Outgrown your home but don’t want to add an extension? We show you the best ways to add more space without extending the footprint of your existing house

MAE HOUSE DESIGN (WWW.MAEHOUSEDESIGN.COM)

IMAGE: JOHN CULLEN (WWW.JOHNCULLENLIGHTING.COM)

LIGHT FANTASTIC

“Lighting is important as it changes the mood of a room as well as the perceived size,” says Chris Jordan, MD at Christopher Wray Lighting. “A chandelier can transform a space. Ensure it is in proportion to the size of the room. If it’s too small, it may get lost; if it’s too big, it can overwhelm the room.

“Structural wall lights serve both as illumination as well as a focal point, having impact while taking up minimum space.

“It’s important not to incorporate too much accent lighting by highlighting everything in the room; instead, focus on the main features to enhance the space visually.”

We all know how easy it is to fill the space we live in - growing families, an expanding menagerie of pets perhaps, a hobby that involves a large collection of items requiring storage and just the general dayto-day accumulation of stuff all take up space. And to add to the spacial pressure on our homes there is the fact that more and more of us are now working from home, meaning a whole new room or space to be used as an office has to be conjured up from somewhere too.

In an ideal world we’d all have the funds, time and energy to add new extensions or splash out on a bigger and better home. The reality, on the other hand, is that for many of us, this isn’t an option.

Thankfully there are plenty of ways to both add more physical space, as well as create an illusion of more space, without the need for planning permission, new foundations or extensive and expensive building work.

CONVERTING YOUR LOFT

A loft conversion is, for many, the ideal way to gain the extra space they need without extending the footprint of their home - plus it’s a job which often falls under Permitted Development, so doesn’t require planning permission.