Cut extension spendings- 5 clever ways to extend a house
Extending a house opens up many possibilities of creating a new living space without actually having to sell the house and move to a different location. Whether it’s a simple build out in the garden to extend the kitchen or make a conservatory, renovating the basement to make an at-home gym or turning the attic into a spare bedroom. Some of these ideas, however cheaper then actually building or buying a house, can turn out quite costly too. How to cut extension spendings and still be happy with the end result? Here are our 5 tips on simple, yet effective home extensions.
Simple extensions can look good
Many people try to make the new extension as exciting as possible, choosing to do a skylight feature, huge glass doors instead of walls, or unusual shapes that require some special building techniques. You don’t have to do that to make the new part of the house exciting! If you want to cut extension costs, thing about making the new space simple in design and focus on the décor, which you can do yourself cutting the costs of labour. Remember: curves and corners are costly to build, which means a rectangular or square footprint with a simple pitched roof will be much cheaper and if properly designed, will still look good with the rest of the house.
Think your design through way ahead
Some extensions are build with a purpose and that purpose should be thought through well. If you decide to make your kitchen bigger by extending out to the garden, make sure you use up the new space wisely – adding some costs and actually renovating the interior once the extension is in may seem counter intuitive, but moving things around can free up space in other parts of the house and give you a previously not-used area to use for an additional spare bedroom, a small bathroom or even a pantry to store all the kitchen goods.
Extending to the basement or the attic? The best way to cut costs is to make the designs basic, so that the space can be converted into anything anytime without major trouble. You might want to make the space into a gym now, but find yourself needing a spare kids bedroom or a home office later.
Buy in bulk, not custom made
There are so many companies that specialise in custom made design for almost anything that can go in your house. It’s worth remembering, however, that renovations and extensions are costly in itself and if you want to do it cheap, custom is not the way to go. If you choose your doors, windows, and floors beforehand and design the build around it, there won’t be any extra costs to make everything fit perfectly. Same goes for the furniture – however tempting it might be to choose high-end custom cupboards, it’s cheaper to go with simple designs from the furniture store and customise them with a jar of paint.
Use the space you’ve got
Extension doesn’t have to mean actually making your house bigger. Not many people consider tearing their existing interiors down, when in reality a fresh view from an architect can make it look bigger and be more useful without actually changing a lot. Sometimes moving one wall and refurbishing the place works just as well for a fraction of price of the new extension.
Don’t be afraid to recycle, upcycle and reuse
Existing materials can be reused rather than thrown in a skip, especially when it comes to old floorboards, doors, radiators, towel rails, kitchen units etc. If the ones you’re trying to get rid of look bad, just research clever ways of redoing them. A fresh coat of paint, some scrubbing down and adding modern accents can make anything old look brand new or vintage, depending on the style you’re going for. Even windows can be recycled! And if you don’t have anything to re-do, try looking on garage sales and charity stores. You’d be surprised what you can find cheap.
