Thursday, September 8, 2011

Making Extra Space for Family Life - Guest Post

Making extra space for family life

A few years ago it looked like the property bubble had well and truly burst. Prices had fallen almost universally across the UK, and many owners of so called ‘buy to rent’ properties seriously considered selling their investments. Unfortunately for some, house prices have recovered at an alarming rate, and we now find ourselves in a situation where prices have either reached or almost surpassed pre-recession levels. The problems this has caused new buyers has been well documented, but it is also an issue for people with expanding families looking for more space.

If this sounds like you then an extension to your existing house could provide an ideal solution. An extension can provide you with the extra room you need without a move away from the family home. You can tailor the space to suit your needs, and match existing features to modern ones to create continuity within the household. Period features such as internal oak doors or original pine beams are readily sourced, and can be installed by your builder into any extension with ease. Whilst it will be clear that some parts of the home are newer than others, the overall feel and character of the house will remain the same.

An extension also offers you the opportunity to change the way a household operates, by re-purposing existing rooms and creating new spaces. This is ideal for older houses with unusual or archaic layouts. For example, a small and ugly UPVC main entrance, perhaps backing onto another house, can be re-appropriated as a back door, with a new, larger oak doors leading into a reception room taking its place as part of an extension.

An extension can make great financial and practical sense too. The financial pitfalls of a move can be off putting and with good reason; the cost of estate agent fees, removal companies and possible deals falling through all add up. The money saved on these can be used to purchase quality fittings and finishes, from high calibre furniture to luxury fittings to real teak window frames or internal oak doors. From a practical perspective, the hassle of having to pack up your entire life into cardboard boxes to be placed in the back of a van is something everyone is keen to avoid. Furthermore, the feeling of being settled in an area can be hard to achieve and even harder to leave behind.

Of course, an extension isn’t ideal for everyone – some houses may be built on plots of land which are simply too small. In other areas, planning restrictions may make any additions to a house difficult – although ensuring that the same ‘style’ of building is consistent throughout and maintaining period features such as oak doors or bare stone work can often help in such cases. For other families, it may be that the criteria mentioned above – settled family, admin costs etc – aren’t applicable for a variety of reasons. However for a great deal of families it makes a great deal of sense, so why not enquire into the costs today?

This article was written by Amy Fowler on behalf of UK Oak Doors; suppliers of external and internal oak doors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks Amy for your post. It would be fun one day to be able to add an extension to a house to add rooms and repurpose other rooms. The current place we live was originally a trailer. The owners added a large master bedroom and a living room to the trailer when they were living in it and had 5/6 of their children in it while building their dream home next door.

No comments: