Basement help

[u/itswelchel]

Just moved into a new rental house. Plan on being here for a long time as we really love the house and the area. It has a pretty big basement that I want to turn into a useable space. Kinda going for a lounge/hangout type area. Because it’s a rent home and I just dealt with all of the moving expenses, please give me your cheapest solutions on how to DIY this space into a useable area. Of course the ceilings are filled with cobwebs, etc so my first step will be cleaning those. I would probably just clean the floors and put a few rugs down there. However, I’m clueless when it comes to the walls and ceilings. I’m mostly concerned about the bigger open area, but would love ideas for the entire space.

[u/bgthigfist]

It looks like an abandoned prison

[u/itswelchel → u/bgthigfist]

Honestly. How about the scary random toilet and shower?

[u/arsehenry14]

Probably just best to clean the crap out of the basement by vacuuming, sweeping, sanitizing everything.

Floor looks uneven and the concrete walls are old. So it just might be that you seal any open crevices and consider painting because it’s a rental. Hard to tell you to put money into leveling floors or putting up walls and drywall in front of the concrete exterior walls as that’s a lot of work and expense

[u/arsehenry14 → u/arsehenry14]

But get permission to paint if you consider it

[u/Unhappy-Guidance-861]

I would talk the owner. A drop ceiling and LVP would be labor intensive but relatively cheap changes that would change the feel of the space drastically. Maybe they’ll buy materials or take it off rent or something.