How would you extend?

[Rg9g08]

Hi everyone, advice much appreciated as extending a home in 2025 is no small matter.

I’m hoping to add a small, rear, single, lean to extension to my home. See floor plan photo with yellow mark where extension would go.

This extension will consequently create a “middle room” currently used as our tv and living room. As the extension will open into the garden it will have lots of windows and patio doors meaning it will be difficult to reconfigure the space. I can’t quite visualise how to organise the downstairs space to make it functional. In total the extension which will add about 12m2 will fit a home office and then I welcome any ideas on layout and design.

Just to add my tuppence worth, we changed our garage to half office at the front and utility at the back separated by a sliding door (ours is the same width but probably a bit longer). It's not connected to the rest of the house - our kitchen is where your reception is and we have a door to the side. We come out that kitchen door step down into the side return and then up into the old garage. We have a flat roof with a flat opening roof light. It has radiators connected to our main central heating.
You could do similar - don't connect it to the main house - you would just come out of the reception doors and walk around to the garage office. Split it into office at the back and storage at the front with a sliding door in the middle.
For us it was the most cost effective solution - we couldn't afford to make a bigger extension and join up our kitchen and old garage. The physical separation works very well in terms of privacy and noise levels. At the weekends it works as a tv/gaming space for the kids. We also have a small sofa bed in there.

It doesn’t need to be an office…just an idea to make the extra living space make sense
These are my inspo pics but obviously these comments have been very negative

Behind garage?

This sounds great but if I were to sell (it’s not my forever home) I feel like a connected solid extension would be more appealing

And additionally to add enough insulation to meet regs I would still need to raise the garage flat roof unfortunately. This has come from an architect who works with the council

You see where the fireplace is…right behind there there’s an external flue blocking the way

But these pictures are open to the rest of the space.

If you were taking down the back wall to extend the living room then it could be nice space. But it wouldn't work with the open plan rest of the downstairs unless you put walls in elsewhere which you've already dismissed.

The reactions here are that most people wouldn't like what you've proposed.

If you face north your living room will be dark. I face north east and have something a bit like you are suggesting. Even with a larger opening than you have with the current layout my middle room is dark. The sun comes in on summer evenings as it moves round but I have nothing behind me to block light. What do you look onto?

I have the kitchen in the middle and under counter lights, white acrylic faced units to bounce light etc so it's fine but I wouldn't want it for my only living space.

I am struggling to wrap my head around why you want to spend 40k on a space you can't define the purpose for.

Are houses high cost in your area? I'd never see this back in a price rise but you might be in an expensive location.

At the end of the day if you like it that's all that matters but if you need to sell in future consider the responses here.

Hi OP, sorry, I don’t want to share pics on here as the rooms would be very recognisable to anyone on here who knows me in real life. However, ours is extremely similar to the example pics you have shared other than the fact the roof is totally glass (it’s a high quality glass that shields from UV etc.). Side walls are totally brick up to the roof (fully insulated). The front has a large patio door in the middle with dwarf walls either side with windows above. It is a really nice room and we do use it all year round as an office and extra living space. However, we’re south facing. In the winter it is costly to heat (we have an electric heater in there). As mentioned, the thing I don’t like is the way it has really cut out light from the East/West getting in to the now ‘middle room’ the early/late parts of the day. As we’re south facing it’s better in the middle part of the day when the light shines through more. Like you, we were also reassured before building that there shouldn’t be much impact on light because so much of the extension is glass. I think there is an element of builders telling you what you want to hear to encourage you to go ahead so be aware of this. If you look closely at your example pics you can see the now ‘middle’ room is quite a bit darker than the extension and that is what it is like in real life.
I think some posters have been a bit strident in telling you for sure that it’s the wrong option. It may work for you and there are definitely some pros to this set up (extra space in a more affordable way, proximity to the rest of the house, a new lovely light room to be in) so I don’t want to entirely put you off, but I would just say to definitely not rush into it and consider all options. We do find the extra space really useful (and at the time it was one of the only ways we could afford to get it) it is just a shame it’s had a bit of a negative impact on the now ‘middle room’. I personally now wish we’d shelled out more and done a loft extension - would have cost more but been better in the long term I think! Good luck with it all.

I've read through as far as this post here OP, and it strikes me that you're thinking about this the wrong way round - i.e. "if we build and extension here, how can we use it?", rather than: "I need an office / space for a dining table / a bigger lounge because when we have visitors it's cramped*, so how can we acheive that?"

I think that's why people are having trouble visualising how to help you and why there's not been an an obvious answer to how the space could be used. The pp who asked "what problem are you trying to solve?" had it spot on. There's no point in going to the expense of an exension if you don't know what you're trying to acheive with it. You need to flip the question - what do I need from the house that it's not currently giving me?

Anyway, hope that helps and prompts some thoughts!

• insert whatever your problem is

“These are my inspo pics but obviously these comments have been very negative”

OP, there is a massive disconnect between your inspo pictures and what you are actually proposing: your space won’t be lovely and light and open plan, but two separate rooms. What’s more the existing middle room will be made really gloomy. Sorry but I really think you need to go back to the drawing board, and that starts with pinpointing and then focusing on what you need from any new space. Building a random extra room that you don’t have a clear objective or vision for is a poor way to design.

I think there's a danger you're making your whole house a corridor with the front door directly into the kitchen. We have an extension on to the back room, a little like some of your examples. It was part of a bigger, wraparound one. It faces west and has French doors and velux windows. The now inner room is still darker. A north facing one would be quite gloomy.

As has been said, the difference between your inspo pictures and your plans is that there's a wall in between the middle room and the extension.

I'm also confused about why you are doing the extension. Eg are you currently within your bedroom and desperate for office space? Or do you want one formal living and one more relaxed space? Or do you require a formal dining area? What are you missing / needing in your home as it currently is?

Sorry that should read "are you currently WFH in your bedroom", not within. ^^

I think there’s been a misunderstanding. There won’t be a wall in between the extension and current living room. I’m planning pocket glass doors to maximise light and open plan feel.

Of course the extension’s purpose is to increase living space as well as create a corner home office (currently in bedroom) and use the room also in any other inspiration way people might suggest.

living space is currently 82.4sq m

Just to add to my previous post, a lot of houses near us have done what we have done / what you’re proposing so it must be an option lots of people arrive at when they want extra space but are constrained by cost and other factors. It doesn’t seem to stop houses selling in the future so doesn’t seem to be undesirable (but we are in a very popular location). I think you need to need to carefully weigh up the pros and cons.

But pocket doors need a section of wall to go into. So there will be walls either side? I.e are you taking out the back wall, putting in a steel or leaving the opening as is and replacing the current doors with sliding glass ones?

What else do you want the room to do? Do you want to sit in it on a comfy chair, eat in it, hide and extra fridge freezer in it?

It's really hard to give layout suggestions without knowing this.

OP I’m sorry to bleat on about this but your proposed plan does not show open plan
layout between the new extension and the existing room. You’ve also mentioned pocket doors: if they are pocket, surely there has to be a wall for the doors to slide back into? I’m not saying this to split hairs, but rather because your inspiration pics show a light and spacious open plan space. Your proposed room will have to some extent at least dividing walls and doors. They are not the same thing and I think you’ll be disappointed.

OP, how far out are you planning to go with the extension? (Apologies if I've missed this).

Your post says approx 12sqm of space, the room dims are 4.47m wide, which gives an extension approx 2.6m deep - does that sound about right? If so, that's quite an awkward shaped room to get much use out of, if it's not open plan into the lounge.

It will be 4.7m wide and 2.9m deep

And when I say open plan with open doors I mean something like the photo here.

My gut feel, based on what you're proposing, is that it wouldn't add £40k of value to your house.

@Rg9g08 i really hope you listen to the posters here, they are right, and you don’t seem to have grasped what they are trying to say.

Your middle room will be a gloomy corridor with that set up.

I disagree as I’ve said multiple times I already have a covered pergola and the light is not an issue for me. But thank you to those who have positive and constructive ideas

Have you considered going into the loft to create an office space.

Also, If you think your garden is currently too small for a garden room to be used as an office, how can it possible accommodate an extension? Surely you could just take down the pergola and use a proper garden room instead of there is not room for both?

It does come across as you are considering putting on an extension for the sake of it rather than for a tangible reason.

Ok because the way the garden is shaped it wouldn’t fit anywhere except right where the pergola is. The pergola is immediately adjacent to the living room where I’m proposing the extension goes.

How am I giving that impression?
I want (1) MORE SPACE (2) DEDICATED AREA FOR HOME OFFICE

I asked for ideas from those who extended a house with perhaps a similar layout and how they optimised their space.