If planning restrictions mean that extending your home is not an option, then you might feel that creating more space is simply not possible. However, there are ways and means to achieve more space in your home without always having the need for planning consents. Creating greater space in a home can come down to something as simple as avoiding clutter. By investing in some decent storage systems, perhaps ones that stack up out of the way, and by straightforwardly throwing away some of your old junk, the illusion of space is often created.
Head Upwards, Not Out
Another good tip that means you don’t need to extend is to convert your loft space. Firstly, it should be said that converting a loft into a bedroom does require planning permission in most homes, due to the fire regulations that surround such a living adjustment. Nevertheless, making an office or a day room from your available loft space may well free room up in other parts of the home. Due to the eaves of a roof line, plenty of thought needs to go in at the planning stage, otherwise converted lofts can offer limited headroom. Therefore, how furniture will fit in to the space, once created, ought to be thought about from the outset. Ideally, opt for built-in storage which uses the extremes of the eaves for cabinets – space which you wouldn’t be able to put to other practical uses.
Make Use of Outbuildings
Sheds and other outbuildings can easily be converted into playrooms, summer houses or even utility rooms, with a little thought. Given the availability of wireless technology these days, turning one into a home office is often a favoured choice. Of course, outbuildings must already be in situ to not come under new planning regulations. For newly constructed outbuildings, to comply they must be beneath a certain height, sufficiently far from the main home and have a suitably sized footprint. However, so long as they comply to these rules virtually any design is allowable. Stylish garden offices can add to the value of a property whilst freeing up room in the main building, a win-win if ever there was one.
Make Rooms Seem Bigger With Glazing
More windows in a home create a greater sense of space, even if the area of the room concerned does not increase. Single storey parts of a home can seem much more light and airy thanks to the installation of skylights, for instance. Aluminium-framed bifold doors, fitted in a day room or dining room, create the illusion of a greater footprint in an abode than there actually is. Indeed, bifolding doors work particularly well in kitchen diners, especially when the doors open out onto a further semi-formal outdoor space, such as external decking or a patio. When additional glazing is not an option, due to privacy considerations, look for systems like light pipes which connect to the roof of a home and deliver the sun’s ray to the darkest areas of a home, making them brighter and seemingly larger at the same time.
