A home extension can serve any of many different purposes in 2021. For example, you could use that extension as a kitchen, guest room, home office or games room. However, much of the success of your extension will depend on how it is decorated.
That’s why you should plan this particular part of the extension-building process carefully. To this end, you should consider how the extension will match or complement the rest of the home and how multifunctional you would like that extension to be.
For example, would you like the extension to double as a kitchen and dining area? Maybe the extension could serve as a home office during the day and a guest room overnight? Your decor choices could be influenced by whether you favour the “open plan” or “broken plan” look.
“Open plan” has become a popular trend in interior design, and involves knocking down walls to create large, uninterrupted spaces through which light can flow freely. However, not everyone is enamoured with the open plan approach, due to how it can hinder privacy as well as leave a home looking somewhat disorganised, with few walls against which furniture can obviously be placed.
Cue the emergence of “broken plan” layouts, where the spaciousness of open plan is largely kept intact but different areas of the home are divided in subtle ways – such as with half walls, internal windows and open shelving units. So, a dividing wall could protrude only slightly between a kitchen and a dining area, while an opening shelving unit could leave light to filter through carved-out spaces.
Let’s assume you worked from home and wanted an extension conducive to this. An L-shaped extension could consist of an office space, complete with computer and ergonomic desk and chair, and a slightly separate home library for when you want to do essential research.
Fitting your extension with skylights, meanwhile, would allow you to flood its interiors with natural light – and, in this way, help yourself to reduce your spending and energy usage on electrical lighting. That sunshine trickling through the skylights could also do wonders for your mood.
If you want the most traditional design possible for your skylight, opt for a fixed rooflight. This static rooflight would also deliver outstanding thermal performance. While this skylight’s flat shape lends itself particularly well to flat roofs, a flat roof would still give you the option of a pyramid rooflight – especially as, over time, designers have made pyramid skylights increasingly slight in their slope.
A walk-on rooflight could be just the right choice for that subterranean space if you have a garden that sits above it. We can install such a skylight as part of a basement conversion in London – while, for various living spaces, our expertise also extends to installing opening rooflights, which are ideal for improving ventilation and the circulation of fresh air in a living space.
Those principles include balance, which you can achieve with a symmetrical or asymmetrical design, and rhythm – which, though difficult to define when struck in any given room, could be achieved with the help of a specific colour and texture palette that puts people at ease in the space.
While on the subject of the extension’s colour palette, this could also imbue the space with pops of contrast that enrich the finishing details. If you need further input on how to perfect your home extension in London, please don’t hesitate to phone us on 0203 409 0115.
It’s easy to get in touch with us to discuss your ideas for how you would like to develop a property with our expert assistance.
