Make More Space Without Adding On
August 7th, 2009
Creating a master plan will make your home fit the way you live now.
Is your home providing all that your family needs or wants? Is your family expanding or contracting with family members living with you or visiting. . . . young and old? Are the accessibilities or hobbies of the occupants changing? Are there some rooms in your home that you do not even enter? There are times when your home could use an update, so how do you make it work for you once again?
A master plan will help you transform your home to fit the way you live. Our Mosby designers and architects begin re-designing your home by listening to your dreams, exploring how your lifestyle has changed, and asking important questions about your future that will help achieve your goals for lasting value and enjoyment.
REPURPOSED ROOMS
Some areas of your home may no longer get used as much as they once did, like a bedroom that now is vacant because your son or daughter moved out on their own. This type of available space is an opportunity for you to consider your current daily life. Finding a new use for a room is also known as repurposing. Based on the current needs and desires of those living in the house, it could now become an art studio, an exercise room or entertainment space. Or multi purpose a room by combining a home office and guest room. Consider the space as an opportunity to create an improved flow of life throughout your home.
Convert your dining room into a library.
How often do you really use your formal dining room? If the answer is “not very often,” then consider converting it into a space you’ve been longing to have. Repurpose it as a library by installing floor-to-ceiling shelves along one wall, bring in comfy reading chairs and turn the dining table into a desk. Or throw a protective cloth over that table to make a work bench for your arts and crafts room decked out with file drawers and shelves. In both cases, a few quick changes can put the room back into service as a dining room for the few times that you do need it.
Some homes have both a family room and a living room, with the family room usually being the space everyone uses while the living room (usually in the front of the house) languishes. For those who work from home, turn that front room into a full-blown office, which also makes it convenient for when clients come to call because they can stay in the front office without having to access the rest of the personal spaces.
Remove the wall between your kitchen and dining room to expand your space.
Depending on the placement of a seldom-used room, it could be co-opted to enlarge a space that is used regularly. By removing a wall, a dining room can become part of an expanded kitchen, or a spare bedroom can become a generous walk-in closet for your master bedroom.
MULTI-PURPOSE SPACES
Embracing the art of living conjures clever ideas for allowing one room to serve many purposes or creating more square footage within your existing floor plan.
Create extra kitchen storage in an adjacent hallway.
It may not be in the budget right now to remodel your kitchen, but you do need more pantry space. Realize that many items we store in our kitchen do not need to be immediately accessible for cooking, so think outside the box and use spaces nearby as the new pantry. Our paper products, bulk food purchases and serveware for entertaining could be moved outside the kitchen to new pantry areas created in hallways, under stairs or in the mudroom.
A media center in a mudroom gives it multi-purpose function.
Speaking of mudrooms, many families have had us install a corner cabinet with countertop space to be used as the family media center, which is a place for all the battery chargers for cell phones, laptops and digital cameras. Some also include room in this cabinet configuration for a spot to put all the family mail plus a paper shredder to handle all the mail you can recycle.
OUTDOOR ROOMS GO INDOORS
Turn a screened-porch into an all-seasons room.
Spaces you may currently use as a sheltered outdoor room can become an official part of the floor plan. For instance, a screened porch can be converted to an all-seasons room by trading the screens for insulated glass, adding insulation and a heating/cooling system. All of this can be done while preserving – or even enlarging – the outdoor views.
Some homes have a breezeway, which is essentially an enclosed hall that connects the house to the garage. As with a screened porch, it can be turned into an insulated, temperature-conditioned space ideal for use as a children’s playroom, mudroom or computer room.
If your home has a large front porch that is seldom used, this can be “walled in” to become a screen porch, green house or a home office.
We, at Mosby Building Arts, think differently and invite you to look at your home from a new point of view. Create fresh and useful ways along with our design team to repurpose rooms in a master plan that will give you more space and better reflect the way you actually live.
With over 60 years of experience in improving the lives of St. Louis area families, we know that remodeling is really about the art of living. Our deep bench of professionals will help you have a tremendous sense of satisfaction and pride in the finished results by creating wonderful new uses for your existing spaces. Call us at 314.909.1800 or contact us here.
.
Related posts:
- Historic Farmhouse Renovation is Complete
- KMOX – Outdoor Living Options
- Focus on Vision of Helping Veterans
- Tour Mosby’s New Office
- Myth vs. Wisdom: AN HONEST REMODELING TIME LINE
Learn the Art of Living at CallMosby.com.
Tags: all-season rooms, dining room as library, enlarge kitchen, extra storage, home office, master plan, media center, more space in your home, mudroom, multi-purpose rooms, remodeling for more space, repurposing rooms, spare bedroom
August 29th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
I am a recently widowed 47 yr.old woman with a 22 yr old son who is disabled but funtions very well, mentally and physically. We had to move in with my parents into their three bedroon mobile home. My brother has a build on addition bedroom on the back of the mobile home. We have a 12×20 screened in proch that we would like to convert into a bedroom with a bathroom and closet space. The front door of the mobile home leads out to the porch and has a screen door that leads to outside. We would very much like to do the project ourselves due to no income from myself or son. my parents are going to foot the bill, but we have to build it and don’t even know where to start. It has a very stury floor and ceiling. Any input would be greatly appreicated. I would be more than happy to send pictures of the existing porch for info on how to start and insulate the porch so I can move from the couch into a room owith a bed. We have tried in this area to get someone to come out and do it for us, but for some reason, no one has the time to do it!..Please help if possible!..We just want to know where we need to start. my brother is very good at measuring and cutting boards And I am very handy with a hammer. Thank you for your time!!…Sherry Stallings
September 2nd, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Sherry,
Additions to mobile homes typically do not yield good results. The mobile home and the new addition will most likely move independently of each other, requiring either creative slip points or – possibly – major piering to insure stability of the mobile home. I suspect the screen room would probably take major reconstruction to make it a finished space, especially if it has a sloped floor, etc. Plumbing would be another major issue; the drain would be the hardest part, especially since it will probably travel under the structures and, basically, be exposed to the elements.
To do this project correctly would require a high skill level from several different trades. Undertaking this as a Do-It-Yourself project has the high probability of creating many future problems that you should do everything to avoid.
Sincerely,
Mosby Building Arts