stairs and I knew that would be perfect.
We wanted to make the wine room a focal point of the basement and not just a closed-off room, so our builder suggested that we add glass, so you could see in and it was somewhat like a window. Adding the glass was tricky because of the way it had to be angled and because of the measurements. However, once installed it was exactly what we envisioned. The next thing that we chose was the door. Again, we wanted people to have a full view inside, so we also choose a door with glass.
The next thing we chose was the lighting fixture and the paint color. I actually took the light from my primary bedroom sitting area and spray painted it gold. I always thought that the light was way too small for the area that it was in in the bedroom but it was the perfect size and look for the wine room. I went with Sherwin Williams Iron Ore for the walls, which is a deep gray almost black color. I wanted it to feel sexy in there almost as if it were in a restaurant or lounge. This is also why we chose dark cabinets as well.
The cabinet install was painful to watch because the measurements had to be to a tee. Although Wayne, my cabinet guy is phenomenal at what he does, for a moment we all thought that the cabinets, which were 2 individual large pieces, would not fit. After shaving down the base piece just a tad, it all worked out. the lower half of the cabinet can be used for storage and the top half houses about 80 bottles of wine. There is also a shelf for pouring. We are still working on filling the wine slots so now any time someone asks, what they can bring if we have a function, the answer will be wine!
The final piece that I added was a picture I found at Home Goods that really ties the space together. It reads, “Good Friends, Good Wine, Good Times” because isn’t that really what life is about?
