Can’t afford to move? Transform your existing home instead!

As a child I had some unusual interests. Aside from mine and my sister’s favourite game of Estate Agents, I liked designing nets and making boxes, creating colour coded homework schedules and rearranging my bedroom furniture.

The room reorganisations were the most fun.

I don’t want you imagining I took the process lightly though. There would normally be at least a room plan involved, and sometimes even a 3D scale model, including models of the individual items of furniture, so that I could try out a few options first to see how things fitted in different places.

It’s a wonder really I even had that one friend in secondary school. Or that I didn’t go on to have some fabulous architectural career.

The point I wanted to make though is that even if you have a small house, or in my case as a teenager just a bedroom, and can’t afford to move, doesn’t mean you can’t have hours of fun rearranging tiny cardboard pieces of furniture and, ultimately, life-size bits too if you want to really live the dream.

Here are some things you could try…

Look at the way you use existing space – this is where the plans and models could come in handy. Think outside the (cardboard) box too and imagine ways in which whole floors could be rearranged to make better use of existing space. Maybe you could move or knock down existing walls or replace existing internal or patio door with bi-folding doors to create more space?

bi-fold doors

I love these floor to ceiling glass sliding doors.

Hit the roof – not in an angry way. Not unless your architect does a terrible job with his cardboard cut-outs. I’m talking loft conversions here. You can turn a run of the mill two or three bed semi into a fantastic family home by converting the loft into a master bedroom with en-suite, an office or a bedroom/playroom combination for the kids. In our last house we had a bedroom/bathroom/office suite in the attic. It was glorious. *sigh*

Think about your outdoor space too – even if your husband refuses to move permanently into the garage and leave you in peace there are still ways to make use of your outdoor space. A pretty summer house could double as a playroom, office or wine retreat for example. Whack a bit of decking down and you’ve got a sophisticated outdoor dining area and entertainment space. Easy peasy.

Decking and summer house

*swoons*

What ideas do you have for ways you’d like to improve or expand your current home?

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6 Comments

  1. 2 August, 2013 / 5:53 pm

    Love your writing style. I’d be happy just to pull up the carpet the kids and cats have destroyed with juice, pizza sauce and bodily fluids, and whack down, as you’d say, some hardwood flooring. I’d extend a deck into the backyard, but there’s not a lot of real estate out there – we’d wind up at the back fence in 10 paces.

    Is that your bedroom??

  2. 11 August, 2013 / 8:07 am

    Loved your post. makes me want to get something done.

  3. 15 January, 2014 / 5:06 am

    Debt is not good for any person as he has to pay the interest for it.Never take loan or debt in life. But if you start taking it then it will become your habit to take loans from banks or any other person instead of paying the total amount direct to the dealer for purchasing any product from the market….

  4. 15 January, 2014 / 5:50 am

    I liked designing nets and making boxes, creating colour coded homework schedules and rearranging my bedroom furniture.I love your article style.Thanks for sharing you blog.

  5. 2 December, 2014 / 2:28 am

    Enjoyed reading your blog post good points made me chuckle… as I know a few things about lofts!

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