Starting at square one, basement

I've always said I'm not a fan of basements, however, I recently realized that this is totally unfounded.  The basement in this house is huge, I haven't measured it but it has to be about 55'x25'.  Considering the age of the building the basement is tall, (about 7'6") there is a lot of duct work running across the ceiling but I am told that all of that can be eventually concealed.  It is one big room, the furnace is down there and in a framed off room but it isn't sheet rocked in, there are support posts everywhere throughout the space that will be tricky to work around when we eventually make it down here to renovate.  My plans for the basement are really loose because there are so many things on the list ahead of "basement renovation".  Currently it is functioning as storage, storage, storage.  I've unpacked maybe 1/4 of our stuff since we've moved and the rest is being stored down here.  It is like a treasure hunt every time I go downstairs to find something.  As much as I am itching to unpack I know that it is best to wait because of the constant dust from construction.  For now I am looking forward to "shopping my basement" as we finish rooms!

I have no pictures of the basement when we first bought the house.  It was filled with pre-school furniture and extra pews.  We also inherited at least 100 gallons of paint with the house.  These pictures are after I spent a good 2 days just clearing stuff out and vacuuming the loose concrete (and dead bugs) from the floor, it was far from clean but 1000% better than where it began.

At the bottom of the stairs there is a wide open space to the left and the furnace "room" to the right.  I imagine this open area becoming a game / theater room, I'd like doors at the bottom of the stairs to drown out noise and I would love to cut the east basement wall (where the tables and chairs are in pic below) and create a walk out garden area.  I imagine the whole space bright and open and not basement like at all.  There is already a door to outside, there are stairs to the front yard with a cover at ground level over them to prevent water from running down the stairs. 

Past the furnace is more open space, where all of the inherited paint is stored and the current laundry space.  I would love to make a large storage room down here for holiday decorations etc.  In the laundry room and open space behind, I imagine a guest suite with a bathroom and some large windows.

Obviously my plans for the basement are lofty and if you know me, you know I will change my mind at least 20 times before anything actually happens.  The fun part of living in this house during renovation is that we get to see how we use the space and how we want / need it to function and make adjustments as we go.