It is perfectly natural to want to make changes to your dream home. Adding form and function makes for a happier life and a more liveable home. It can bring benefits to you whether you have a family, live alone, or as a couple.
Putting your stamp on it can include significant works to the house or simply changing the curtains and adding a lick of paint.
In this post, we feature the changes that will add value to your home.
Cellar Conversions Because Living Underground is Exciting
If your home has a cellar converting it to a useable room is one of the best and easiest ways you can add value to your home. In most countries, you will not need planning permission to make a cellar conversion, and many use it as a kind of hobby room. Cellars lend themselves to this perfectly. Consider making a games, play, or cinema space.
If your home doesn’t have a cellar, you can dig down and create one. It is a specialized operation and depending on where you live, you will need some kind of permission. It is best to bring in specialists from the start given the complexities involved.
This may sound like a lot of stress, but if properly managed, you can add a significant investment to your home.
Garage Conversions Often an Easy Option
Garages tend to take up space and as such lend themselves well to repurposing. As the structure is already in place, conversions can be made relatively quickly. Like cellar spaces, however, getting in fully qualified people to do the conversion is important. Often these are more than just a lick of paint, and a few pictures as heating and better electrics are needed. At the end of the build, you may need certification depending on where you live.
It is also worth checking what planning permission you need before commencing any repurposing.
One your conversion is complete the chances are you will wonder how you lived without it.
Kitchen Extensions to Bring out Your Inner Foodie
As we become more foodie orientated and host social gatherings, the kitchen is making a return as the heart of the home. There are fewer things more satisfying in life than a gathering of people lavishing praise on the food you’ve prepared.
Families benefit from having a great kitchen, and this becomes the place where everyone meets and abandons their digital life for a good meal and conversation.
There are a few things to take into account for kitchens. Depending on the architecture of your home and surroundings, it is easy to lose light when you build out into the yard. As such, think about the design carefully and consider features such as skylights to keep your kitchen light, bright, and liveable.
Again, an extension may require permissions and certifications of some kind, especially if you have close-by neighbors.
Once your kitchen is complete, however, and you’ve hosted your first soiree, you will fall in love with it. The family will gather here, and you will find you spend most of your time in your new extended kitchen.
Have a Bathroom to Die For
Bathrooms are important to both adding value, improving your quality of life, and making your property more sellable.
Tasteful, well designed bathrooms are sought after in property markets. Depending on your taste, you may want clean lines, brightness, and an airy feel, or you may want something more elaborate and artistic.
One of the great things about bathroom renovations is that you have a great canvass to create. Ideas could include murals on the ceiling, to crushed ceramic tiled floors. Check out Pinterest and similar platforms for ideas.
Like kitchens, bathrooms can be made on an affordable budget. The trick is to use cheaper items where they do not affect the aesthetic that you are trying to achieve.
Make your Garden Beautiful
If you have an outdoor space, ensure it is beautiful and functional. It is very easy to spend a small fortune on your yard, and the results are often worth it.
Choose your plants like you would paint or flooring in the home. This will will bring you happiness and satisfaction when the design of your garden fits together like the interior of your house.
In the US, outdoor furniture sales hit $48bn in 2018. This shows that the current outdoor zeitgeist is to invest in an outdoor space. Like the rest of your home there is something special about spending long summer days in the garden with the people you love, or simply sipping a cold drink while losing yourself in a good book.
A Few Tips
- Check out if you need permissions and certifications before you start or commission work to your home. Generally, if there is building involved, you will probably need certification at the very least.
- Make a budget and stick within it. Costs can and do spiral out of control if not controlled.
- Try and negotiate with your specialists for a final price rather than a day rate where possible and feasible.
- Expect the project to overrun. They are rarely plain sailing as things can and do go wrong. When this happens, time is lost.
- If you are doing the work yourself be realistic about timeframes and ensure the rest of the family is aware of them.
Once your project is complete, you will love it.