Garden Rooms

[NotMyCircusNotMyProblem]

Y'know, like a glorified summer house.
OH is mad keen on having a garden room placed in our recently created garden.

Tbh, the price he has been quoted is very reasonable... which puts paid to my 'we can't afford it' argument. It includes electrics and insulation - we can afford it BUT, do they serve any purpose?

I just can't see us using it much.
So, if you have garden room, do you use it? What do you use it as? Was it worth the money?

I'm just not sold on the idea.

Watching with interest I'd like one.

Do you have kids?

We have one as an office. Best money we ever spent, but we are tight fur space inside (no spare bedroom to turn into an office).

No, we don't have kids, just one SD who's in her 20's and lives with her boyfriend

How much were you quoted? I found them far too expensive to justify the cost.

I wouldn’t bother unless I needed the space for something specific like an office or a gym.

I work from home and my office is the box room - I don't fancy working at the bottom of the garden, I'm quite happy in the box room!

I just don't really think a garden room would have enough use to justify it?

What does he plan to use it for? I'd probably be more inclined if you had kids as it gives an extra space for teens to escape to or a space for yourself to escape to.

I'd like one to use as a library and jigsaw room, I even designed my dream on one paper, but it won't happen as all my books and jigsaws and boards fit in the house

Do you have a detached house?

If not, I'm thinking it might be useful for anything noisy (parties, music...) without disturbing neighbours?

I use mine every day as an office. Love it. Keeps work away from home life. I look out on the garden while I work. It can get a bit hot / cold but not much more than the house.

He wants a man cave. If you can afford it and it would make him happy then why stop him?

Mine is 100% the best place for a sneaky afternoon snooze

We use ours as a home office too. I like the separation of home and office. It's also helpful for us because we have teens at home so they don't need to worry about being quiet while we're on a meeting or anything.

I'm not sure what we'd use it for outside that though. We have debated adding some gym equipment

Quoted 7.5k for a 3m x 3m including electrics and insulation

I have a greenhouse since 3 years ago & wouldn't be without it. Now I want a covered outdoor area for cooking & eating when it's rainy but we wouldn't use a garden room unless there was a specific reason. The boys might like one for a dedicated gaming room?

I use mine as an office. It gives separation of home and work. I also use mine as a gym and somewhere quiet to sit. It's fairly large, so gives a lot of extra space to my small house.

Well he says it will be somewhere for us to sit in the evening, enjoying a glass of wine and listening to music but, yes... I think he wants it to be his man cave

That’s an amazing quote! I got a quote for a 3x3 for an office and it was at least £15k

ChubSeedsYorkie - wow!! Well that makes me immediately suspicious of the quote OH has obtained.

I'm not ruling it out but, I will get him to get a few more quotes in.

We have one. I use it every day and we actually love it. I think DH saw a man cave initially, but it’s actually me that gets the most use out of it! It was there when we bought the house and was only a couple years old. Previous owners used it as a playroom/gaming room, but we didn’t have kids then and so we used it as a movie room and also a home office - covid began less than a year after we moved in and I started wfh and never stopped, so still am using it as an office. I like it as it separates work and home life. I joke about my commute across the garden! It has power to it, is insulated, double glazing etc. gets a bit hot in summer/cold in winter but nothing fans/plug in radiators don’t fix. We use it all year round. It’s a decent size so we’ve put a corner sofa bed in there so it’s somewhere extra for people to stay if needed or just somewhere comfier for movie night! It’s turned into a bit of a home gym too. I have my treadmill and spin bike in there and a weights trolley. It’s good for weather like this heatwave, where DH and I want to chill and enjoy the sun in the garden but it gets a bit much for our toddler (2) - we open the double doors of the summer house so we can see in and watch him, stick the fans on, set DS toys up and put the telly on for him and he can chill in there out the sun but he’s supervised - and we can stay outside. Now we’re looking to move to near my parents, DH and I have both said if the next house we buy has space it’s a non-negotiable, we’re putting a summer house in if there isn’t one already.

I feel the same way about conservatories OP, they look nice on the back of the home, and it's nice to sit and look out at the garden, but equally, I can do that through the bi-fold doors, so I really don't see the point, of either a conservatory or a garden room, unless you need extra space, which from what you've said, you don't.

That is a very good price. Our conservatory is that size and it was 12k!!! Only one wall the rest is glass!

We bought one to make use of an overgrown dis-used area of the garden. We absolutely love it! I am probably up there most evenings from Spring to Autumn. It doesn't have a TV, but has a comfy corner settee, a line of kitchen cabinets including a sink, and the all important wine fridge. It's just the perfect bolt hole for me. I occasionally let my OH in, but he's happy watching TV in the house most evenings.
We didn't need one as we have plenty of space in the house and wondered if it would be a folly, but it's Probably one of the best decisions we ever made!

We have one, slightly larger than you've mentioned OP but a similar price, built a few years ago so probably a couple of £k more if we did it now. It is possible to get something decent at that price point.

We absolutely love it and it's used every day. We both work from home frequently so have a side each (it's got 2 rooms). I keep my exercise bike on my side and we have a sofa bed on DHs side so it can be used as a garden room/extra bed if we have too many visitors to fit in the house.

We also use it when we throw parties, for extra under cover space.

My son has one in his garden

it was originally a large double garage and the owners completely remodeled it with electric and gas central heating & a tiny kitchen with a sink / tap and the roof has 3 skylights plus a huge window and 2 smaller ones and double doors so it’s lovely and bright and spacious

it was a big buying point for my son and his partner as it gives them extra space

at the moment they aren’t using it for anything but they have a kingsize bed and screaming small sofa and some garden stuff
but it’s really nice and think eventual plans are to use it as a proper extra Didn’t have to do that, although that is to go and shoot the kill room / office