Mini-fridge under the countertops in place of one of the cabinets.

I had the same thought as you on the storage area. I don't want to have a bunch of stuff stacked back into inaccessible corners. I can't put massive bins in there, but there's plenty of space to line tubs or boxes up against the interior wall and still have space to walk through and pull things in and out.

Yes, 8' ceilings. I would say the bedroom and storage / utility areas are fixed as there's really nowhere else those can go. The bathroom has to go in that corner but could be resized, and the music room wall isn't there yet.

Edit: I agree I'm a little worried about the flooring transition by the bar. We want carpet in the basement, but not at the bar area. Here's a couple photos I found of similar concepts: https://imgur.com/a/gyW0qBD

The bathroom is already framed and plumbed from when the basement was finished in the past. The bar extends out far enough so that you're not having to sit on carpet. It's a little weird and I'm not 100% sure the best approach to take here.

OK, then just replace the drywall with cement board.

Doesn't matter if shower or not.

It's fairly straightforward with gyprock/sheetrock whatever the brand -it's all gypsum board anyway.

You can just cut a straight line with a sharp X-acto knife, remove the damaged part, smooth edges and fit in the new piece and the refinish the wall. No need to tear the whole wall down for a new sheet.

It's often a good idea to save the time and re line at least part of that wall if not the whole wall

If you need soundproofing and can give up a little dead space, double wall leaving a few inches in between them. Air space between soundproofed walls, helps a lot

What’s flexible in this plan in terms of walls? I understand the foundation/exterior walls would not be flexible, but what about all the interior ones?

I’m curious what you think about the flooring, especially around the kitchen area. The kitchen might look a bit awkward transitioning from such an open space

Also, is this an 8’ basement?

2 points for you:

>I can count on one hand the number of times in the past 10 years a basement shower would have been used

You are completely changing your basement, basically turning it into an apartment. I would be thinking about this design from the perspective of a future "In-law" suite. To be used in the future by an older family member, a Teen child gaining independence, or simply for the resale to the next owner.

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For the flooring, Luxury Vinyl Plank all the way. Get some with a good base padding and its really nice to walk on and looks amazing too. Super easy to install.

That’s when you simply tile over tile.

Did you look at the photos? This isn’t a shower.

Personally I would put the bedroom next to the bathroom. Use one of those doors (Which I assume lead outside?) as a private entrance for when you do have guests there, and give it private access to the bathroom too.

Neither of those units are as loud as you think they are. Insulate the shared wall (or all of the walls) with fire resistant insulation and you wont hear a thing

Just get a multi tool and cut off the drywall above the tile. Then pull it off the wall. At least then you have a pre determined line to fix. The way it is now, you'll have to do that anyway, but without any guide, and with way more damage to surrounding areas, likely.

Don't take the tile down. Take the sheet rock down. Just cut above and below the tile and pull the whole thing down.

Where is the fridge supposed to go in the kitchen? If that's going to be a bedroom and hangout room, you'll want way access to cold drinks down there.

Is your storage closet room wide enough to have big Costco storage tubs on each side and move freely down the center line? I first thought skinny and narrow was silly, but it's easy access to everything down there.

I'm 5th-ing it needs a shower down there.

Came to the same conclusion for the bedroom and office space, but I think the toilet is a little big in your plan and the space would be better utilized in the main living area.

You can do a little better with an oscillating multi tool. You'll still have a lot of cleanup and repair after the tile is down.

If the sheetrock comes off easy, then it should be pulled off and replaced. You're getting a two for one with this job.

It’s way easier to take the whole piece and replace it and I hate drywall. Luckily, the mud job doesn’t need to be great. Just passable. Assuming you’re going to tile above the joint. It’s so much quicker than trying to carefully remove tile.

You can plumb for the shower and install it later. The difference in resale would probably be at least 2x your costs

Cut out the sheet around the tile then cut it back to the center of the nearest studs, hang new sheet, and tape it. If this is a wet area in your bathroom you might want to use waterboard rather than regular sheetrock.

Just removed the tile in our kitchen. I just sledgehammered it and ripped the whole drywall sheet with it. Much easier to tape and mud a large patch than whatever your plan was.

The best is when you spend 2 hours meticulously taking off a 2 ft x2 ft square then moving on to the next part just to realize the drywalls moldy anyways. I removed 4x as much tile and drywall in 10 minutes than I did in 2 hours.

There's a lot of dead space.

I would do something like this: https://imgur.com/a/HaAK2Ca