Having a conservatory built onto your home is a huge bonus. It’s not just because you’ll gain more sunshine all year round, thanks to those lovely big windows, but you’ll also have much more space.
What you do with that space is, of course, up to you. But we have come up with a few ideas for you to think about in this blog post. See if you agree.
@MyHomebuilding: “First, though, it’s important to distinguish between conservatories, sunrooms, orangeries and glazed extensions. Conservatories need to have at least two-thirds of the room’s roof and a minimum of 50% of the walls made of glass to fall into this category.”
Dining Room
The majority of contemporary homes these days have the kitchen at the back of the house. To benefit from this, why not turn your new conservatory into a dining room? It means a separate space for eating and cooking and the surroundings will be much more pleasant (i.e having your garden as a backdrop rather than the cooker and washing machine).
Kids Play Room
By letting your kids play in the conservatory you can easily keep an eye on them, without appearing to ‘hover’ all the time. It gives your children more chances to play and it keeps all their toys in one place (rather than scattered around the house) if you make it their conservatory playroom.
Games Room
And talking of playing… maybe you don’t have kids, or the kids are grown up now. Whatever, there’s no reason why you can’t turn the conservatory into your own games room. Set up a table tennis table, a few arcade games, maybe a yoga mat or two and you’re all set.
Greenhouse
Yes, you have the garden right there, but you can also utilise the warm sun streaming through the glass windows of your conservatory to grow some beautiful flowers and plants. Consider it an indoor greenhouse if you like.
Spare bedroom
If you regularly have unexpected guests staying over then why not use the conservatory as a make-shift guest bedroom? Simply get a sleeping bag or mattress and place it on the floor for that overnight extra body. It’s a particularly handy space to have if there are any teenagers in the house as impromptu sleepovers are all part and parcel of adolescence and university life.
Before you go turning your conservatory into a particular room type, it’s worth considering what you need in terms of furniture and fixtures. You’ll certainly want some sort of window covering, for instance. Blinds – rattan, roman-styled or plain old Venetian panels – they’ll help keep out the sun when it’s too hot, and add a cosy touch at night when it’s dark outside.
And talking of cosy, you’ll certainly want to think about heating too. The winter months can be cold inside a conservatory. Underfloor heating is a good idea if you have tiles down. But stylish modern radiators or portable heaters can work well too.
Whatever you decide to use your conservatory for, one thing is for sure, after a few months you’ll wonder how you ever managed without all that extra space.