suddenly remembering basements exists in the sims 4 

Basements in Sims 4 feel so scary with that black void around it

The basement is just one more set of stairs to navigate. 😂

For those who don’t get the pool mesh walls, Just imagine a really big mesh tent over top of your pool to keep bugs out.

imagine activating all the emotional auras in the basement

Generally, if you have a basement it is separated by a door because you don't want to waste energy heating and cooling it. Also, if it is humid, you don't want that humidity creeping into the living space more than necessary.

i’m from somewhere where basements are pretty common, and i have pretty much only seen basement stairs behind a door. it’s also worth noting that basements vary a lot, from being beautiful living spaces or even bedrooms to completely unfinished concrete boxes. for some basement inspo, the house i grew up in had our laundry in the basement and we also used it as like a kids spot, with like video games and toys. it was pretty much completely unfinished though, there were even nails sticking out of the ceiling.

this made me imagine an old couple. like the grandad who likes to play chess and watch films in the basement and the grandma who is in to gardening and reading on the porch I want to cry this reminds me so much of my grandparents house

A lot of old homes in the US built before refrigeration would have the basement stairs off from the kitchen (or near it) because it served as a cellar for cold storage. If it wasn't in the house, then the entrance would be outside, usually with storm doors. The "basement" I grew up with as a kid was the latter and basically just a dirt cave under the house where the old furnace was located (it burned on oil!).

I think the "I hate when the rooms are dark" thing might be a holdover from the Sims 3, where you sims could notice if your build wasn't finished and/or didn't have lights and got really, really upset about it.

You could always do a story with this house of grandmas troubled teen grandkid moves in and grandmas cleans out the basement for them and tries to turn their life around (raise grades and skills). That would be a fun little LP.

The basements always remind me of That 70’s Show, where they all used to hang out in the basement. So many good vibes, especially for like a teen hangout

Here in Canada every house has a basement, and every basement has a room called the cold room. It legit looks like a place you would hide a body, lol. It' so weird, but a lot of people use it for storing sauces, and jars with foods in it, or other things. It's generally unfinished, even if the basement itself is finished, so it has no insulation, just bare concrete walls and floor. It is pretty useful though, especially in the winter as you can use it a fridge if it's cold enough.

The best part of these kits being released together is the fact that they were released on 4/20 😂

As a fellow Floridian, absolutely loving your screened porch descriptions 🤣 you’re completely correct!

Now since they have the greenhouse pack I'm just waiting for someone to try to make the Addams family house from the old black and white tv show.

I can't believe that they didn't make the heart bed functional

Realistically, you want to have closed stairs, basements are cold and damp. Only good use of open staircase is, if you have other livivig rooms there, like one more bedroom. You want to have areas like storage, garages or apartment halls well separated from the areas you really live in. Otherwise, it would be really hard to maintain temperature, air quality and cleanliness in the places where it matters.

It's so funny listening to you talk about Florida screens as someone who grew up going to Florida a lot because my grandparents lived there. I didn't realize it was so confusing for people who had never been! All the little oddities of home that make no sense to others 😂

Where Im from in Canada I would confidently say 95% of the houses have basements. Most unfinished basements tend to have a door to them. However, where I live most of the houses are either two stories or back/side/front split houses and in that case the stairs are open and near or beside the other set of stairs leading to the second floor. I love the new kit and play with basements a lot in my sims builds so im excited to see them in more builds hopefully!

I like how this basement kit make people make basements now- I ALWAYS build basements I love them! Offer so much more “storage” space, a spare bathroom, a hangout, workout area, you can put the washer and dryer down there, and that’s where I put the butler’s room if I have a butler 😂

Basement steps (in my experience) are only open if the Basement is finished or has a finished main room, meaning carpeted, painted walls, etc. If the basement is just concrete slabs, it's hidden behind a door.

I love this!!! And, as a person from the NE USA, I would say typically finished basements don't have a door unless it is used as a bedroom or the access is somewhere inconvenient (i.e. through the bathroom). Unfinished or partially finished basements typically have a door to keep dirt/cold/damp out of the main house. Usually, access is in or near the kitchen, but I've definitely seen some weird scenarios for placement (as I've noted).

This turned out so cute, it feels so lived in and real! Porches are uncommon where I'm from, and I've never met anyone who has a pool or a basement, so it's cool to see them included! They're things I rarely put in my sims builds just because I never think of them.

In the northeast basements are usually a carbon copy of the upper floors because the exterior basement walls are made when the house builders lay the foundation for the whole house with concrete- ie the upper floors as well! And then they just build up from there! :] It's weird to think about in relation to the sims because we can just do whatever we want and add things anytime. But irl, it makes sense to do it this way!

I never realized how strange meshed-in backyards were until you were talking about it LOL It's just such a normal thing in Florida because of all the mosquitos. Love the build! 😄

As someone from South Carolina I also never even consider making basements since we don't have them here either but just like you I am OBSESSED with the mesh screens. I cannot wait to make screened in porches on every single build from here on!!

Hi Simsie! Where I live (province of Québec, Canada), basements are so common that it's if there isn't one that you must mention it. They are not merely storage space, but fully functional living space, often with extra bedrooms and family room. Some old houses have a door to the staircase, but most are open, just like the one leading to the 2nd floor. Most of the time, the two staircases are above one another. I hope this helps.

I'm from the midwest, here we mostly have basements and they're typically just behind a door somewhere. It's actually kind of fun running around and opening all the doors to figure out which one leads to the basement most of the time. I think that's typically more common in older houses though as finished basements became a big thing later on and so I feel like they switched to a more open basement plan.

The plant kit and the basement kit being released on the same day doesn’t make sense…until you realize that day was 4/20 😂

Where I live, in Ireland, it's really uncommon to have a basement. I've only ever been in 1 house that has one. The washing machines are also often in the kitchen, but sometimes people have a utility room (laundry and storage room) . Every now and again, people will have washing machines in the garage, but they're usually really old houses with small kitchens.

It’s always so strange to me when there is just one bathroom in a house, with no separate toilet. To me, a bathroom is such a private space and where I live everyone has a little separate toilet room downstairs, so guests don’t have to go to the family bathroom. Only when you’re really close to the person you’re visiting it’s okay to go to their bathroom but even my closest friends I’ve never been in their bathroom, cause that’s just not done over here 😅

In older houses in the midwest, most staircases seem to lead from the kitchen, to a landing at the backdoor and then down to the basement from the backdoor. Even if the basement stairs don't directly connect to a backdoor, they do seem to mainly connect to the kitchen. In newer homes, where they most likely intended basements to be finished and used as a family room or whatever, the stairs are usually more prominently placed like in the main hallway but could be anywhere really. Ease of access is basically what basements are about.. while attics are often hidden away behind some weird door around a corner or in a ceiling with a pull cord and a sliding ladder you're terrified will come down and hit you on the head.

I grew up in apartments but I had friends with basements and my dad lives in the suburbs. One thing I'm surprised we still don't have in any of the games is cellar doors, bc I've been in houses where those are the only way to access the basement, and as a New Yorker am always very wary of the open ones I see on the sidewalk.

It's definitely uncommon for a basement to have a different footprint to the main house! It's usually only smaller if the ground floor has had later additions You did a great job with the build as always!

You mentioning your grandma's house(s) just made me have the sudden urge to try and recreate one of my grandma's former homes from memory.

I'm hoping that in the hot update they add the heart bed to base game 😍

Having a lanai screen in Florida is heavenly 😄 it keeps the Alligators out the pool!

I'm from Minnesota, basements are kind of essential here because of tornadoes. My grandparents' house and one of the houses I lived in when I was little had the stairs tucked away behind a door. You might have thought it was a small closet if you didn't know what was behind the door. Some houses are split-level, so you enter in an entryway and you either go up to the main floor or down to the basement from there. Hard to do in the sims though. In the sims, if I'm building a two story house with a basement, I'll often put the stairs going down next to the ones going up. Otherwise, I often tuck them away in a sort of cabinet, usually somewhere near the kitchen..

On the topic of Laundry Rooms at 11:30 , At my Big Brother's house in Minnesota, he has a separate laundry room in his basement. Here in Southern California, we have a separate shed/garage thing that houses our Laundry, and storage. Interesting how stuff differs from place to place.

I find that warm cozy basements might have open rail and dark, dingy or storage basements will be behind a door. From a practical pov, you don’t want have to heat the basement unless you’re living in it

First time we drove to Orlando we got lost looking for our hotel and ended up in an upscale suburban neighbourhood and I remember those screened in pools. I commented to my husband at the time "JUST how BIG are their mosquitos?"

As an Aussie I am feeling you on the fly screen/mesh window love, it feels very much like home!

This is probably one of the most realistic builds I’ve seen you do - the basement, the kitchen, the porch. I could definitely see my southern grandparents living here 🥺

House I grew up in had basement stairs behind a door. House I live in now has basement stairs off the kitchen with no physical door. The stairs are stacked under the stairs to the second floor. I think that’s really common.

basements r so underrated! i usually end up putting the toilets/bathrooms in community lots into the basement, it saves some place too which is nice

The house I grew up in had the basement stairs directly in front of the back door and, I think at one point, there was a door on the "same tile" as where the stairs started. When I got older, the door disappeared, but I have this deep seeded fear of bending over to put on my shoes to head out to the garage and falling face first down the stairs. 😅

I live in a small town down in Texas. We mostly have large farmhouses, fancy mcmansions, and little town homes in neighbourhoods by the schools. We have our washer and dryer in separate rooms called "utility rooms", either by or going into the garages. We have ceiling fans on backporches, its too hot outside not to have one. I've never seen a basement irl, we all have attics instead.

my day gets 100% better with lilsimsie builds, the house looks so cool!

Basement stairs can be anywhere it really depends how big the basement is. Sometimes they're like their own apartments with kitchenettes for renting out or an adult child. More commonly you can have a wet bar and/or a lounge area. If the house has a basement that's probably where the laundry room is like 70% of the time in my experience.

I'm in south Georgia in a river valley former mill/textile town, so what's super common is row houses, basically really narrow and long victorian-1920s houses for factory workers. Kitchen and laundry, maybe dining in the back, a living space, and small bathrooms and bedrooms off a long hallway. We have partially screened in porches that are just brick walls and screen windows, but full screened in porches aren't super common. We can get away with basements but they're usually open to the backyard to prevent flooding rather than fully underground and closed.

Where I live, the houses are built about 3 feet above ground, you walk up a few steps to get to the ground floor, so basements are partially underground and partially above ground, and under the whole house. The above ground portion usually has small windows to let in some light and ventilation. They are usually unfinished, but can be finished by the owner to provide extra living space. This is usually where the utilities come in and the furnace and water heater are there, too. Generally, the laundry will also be in the basement, and as our attics are mainly inaccessible, usually requiring climbing a ladder and going through a ceiling hatch, we store our stuff in the basement or garage. If the basement is unfinished, the stairs will generally be rough.

as someone from the midwest with family from florida, can confirm florida houses are like that lmao and a great, common addition to basements is a washer & dryer! from my experience where i'm from, most basements are where people keep those

I'm saying this as someone who's lived in full houses with basements, small apartments with basements, familyhouses without basements and currently house converted into three apartments(one per floor) with a basement: Have a door!! The best usage for this is that it works as an isolater. I'm from Norway and when the Winter really sets, basements can be the coldest, without a door, the rest of the place gets so much harder to warm(and expensive). Also for safety. Cuz if you don't have any barrier for the stairs, I'll bet you that someone will fall down

At my friends house with a basement the stairs are literally the exact same as the one in this house. Behind a door and by the kitchen. But its kind of like a half basement cause it has a door to the outside cause the house is on a really steep hill.

Here in the Netherlands, we have some smaller homes where you have to walk through the kitchen to get to the bathroom. The bedrooms are upstairs. Always thought this was so weird.

Around here in the PNW, I've seen both. Basements used to be an afterthought, extra storage or utility space, etc. Now, they're much more incorporated into the living space. How (or if) they're finished determines access. In my house (built in 2020), the basement is fully finished and on a lot where there are windows in the basement as well, so our stairs are toward the front of the house with an open railing. Before we lived in a house with an unfinished basement, so the stairs were by the back door.

where i’m from basements tend to only be accessible through some kind of utility room in the front or back of the house, like a laundry room or mud room, so they’re completely separate from the rest of the house lol

all three houses i’ve lived in have had the basement staircase behind a door, i never realized how common it is til just now

sims w high handiness should he able to repair things like the heart bed

Kayla talking about pools being normal, and me here being from the UK thinking pools in gardens SCREAMS luxurious! I also live in a basement terrace house that has like 4 windows in it. Not the most comfortable house in summer but in winter it’s SOOOOO cosy and cute!

I live in the southern us where it gets hooot in the summer! We have a lot of screened in porches, but most have wooden doors rather than glass. Lots of people tear out screens when they renovate, but i like them! In general we have really large porches for our houses, because people do a lot of sitting on them/entertaining guests. Also ceiling fans, including fans on the aforementioned porches!

i don't know how she manages to update so often, but i'm loving it!

I can see them working together as in the parents love gardening while the teen lives in the basement but as the years go buy the parents pass and all their gardening equipment goes to the basement and mixes with the teens old stuff

The house I grew up in is from the 1920s and the basement stairs are in the reception hall under the main staircase closed off with a door. There is a side door that was meant for deliveries that enters the house where you have the option to go up to the main level or down to the basement. Most of the older houses in the area (rural Midwest) have similar arrangements or there is no way to access the basement from the inside and just an exterior staircase with trap doors covering it, a lot of the older farmhouses (pre 1900s) will have this arrangement. Some houses have added on porches to where this trap door is now under the floor, I've even seen just a ladder before.

I used to live in Floridia and i related so much with your screened in porch talked, my great grandma used to have a screened in porch that connected to a beautiful screened in pool area. Then I moved to Michigan and it's almost completely suburbs or country houses. Personally, I've seen a range of basements and pretty much all houses have one. They range from fully renovated with wood or carpet and a living area to completely just a basement. Also, washing machines are usually upstairs in a closet area if you live in a apartment or in the basement if your house has one.

I'll be honest, my day gets 99.9% better when I see Kayla post a new video

When the stairwell is a big connected thing through all floors, it tends to have no door, especially in houses with actual distinct floors, and especially if they open into a hallway type area rather than a main room. It also depends whether the basement is finished (no door) or if it operates more as a storage location only (door). However, I’ve found houses with distinct floors also tend to get doors if there is a safety hazard. I grew up around mainly split level houses, and those tend to have doors at the top because they open up into rooms.

I am from Quebec and basements here all have windows (the first floor is raised a little bit so we have lots of sunlights in the basements. All of our basements have bedrooms, at least one bathroom and a living room. Some have a "cold room" for storage too. And a lot of us have also laundry room down stairs. The stairs are usually by the front door on the side of the house. But some houses, the stairs are in in the kitchen (closed with a door), or somewhere near the garage (so you have access to the outside). My house as a higher basement (as you walk in my house you have to go up some few stairs to go to the first floor) so my basement has tons of lights in it because of the huge windows.

Up in the midwest, most folks I know who have basements have one of the following: 1) a basement with living space (like a living room) usually is open to the main level. 2) a basement mostly for storage, or just with bedrooms, is usually behind a door. So in my experience, it depends on the use of the basement!

i find that in the uk we dont really have front porches, mostly just a couple steps. its also extremely normal to live in an attached home, not as commonly in a stand alone. in my area, washing machines arent often in the kitchen, rather the bathroom or a random little cubby. if u take where my grandparents live, its a lot different layoutwise that people are used to. u walk into the kitchen, not a living room or anything. i think in america thats not terribly common but lets just see.

basements are SUPER common where i live. they're in pretty much every single house. the stairs are usually behind a door but the house I grew up in had them just open so its not too uncommon. I live in the western US so we don't really worry about humidity or flooding, so usually the basements have several bedrooms and a living space. in some houses the actual house is built into a hill so you can go into the backyard from the basement (that's how my house growing up was) basically you'd have the patio in the backyard connected to the basement and a deck/balcony thing connected to the main floor with stairs going down into the yard. also allows for a lot of natural light into the basement

I live somewhere where most houses have a basement. The one in my house is actually in the entryway. From my entryway there are a few small steps up (through a door and) into the main floor of the house and then a L-shaped staircase down into the basement. We used to have a door at the bottom of the basement stairs, but we had a problem with mould and replaced it with more of a gate to increase airflow down there, but also keep my cats out.

Is it just me but I love watching lilsimsies videos before I go to bed because they’re so calming, and especially these building videos are super therapeutic 😅I love how her voice is just normal and calm and she doesn’t scream out of nowhere and her videos aren’t that edited with crazy sound effects😆

I live in CT, and since it's hilly, basements aren't always fully underground. For example, we have sort of a half hill in front of our home, so technically, there is a basement under the porch, but if you walk around to the back, there isn't a hill and the basement is really just a room that opens straight into the backyard. I used to live in FL, and what this area does lack is screened in porches. They are great! Especially for cats 😍

Basement stairs where I live are usually closed off. My house has a door off the kitchen to a little landing where we keep, like, cleaning products, pest control stuff, and recycling, and the basement stairs are there. It's also impossible to build in the sims because the house is on a slope, so the front is level with the ground and the basement is underground, but the back of the house has a porch and a door from the basement which is now ground level.

it's always a joy hearing Kayla talking about Florida's architecture because it seems to very very similar to brazilian houses when it comes to bug problems and high temperatures. these types of porches are not at all common in Brazil (we have heavily walled around houses, so we just hang out on the garage), but we do use screens on windows and doors on neighborhoods close to nature and rivers, because omg so many mosquitoes. ceiling fans are also common in every room of the house, sometimes even the kitchen, because it's so hot. and we never ever build basements or attics, the way our roofs are built on a low angle doesn't leave enough room to walk in or storage stuff, it's just a dirty crawling space full of spider webs. when something needs fixing, we access from the top of the roof, removing tiles to get inside, more often than from the ceiling inside. sometimes hearing about the similarities between Florida and some brazilian states makes me realize why Florida is such a popular spot for migrating brazilians to move into

I live in the Midwest so basements are pretty important here, most of the time they are set right off of the kitchen with a door leading to the stairs. Depending on what type of house you have or where you live the basement could be large or small, and most basements hold laundry, a storage room or/and a family room/extra bedroom and a bathroom.

Re doors and screens: most places I have lived that have a back door (currently live in an apartment, the back of my house is somebody else's apartment!) have both a sliding glass door and a screen door, so you can have the glass open and let a breeze in through the screen. Nobody screens in porches because we don't have nearly the problem with bugs this far north and also like, nobody really hangs out a lot on their porches, because it's cold and/or rainy a lot of the year. On my friend's porch we have a few camp chairs and a little bed for my partner's dog that we take out of the storage closet on the porch when we want to sit out there, but there's no permanent furniture. Too windy, we'd lose our chairs during the next storm!

I live in Canada, and basements are pretty common here. To enter ours, you have to go out the back door since the entrance to the basement is outside. It's also an unfinished basement with gravel flooring, so it's mainly for storage for things like tools and deck furniture rather than things you would keep inside your home. It also floods sometimes. Also, my grandmother used to have a screen-house on her deck! They'd put it up in the spring and take it down in the autumn (since, y'know, Canadian winters).

From GA. When I was younger, my cousin’s house had their laundry on the back screened in porch. Mine now is in a closet in the kitchen. Also, most of the places up here are cabins, and you see basement steps with a door in 90% of them. I feel like it helps with sound traveling.

Omg I literally found this house randomly on the gallery and turned it into a home for my sim! I didnt even see this video until just now. Amazing!

grandmas house: basement stairs behind a door The house I used to live in: one open and central staircase from top (3rd floor) to the bottom

I like doing basements when I actually decide to play with the Laundry pack with the sims. Having the laundry room in the basement is always fun. It's also a fun place to squeeze in a makeshift living room or office, and sometimes I put spare bedrooms down there.

We love a good sliding glass door in Australia too! I can say after staying and living both in the greater Sydney and Melbourne areas. Screen doors for those sliding glass doors, and also for front wooden doors are also pretty much standard in Australia, it’s rare to see a house without them. Haven’t come across a house with a basement though!

im polish, i most commonly see basement stairs right next to the stairs that go up, so you could go from upstairs to basement almost without leaving the staircase. the basements usually cover most of the house surface. the stairs are generally either close to the enterance or adjacent to the first room you walk into after the room you put your shoes in (which can be farther away if its a big room or long hallway but you can still see the stairst at least)

basements are so popular here in ontario, canada! most of them are behind a closed door and will have at least one bedroom, bathroom and a laundry room! growing up my family had people rent out our basement so we had a few families living with us for a while and then we eventually started using it for us, we put an office down there and my dad was a contractor so he created his own woodworking shop and then on the other side we had the bathroom, bedroom, laundry room and a playroom that had our video games, board games and just toys we didn't play with all the time anymore! the basement kit definitely helps add more personality to people who love to make basements!

I live somewhere where basements really aren’t common because of the soil/ground here. Also, I live near a mountain range (and the town is very proud of them) so you’ll actually see some houses with decks at roof level (stairs leading up to them from the ground) so they can view the mountains. It’s pretty neat!

11:00 here in New Zealand we usually have dedicated laundry rooms, they're usually placed close to wherever the washing line is! I was so surprised to learn that laundry rooms weren't a super common thing in the US!

My grandparents' house was on a skinny lot, so they converted most of the basement into an underground garage for their car. There was a small room for the furnace and main plumbing, and about one third of it my grandpa converted into a bar where he could hang out with his friends. It had those saloon doors, you know Western style, a counter decorated with empty beer bottles, shelves with glasses for different drinks neatly organized and lit by LED lights, a few bottles of special drinks, a fridge of course, and one of those "naked lady with a motorcycle" calendars on the wall. It was cool. And he built it all by himself.

my old house had a fully finished basement. it had two bedrooms, a full bathroom, a kitchenette, and a big laundry room and furnace room. it was separated by a door from the upstairs and it was right next to the kitchen. the basement was always a fun hangout space. we also had something called the '3 season room' and it wasn't screened in like this one was but it had a lot of sliding doors that led to the backyard. it also had a ceiling fan and it wasn't heated or air conditioned

Basements in Alberta, Canada are almost always the same size as the upstairs. The basement itself will have a different layout than upstairs and usually the washer and dryer is down there as well. This is also where the water heater, furnace, and the electrical box are located. Sometimes it will have it's own room but not always. Ours does and shares the room with our freezer and some food storage. the stairs to go down there is off our back landing where the back door is. You have to go up three stairs to our main floor to the left and to the right is our stairs to our basement.

Midwest Gal here, most homes have basements in our area. Most older homes (90s and earlier) have their basement stairs behind a closed door, usually off the kitchen or laundry room spaces. A lot of newer builds, especially ranches or one stories will have it open staircase to the basement as a focal feature in the entry way or living room spaces and it is apart of the home design, usually these basements either have outdoor access like built into a hill or has egress windows which allow true bedrooms in the basement and its more of a second floor then a basement. Most homes use their basements for a teen hang out space, storage/hot water heater/furnace space also be sure to include the Midwest beer fridge, and sometimes a workshop space. Some homes have basement bars which is always a fun throw back typically from the 70s.Older houses might have laundry in the basement, especially if the basement is "unfinished". If the home is updated or has that walkout type style, there can often be a teen's room or mother in law suite in the basement. Nicer basements might also have a kitchenette along with a bar area.

In the Netherlands we actually always have a hallway when you come in the front door. There will be a door to the livingroom, the stairs for going up and a door, with behind that, the stairs to the basement. I've never been in a house with 2 bathrooms. So I always think it's weird when builders make a shower room down stairs and a bathtub on the second floor. We have half-bathrooms (toilet and sink) on the first floor and the full bathroom upstairs. The location of the washingmachine is mostly in the basement or in the bathroom. We don't really have dedicated laundry rooms.

Hearing you talk about playing cards with your grandma makes me really sad because my grandma's house of 20+ years caught fire the other day (the abandoned house next to hers was broken into and a fire got started that quickly became out of hand. nobody was harmed) and my nana, her sister who was recovering from a major surgery, and a friend of theirs are now displaced and I've spent the last 3 days working on clearing it out and cleaning it up. Watching this just kinda made me remember all of the things we used to do in that house- sleeping in a massive bed with tons of creepy dolls, years and years of birthday parties for me and my sisters, putting together puzzles and playing cards at her table 🥺

My maternal grandparents also had an extra livingroom situation with a tv in the basement and we were always only down there. On the rare occasion my grandma would take one of us to the main floor, or omg the second floor, it always felt so special lol After she died, my grandpa slowly transitioned out of the basement and visits switched to mainly the main floor, and it never stopped feeling weird to me.

The house I grew up in had the basement off the kitchen behind a door. Basically the front door opened directly to the living room, through a doorway is the kitchen and directly to the left of said doorway is the door to the basement, which is fully walled off, but the basement was massive, and unfinished (ie, concrete walls and floors, just used for storage and laundry)

Speaking as someone from the Midwest (so I’ve got a basement and been in a lot.) It really does depend on the type of basement, most people have either an unfinished (floors are concrete, and ceiling is just wood panels and stuff), or you got the finished basements which usually have carpet floors and painted walls (like the rest of the house.) Then if it’s an unfinished basement the stairs will most likely be wood (and it always gives you splinters walking down!) and if it’s finished, the stairs will usually be carpet. Also, most of them have a door leading to the staircase bc no matter if it’s finished or not, they all be hella cold!

My childhood home was built in the 60s. Basically there was a hallway that went out from the side of the kitchen. At the end of the hall was a bedroom, to the left the main bathroom for the house, and to the right was a door and right behind it were stairs that went straight down to the basement. One side of the stairs hugged a wall and the other side had railing and you could see into the room as you walked down.

So, the two basements I remember having in my lifetime I think both had basic wooden stairs with no railing or turns. I know some people have nicer basements that have carpet on the ground that also happens to be on the stairs, but I think those are a little less common. Most people just have the dirty wooden hazard stairs. Edit: Oh, my grandma also had the wooden hazard stairs in her old house. They were painted blue for some reason and I was terrified of going down them

I know where I’m at wether the stairs to the basement are open with just railings, or closed off with a door, depends on the basement and how it’s set up. If the basement is a utility/storage space it’s closed off with a door, mostly I think so that the messiness of the storage space isn’t just visible to anyone walking by, along with heating/cooling costs being cut since people aren’t just going to be down there all the time. Meanwhile if the basement is set up to be a living space then the stairwell is left open to allow for easy movement between living spaces, along with airflow (heating and cooling) and added light.