My sister had a similar situation. Her husband installed conduit like curtain rods along the wall close to the ceiling. They used curtain rings with clips and drop cloths hanging from the conduit to cover the bare walls. They even made a storage area and an exercise area using drop cloths as curtains.

It wasn't as nice as their neighbor who had the basement done up like a 1950s diner, but it was functional and a darn sight cheaper.

The two crucial questions you have to think about when finishing a basement are:
1.) Is it Insulated?
2.) Does it Leak?

You have the first one covered, which is good. Which leaves leaking. I wouldn't think about finishing the basement until after you've had a couple really big downpours and seen how it looks after them. Inspect it after major downpours. A minor leaks becomes a huge mold problem once you throw in carpeting and drywall. Have you considered removable panels like the Owens Corning Basement Finishing System or SoftWall? Will you need sump pumps or French Drains? Is the grading around your house good, and are your gutters good? Once you put in drywall, many solutions you might put in to deal with leaks become much harder to do. If it is a new house, you don't know how it performs in really bad weather.

This post was edited by edlincoln on Tue, Oct 14, 14 at 11:45