Advice for installing garden room for teen hangout

[Melonlover80]

My parents built my siblings and I a teen hangout
It was amazing for us, brilliant for my parents and also... family relations!

Fond memories of being in there with a couple of friends playing music and chatting freely with the wind howling outside. It was small but it was so cosy - we had a single sofa bed In there, couple of bean bags, a small fridge and cupboard and a Hifi (the nineties!). And my parents had the comfort of knowing we were around BUT not causing mess or noise inside. It really was a win win.

So... my children. Less privileged! We live in a flat with an enormous garden however. And i would like to do this. My boy, currently 11, is going to be broad and tall like all males on both his father and my side, and the interior of this flat just won’t be an appealing space for him to bring back friends and would intrude too much on me (and his sister!), and for my daughter - she has a small room, and I’d like her to be able to have more than one friend over and not feel like on top of one another.

So a garden room. I’d like it with electricity obviously, heating (this could be with fancy heaters presumably) and needless to say - very well insulated and robust. Perhaps 3.5m by 2.5 meters

It’s impossible to really get an idea of cost. I’m vaguely budgeting for £20k including groundwork (but excluding interior decoration such as flooring and heaters)

Is this reasonable?
Any advice?
Any recommendations?

Many thanks

Planning permission
Freeholders permission

That is the starting point

I have a share of the freehold and 3 other freeholders have all agreed In principle.

Pay neighbour is a conveyancing solicitor and has advised that PP should be straightforward and forthcoming.

I have already done extensive investigations as to logistics and whether actually permissible.

It’s more a question of cost and experience in looking for

Op I hop more people with experience come along too, this is something I'm also considering!

We have one and its been really great... totally echo everything you say... they've felt free and uninhibited and we feel they're close enough. Lots of mates have done the same - we're London so not lots of room and its a great way of creating teen space.

We would have got blinds installed if we had thought ahead - really popular for big sleepovers after teen parties, or even just three or four of them....

Your budget sounds about right - ours was bigger and cost more but not dissimilar.

We went low cost or cast offs for interior so we weren't worried if things got broken or stuff spilt ... think Ikea and eBay.

And radiators - these things are so well insulated that when we were told one plug in heater would make it toasty within an hour we didnt believe them - it did! So nowt fancy, keep it simple.

Other top tip - easy to clean floor - you would be amazed by mud that appears from nowhere especially as teens troop in and out and in and out....

And yes, they will smoke down the back of the cabin, so just be aware it will happen.... we put up spikes roses to stop them and it didnt!

Not sure what else you want to know ... pm me if anything helpful

But suggest you just go for it and let them enjoy!

Soundproofing! Think of the neighbours

My DS's friend has one of these and it's well soundproofed.

Watching this with interest! @loveyouradvice, could you maybe share with us the company you used? Our garden is not big (maybe about 12 meters), so not sure if we will regret it and if we can make it look good (it will definitely be better than the monster trampoline we currently have at the back of the garden though).

@loveyouradvice

We have one and its been really great... totally echo everything you say... they've felt free and uninhibited and we feel they're close enough. Lots of mates have done the same - we're London so not lots of room and its a great way of creating teen space.

We would have got blinds installed if we had thought ahead - really popular for big sleepovers after teen parties, or even just three or four of them....

Your budget sounds about right - ours was bigger and cost more but not dissimilar.

We went low cost or cast offs for interior so we weren't worried if things got broken or stuff spilt ... think Ikea and eBay.

And radiators - these things are so well insulated that when we were told one plug in heater would make it toasty within an hour we didnt believe them - it did! So nowt fancy, keep it simple.

Other top tip - easy to clean floor - you would be amazed by mud that appears from nowhere especially as teens troop in and out and in and out....

And yes, they will smoke down the back of the cabin, so just be aware it will happen.... we put up spikes roses to stop them and it didnt!

Not sure what else you want to know ... pm me if anything helpful

But suggest you just go for it and let them enjoy!

Brill advice Thank you!

What size did you have? Do you think 3m width x 2.5 sufficient? Cozy!

Who did you use if I may ask please? And cost?

Bump

We don’t have teenagers but built something similar to what you are planning for us adults! It’s a gym / office / snug, we have a big TV and a sofa bed and lots of fluffy white cushions and throws and the decor is alpine..we’ve put some vintage ski prints up, it’s really cosy. We can throw the doors open and watch big sports events while we have friends over. It’s at the bottom of the garden so we had to set up a separate WiFi. It’s got full electrics and heating. It’s great for summer parties when it starts to get a bit chilly but we want to carry on. Perfect for when DH has friends over to watch the football. All in all a great investment.

Sadly our company has gone out of business... really bizarre, as their cabins were beautiful and had a waiting list... lots of our friends want one just like ours.

Ours is big .. we kept debating how big to make it, as of course price goes up with every square metre but in retrospect are glad we did it as big as we could - width of garden apart from 2m corridor on each side, and garden shed, compost etc hidden behind it. And once kids move on, its going to be a gorgeous room for us.....and probably a spare room as well, once we've sorted blinds.

So ours is 7m wide by 4m deep.

But friends have all sizes and all work ... I think its the having it that makes the difference, not the size. Yes ours is big enough to dance in, but really what they use it most for is just hanging out - beanbags on floor, sofa etc all piled on top of each other, chatting, lolling, whatever...... Gosh Im getting nostalgic... they haven't been able to do it for almost a year now ! So looking forward to them being able to do so again