How do you set up a playroom in a basement or cellar?

A cellar has two qualities most rooms in a house don't: it's private by default, and it's the one room no visitor wanders into by accident. That makes it a natural home for a playroom. It also has a few habits of its own, from damp to low ceilings to a narrow stair, and every one of them is easier to deal with before the furniture arrives than after.

Our guide to turning a spare room into a playroom covers the general planning: deciding what the room is for, choosing a centrepiece, layout, storage and aftercare. This guide covers only what a basement or cellar changes.

Damp

Damp is the first thing to deal with, and it comes before paint, flooring or furniture. Below-ground rooms are often cooler and less ventilated than the rest of the house, and moisture collects. Signs to look for include a musty smell, tide marks low on the walls, flaking paint and condensation on cold surfaces.

If you see any of them, have a qualified tradesperson assess the room before you do anything else. Once it's dry, keep it that way with ventilation and, where needed, a dehumidifier.

Damp matters for furniture too. Every finish we offer is coated, and a coated steel frame is well suited to most rooms, but any metal kept in damp air will start to rust wherever its coating is chipped. Our guide to whether a powder-coated frame can rust covers the rooms to think twice about and what to do about a chip.

Ceiling height

Cellars are often lower than the rooms above, and the lowest point is rarely where you expect. Beams, pipes, ducts and light fittings all come down further than the ceiling itself. Measure the lowest point above where each piece will stand, not the height in the middle of the room.

A four-poster bed and a cross are both tall pieces. Ask any maker for a piece's full height before you order, and if a collection piece won't fit under your ceiling, our bespoke service can draw one that does. You send the brief and the measurements, and nothing is made until you've approved the scaled drawings and the quote in writing.

The way in

Cellar stairs are often steep, narrow and turn at the bottom, and they're the part of the plan most likely to stop a delivery. Every piece we make ships flat-packed, which helps, but long rails still have to make the turn. Measure the narrowest point of the door, the stair and the turn, and send them to us before you order: we'll check. Our guide to measuring a room for restraint furniture lists exactly what to send.

Think about the stairs as a way out, too. Keep them clear and well lit at all times.

Warmth and air

Cellars run cold, and a cold room is a poor place for a scene and a worse one for aftercare. Plan heating before you plan anything else that plugs in, and have any new heating or electrics installed by a qualified tradesperson. Fresh air matters just as much: a room with no airflow becomes stuffy fast with two people in it.

Keep blankets and warm layers within reach, whatever the season.

Light

Most cellars have little or no daylight, so you're designing the light from scratch. That's an opportunity. Layer it: a bright overhead light for setting up, checking furniture and cleaning; warm, dimmable lamps for scenes; and enough light near every piece to see the other person's hands, face and any signal they give. Keep a torch with the safety shears, in case the power goes. Our guide to lighting and laying out a playroom covers layering light.

Sound

A cellar is often quieter than a room upstairs, because earth and masonry surround it on most sides. Sound still travels up through the ceiling, though, and through any pipes and ducts. Our guide to soundproofing a playroom covers sealing the gaps.

Floor

Most cellar floors are concrete: cold, hard and unforgiving. A large rug or rubber matting under the main pieces makes the room warmer and quieter, and rubber copes well with the occasional damp day. Our guide to what flooring works in a playroom compares the options.

Two checks that matter more below ground

First, check your phone signal. Cellars often have little or none, and you want to know you could call for help if you needed to. If there's no signal, a landline or a Wi-Fi calling option is worth arranging before the room is used.

Second, keep to the rules that apply everywhere, and keep them strictly. Never leave a restrained person alone, even for a moment, which in a cellar means never going upstairs during a scene. Keep safety shears within reach. And agree everything sober, beforehand, for a scene that stays sober.

Furnishing it

With the room dry, warm, lit and reachable, the furniture is the easy part. A restraint bed makes a cellar into a room you can rest in as well as play in, and our four-poster bondage beds ship flat-packed, which helps with exactly this kind of route in. Cellar, with its narrow vertical slots and pared-back outline, suits a below-ground room as well as its name suggests.