Trying to open, we have an unfinished basement....

[Cares]

We just moved to our new home (yay!), and I'm ready to start accepting families. But I'm worried about our basement being unfinished. I will be using a living room on our main floor, and meals and snacks in the kitchen, and naps in the bedrooms. So we won't be in the basement all day.

The basement is a good space, it's quite large, lots of room to play and run. It's where I have my gross motor toys, arts and crafts, and play pretend.

But it's toooootally unfinished. Cement floor (except a big wool rug by the toys), half cement walls and then insulation (covered with plastic). There's 2 poles in the middle of the room. And the utility/laundry space is kinda tucked away, but still open to the daycare space.

We can't afford to finish it now...... what would you do???

[BlueRose]

Could you get lots of bristol board/ big rolls of newsprint etc. and cover up the insulation so people cant see it, art work extra. (out of sight out of mind, kind of thing)
For me as a parent the insulation even under plastic, would be a turn off. (plastic can rip).

can you put up gates or something around the laundry area. I use big plastic containers to block on area of my daycare. It also helps to store extra toys.

The poles, well they are just part of the basement. How about some colorful paint, so they don't look so "cold".

The floor, the rugs are good. what about the square foam mats as well, for any area the rugs don't cover, or even under the rugs to add some padding when the kids fall down. As a parent knowing that there are mats under the rugs, would be a plus.

[ladyjbug]

We had the same problem and this is what we did. My husband took some leftover materials from our last renovation and framed a large part of the basement in, and then put half walls of drywall up, also used from leftovers. We used leftover carpet from all over the house and put foam mats down anywhere there wasn't carpet. I put artwork up with tape to cover the insulation and none of the other insulation is accessible to the kids because of the half walls. My husband left a doorway opening to to the half open room that was big enough to put a child gate which blocked it off from the laundry/utility area. When I interview, I tell clients that we have just moved here and are in the process of completing many projects. However, due to the weather (it is FREEZING here in the winter), we thought it prudent to create a gross motor area in the downstairs, and this is what it looks like. That way you are acknowledging that this is an in-progress project, but you have created a safe, albeit ugly place for their kids that will keep them warm in the winter months. Honestly, my kids all love the basement in its unfinished glory. I don't like it down there, but they will ask to play in the "tunnel" (that's what they call it) all day, every day.

[Cares]

thanks for the great ideas!
Maybe since it's boxing week (thank goodness for a whole week of sales instead of just one crazy day!) I can get some foam mats for cheap. We planned on studding and drywalling a piece at a time, aiming for every weekend if we can.
Honesty will be key, hopefully parents can get past the unfinished part, and know that it'll be done ASAP. Fingers crossed!

Any more ideas are welcome!

[apples and bananas]

I saw the foam mats on sale at walmart for 9.99 a package and it looked like a pack of 5. It was in the flyer.

[playfelt]

You could buy some of the blue tarpaulin type things or similar from home depot to cover the insulation - even though parents know it is behind there if they can't visually see it they will be better about it. Then you can use the tarpaulins for paint cloths or crafting or building tents, covering sandbox etc. so they aren't wasted. You could also get the type of curtains that have grommets at the top and put hooks in the top beam and hang them which would cover the entire wall. Then as you stud you can remove them a section at a time and reuse them elsewhere. You might find for quite awhile that it covers the walls enough you just live that way till you are truly settled. The floor covering is a must. The foam mats will be the fasted way to go. You can section off an area by placing furniture, shelves, bins around the matted area. Use one of the play yards in the open position to gate off the laundry area. I have some 16" deep utility cupboards I used when we first moved in to create a wall and then installed a gate between two of them. The cupboards gave me an instant wall and storage. You could consider doing that along your outside walls too meaning you have a lot less wall to cover since the cupboards stand 5-6 feet tall depending on style. Canadian Tire have some on sale right now. That means you will be able to stash a lot of stuff including non daycare items by tying doors shut. We had unfinished walls behind those cupboards for over a year before we finished them. I got child friendly fabric from the store and staple gunned it to the rafters to cover the top of the walls behind the cupboards. It actually looked really nice and was cheap and the good thing with the cupboards is they find uses in other places in the house or well you are always going to need storage in the playroom so even if you do finish the walls eventually you will still need the cupboards.

[Cares]

Awesome advice ladies! Thank you!

We just decided yesterday to drywall the whole space! We'll bite the bullet, hopefully get some families and pay it off quicker than if we didn't.

Definitely going to go get some foam mats for the floor!

Thank you everyone....this site (everyone on it) is amazing.

[Momof4]

Cares, I think your investment will pay off if you make the daycare look as finished as possible. There are all the safety issues, you want to be warm and comfortable but you also want good quality clients. And you don't want the kind of clients who don't care enough about their children's daycare space to choose the safest one. I'm sure you will be a fantastic caregiver but there is a lot of competition in our business and parents usually line up 4-5 interviews and look at different caregivers and their spaces. So putting your best foot forward is important.