Do you tweens/ teens use a garden room hangout?

[gghdh]

We live in a niceish area in a 3 bed semi, smallish garden. We have an 11 yo ds and the house is big enough for us but ideally I would like a bigger house and bigger garden. I'm not sure can justify the increased mortgage and costs so instead I'm trying to make the most of what we have and thought we could either convert the loft or build a garden room.

I would like ds to be able to bring friends back and hangout in a garden room whilst leaving the house free for us to work in etc but not sure if they would use it.

Any experiences from those with older kids?

My former house was a 2 bed terrace, which was fine as we only have one child. Downstairs we had a living room, kitchen and dining room. My husband built a fully insulated garden room. It had lighting, heating, tv and WiFi, also a single bed / sofa. My dd used it to chill out with her friends , also occasionally her mates from college would sleep in it, as we had no spare bedroom.

Yes - built ours 4 years ago and it gets used daily. Got TV and WiFi down there, kids come for sleepovers. Absolutely love it - great investment.

We did this for our son when he was 12 , it has worked out great. Not used much over dark evenings in winter but for the last 2 summers it's become a great place for him and his friends to come and hang out.

I often feel that him and his mates wouldn't have anywhere else to go to hangout, and the only other alternative they have is just to game online from their own separate bedrooms, or wander around the streets, so it's much more healthy and sociable.

That's good to hear!

We have a summer house that's kitted out with tv, stereo, lights, heating etc. We use it ourselves but it's great for older kids when they want a load of friends over and you don't want them all in the house. Our kids love it and have many gatherings/parties in it, summer and winter. And means we can sit inside in peace 😆