Smart Ways to Add Rooms to Your Home Without an Extension
Homes are depressingly constant. A two-bedroom, one-bath house might seem luxurious on first purchase, but throw in two kids, a dog, and a Frozen DVD that never stops playing, and you’ll soon realize just how small it really is.
This is usually when you start thinking about buying a new home or renovating an existing one. Adding an extension is a great way to expand your living space, and even renovations that don’t increase square footage can give you an extra bedroom, bathroom, or other defined space. But any home renovation requires money, time and risk to your emotional balance. What if your need for an extra room is temporary or you just don’t have the resources to hire contractors? If all you need is some space, there are ways to magically add rooms to your home without renovating or adding.
When is a room not a room?
Before we get into some room design ideas, a quick note on legal definitions: For the most part, simply creating a specific room in your home and putting a bed in it doesn’t make it an official bedroom. Chances are your area has laws that govern what a bedroom is . They usually specify things like the minimum floor area, the requirement for at least one window (and sometimes two exits from the room), the minimum ceiling height, and climate control and ventilation requirements. You don’t necessarily need a closet to call it a bedroom. While these details don’t matter if you’re just coming up with something to solve the problem for yourself, if you later put the house up for sale, it’s important to keep them in mind.
Ways to divide the space in the house
So, you need a third bedroom, home office, nursery, or other space that isn’t in your original plan. Here are a few ways to create an entirely new room without adding floor space to your home:
- Partition. Building a curtain wall is actually pretty cheap and pretty easy , especially if you don’t include a door and just leave room at the end for entry. Framing with 2×4 frame studs may take you a few tries to get the perfect result, but remember that you will be covering the frame with drywall, so it might not be pretty while it’s stable. This is the most difficult option in terms of labor and construction skills.
- Use bookcases or shelving. Depending on the ceiling height you’re dealing with, assembling a row of bookcases or shelving can be a great way to create a new room. You can probably find very tall bookcases that will reach (or very close to) your ceiling – for example, the iconic Ikea Billy comes in a 93+-inch version , which almost reaches an 8-foot ceiling). Place your bookcases or shelving in a row to form a partial wall and voila , a new room. You can attach your bookcases to the floor and wall if you like, and even add trim on top to complete the illusion. Heck, you can even add a piece of drywall and a pre-hinged door if you really want to, as long as you’re comfortable doing a little framing at the open end.
- Sliding doors. A flexible way to divide a room is to add a set of sliding doors. Ikea offers an affordable option with their PAX sliding doors ; You can see how they can be used to divide space by looking at this work by Ikea Hacker . If you have half a wall to work with, you can also just add a sliding barn door to the space, which doesn’t quite create a separate room, but adds flexibility by creating a space that can be closed or opened. , depending on your needs.
- Equip a veranda or patio. If you have a large porch or covered patio, putting up some walls and covering them up can be a quick way to add a “tri-season” room to your home. Adding heat or other utilities will take this project out of the “relatively quick and cheap” category, but if all you need is office space or storage space, this might work. All that is needed is framing and finishing some walls.
- Finish the garage . You can either turn your garage into a usable space by adding a floating laminated wood floor and some drywall (if you don’t already have one), or you can carve out just part of the garage using one of the partitioning methods suggested above. Most garages already have electricity, making them ideal for a workshop, office, or craft space, especially if you don’t have to worry about where to store your car.
What is the best way to divide a room without repair? The work can be quickly and easily canceled back to the original floor plan, so if you get bored with the new configuration, you can try something different or just put everything back the way it was.