If your home is short on space, and you’re planning on remodeling at some point, you may also want to consider adding an addition as well. Additions can dramatically increase not only the amount of space that you have in your home, but the usability of it as well. Additions come in all shapes and sizes, and no two projects will ever look exactly the same. These tips will help you get the most out of your renovation to make sure your new addition contains everything you could hope for.
Consider the Type
Additions come in many different styles. Most people think of additions as bump outs; adding on to the existing footprint of your home. This is only one type, however. You can also build up and out as well, keeping the footprint, but adding to the space at the same time.
Remember that it’s important to work with the existing flow of your home. Simply tacking on an extra room could ruin the way that your home looks and functions, so take care to consider exactly where this addition should go. You may also need to consider any restrictions that your city or town may have. There may be laws that dictate things like how close your home can be to the street or how high the structure can be; research these first to make sure your new space will be fitting in well before you begin.
While you’re at it, it’s also important to keep in mind that additions are not the only way to gain additional living space. Attics, basements, or simple conversions of existing rooms may also be options for you to achieve your goals.
Keep the Style
One of the biggest mistakes homeowners make when adding an addition is not taking the current architectural style of their home into consideration. While you may love vaulted ceilings or open floor plans, the fact remains that if you are trying to add these things onto a bungalow, there’s going to be a mish-mash of style, which can actually hurt your home’s resale value.
Make sure when adding on an addition that you take into account the way that your home already looks and feels, and make sure that the addition will enhance this, not contrast it. Remember that to keep your addition to a manageable size, you may want to steal space from existing areas like unused closets or corners, so the style of these spaces will have to flow through at the same time.
Consider Your Materials
Homes need to be cohesive not only in style, but in quality of material as well. Your addition will need to match the rest of the home aesthetically, but also in value. This means that if you have maple hardwood throughout your home, and you put an addition on, you’ll want to either extend this same material, or find something that coordinates with it well. Choosing something that is too far from what you already have can be jarring and make the addition feel as though it isn’t actually part of the rest of the house.
Consider the Exterior
When most homeowners consider a new addition, they’re thinking in terms of the interior and how much more space they’ll have. But additions also affect the way that your exterior looks, as well as your home’s curb appeal. So it’s important to make sure that your addition will work well with the rest of your home. This may mean ensuring that the scale or size is in keeping with the rest of the house, or it may mean breaking up your existing roof-lines slightly to accommodate the new ones. You may also want to consider how the new addition will be sided, whether you’ll match it exactly to the rest of the house, or use a complementary material to make it stand out.
What Goes in It
Additions are a great way to gain more space, so make sure you also consider what you’ll do with that space once it’s done. Is the addition to make your kitchen larger? Or are you adding on a new master bedroom? What you do with the new space can have a big impact on where you place it, the style you use, and the materials you install.
Plan Ahead
There are a lot of different considerations that go into adding on to your home. When the time comes for your renovation to begin, be sure to give Bianco Renovations a call. Our design and build team will help you find the best solution for your home to make the most out of every last inch. Call today to get started and start increasing the space in your home.