3 Ways to Extend Your Living Space on a Budget
Property is expensive, and many of us sacrifice square footage for a desirable location. If you find that you have no room to swing a budgie, never mind a cat, and dream of having some extra space in your home but don’t have sufficient funds to add an extension, here are 3 ways to extend your living space on a budget.
Go into the Garden
If you have a backyard, you can make more use of it as a living space. If you live in warm weather and infrequent rain showers, partial outside living is a wonderful solution to limited indoor space.
Make your garden a comfortable place to sit by furnishing a stone or decked patio area with some tables and chairs. You could have a dining set complete with an umbrella in the middle of the table to provide shade from the sun’s rays and a lounge set with a coffee table and sofas. Scatter the sofas with squishy cushions for maximum comfort, and make sure you keep on top of the patio cushion cleaning to keep your ‘outside lounge’ looking fabulous.
Clever Conversion
If you don’t have enough money to build out, go up or down instead. Loft, basement, and garage conversions are an ingenious way to gain extra square footage at a reasonable price because the foundations and walls are already in situ.
Conversions often require lengthy planning applications and warrants and can usually be completed within a few weeks. Loft conversions will require that your existing living area has room for a staircase to be installed, but you can install a space-saving spiral staircase if the site is small.
Garage conversions have become very popular over the past decade because people rarely store their cars in the garage and use it as a big dumping ground for their junk. If you have a double or triple garage, it would be an idea to convert half into a usable room and leave the remaining half for storage.
Diligently Declutter
A no-cost and easy way to increase the living space in your home is to tidy up and declutter. Take a good look at each room in your home and decide if there are any pieces of furniture that you don’t need. If so, sell them or donate them to charity. Perhaps you could get rid of a few large items and use the money you make selling them to buy some pieces that could serve the purpose more effectively, such as a bed with storage drawers rather than having a divan bed plus a large chest of drawers.
Have a thorough clear out of any personal items you no longer want or use and invest in some sensible storage solutions for the things you wish to keep. Utilize every square inch of your home – install floor-to-ceiling shelving and buy more compact versions of furniture and white goods than the norm.
Thoughtfully planning the layout of furniture in your home and storing personal possessions in intelligent ways can massively increase your living space and make your life clutter-free and easy.
