Home Extension Ideas: How to Sustain a Growing Family

When a family begins to outgrow their home, the first thought is often – “where do we go now?”. Finding a new house that suits your every need is near impossible, not to mention very expensive, time consuming, and a lot of work. For these reasons, you should consider some home extension ideas.

Extending your current home lets you create your dream house in a familiar neighbourhood, so we hope you find the following suggestions useful.

Keep these home extension ideas in mind

If you’ve welcomed new additions to the family home, you’re likely feeling the squeeze in several areas. When you’re planning a home extension or renovation, make sure to consider the following.

Sufficient bedrooms at a suitable size

A bedroom is usually the favourite room of each family member. Does every member of your family have their own space? If you’ve got kids, you’ll know the benefits of being able to separate them from time to time. Separate bedrooms for children benefit the whole family, as the kids enjoy their own space, and the parents enjoy the peace.

It’s also a great idea to allow for a vacant room in case you have extended family or a friend visit.

To maximise the positive effect of allocating separate rooms, it’s important to ensure each is a suitable size. Younger children may need a large area to play, while teenagers or older may require a study area.

Manage the bathroom queues

There’s nothing worse than being forced to wait for the toilet or bathroom when you’re in a hurry. Consider adding an additional toilet, bathroom, and/or powder room to ease the pressure in the home. Separating the toilet from the bathroom is another great idea if you’re currently stuck with this arrangement.

If you don’t have the space for another bathroom, consider adding more vanities (sink/cupboards) to create more room. This is particularly useful for people brushing teeth at the same time or doing makeup.

Should you welcome a guest or rent a room out, these people will greatly appreciate a separate bathroom as well.

 

Prepare to entertain

The key to creating an amazing entertaining space is aligning rooms and outdoor areas in a seamless flow. If your house is poorly designed and lacking an effective flow between rooms, a home renovation is the solution. As your family grows, you may find yourself hosting groups of friends or extended family more often. To make the experience more enjoyable for everyone, consider the entertaining areas when looking at home extension ideas.

Ensure access to isolated, quiet spaces

On the other hand, if you’ve got family members who aren’t feeling social, they would probably like somewhere quiet to hide out. A quiet room away from the main living areas can benefit everyone at some point. Whether it’s predominantly used as a parent’s retreat, child’s nursery, or a man cave get away, a quiet space is a must have.

A common renovation in Perth is a second storey addition to include a parent’s retreat. They’re usually the ones paying for the project after all!

Proactive storage solutions

A growing family means more stuff, therefore more storage is needed. Although it works to add or extend a storage space, you may be able to identify some more subtle solutions. Whether it’s purpose-built furniture with added storage, or a new custom cabinet to suit whichever room you like, the options are plentiful.

Discuss your storage requirements with our team when planning a renovation or extension and we’ll provide expert advice.

Create flexible living areas

Sometimes your budget and property just won’t allow for all the rooms you need. This is where flexible living areas can be hugely beneficial. To plan a flexible home, consider the needs of every family member and determine the space required for each. Next, assess the space you have and the home extension that you’re planning, and find ways to maximise each room to meet multiple purposes. This is easier said than done, so we encourage you to discuss these needs with our team.

Any room can be designed or reshaped to be multi-functional. Most commonly, Perth homeowners like adapting rooms to allow for an office, gym, art studio, music space, or just extra storage.

 

 

Consider your families future needs

A crucial step in considering a home extension is to forecast and look ahead to the future. If you’re planning to have more children or look after an elderly relative, you will need another room. Likewise, if you’re expecting grandkids soon, perhaps you’d like a couple of spare rooms so they can stay over occasionally?

You may also need to add or extend a room based on foreseeable work or lifestyle changes.

None of us can see the future, but it’s best to prepare where possible to avoid thinking of new home extension ideas.

Practical home extension ideas

Now that you know what you need, how do you make it happen?

Ground floor extension

If you’ve got a large property with unused space, and you don’t like stairs, then a ground floor extension may be perfect. There are two main extension options available – to add a new room or extend an existing room.

There are many great benefits to extending the ground floor and a few drawbacks to be aware of. For more information, see our article which compares ground floor and second storey additions.

Second storey addition

Where outside space is limited or you have a great window view opportunity, a second storey addition could be the way forward. A second storey addition can be undertaken to add an extra bedroom, a parent’s retreat, or various other needs.

Nexus Homes Group offers standard second storey additions or modular extensions to reduce the inconvenience on your family. We welcome you to get in touch to discuss which home extension idea works best for you.

There are so many benefits of extending up, so check out this article which outlines the key advantages.

Interior renovations

Is the layout of your house less than practical? If you’re happy with the size of your house, but unhappy with its design, consider an interior renovation. Such a renovation may involve moving or reshaping rooms to open the house up. This is a great way to renovate an old home that lacks an efficient and modern layout.

An interior renovation is useful in creating the perfect entertaining area or repurposing outdated and impractical rooms.

External options

If you’re facing the need to accommodate a family member or unrelated tenant, an external living space is often beneficial. In these circumstances, you can extend the main household to offer a separate back or side entrance with a self-contained living area. Much like a ‘granny flat’, an external residence is a common home extension idea in Perth.

Other external home extension ideas include extending or repurposing a patio, alfresco, or balcony to create more space.

Solving your home extension ideas in Perth

Nexus Homes Group are experts in making your dream home extension ideas come to life. We’ve been providing first-class home renovations and extensions in Perth for over a decade and have developed a strong reputation for our services.

If you’d like to discuss your home extension ideas with a professional, get in touch with us today.