With the current state of the economy, more and more young people are looking to come home and live with their parents than ever before. When many of them can’t afford necessarily to pay for a deposit or the monthly mortgage payments, and with the cost of renting at an all time high, the solution for many young (and not so young) people is to move back home for a few years to live with low rent while they amass enough capital to then be able to put down a deposit.
While this is all good and well for said children though, it can place quite a toll on the family themselves, and it’s a sure fire way for there to be friction if your children want to live under your roof but not necessarily by your rules. They end up coming home late and waking you up from your sleep, and at the same time you end up inadvertently cramping their lifestyle by telling them to keep it down and by doing embarrassing parent things.
The solution then is to do a little bit of remodelling in order to change the shape of your home to better accommodate your children. Here we will look at how you can do this.
Somewhere to Live
Basically the idea is to use a little home remodelling in order to provide your children with somewhere to stay that will be in your home but out of your hair. In other words you want to essentially create for them an annex or even a kind of studio flat that will be self contained within your flat.
There are several ways to do this with home additions. For instance if you have garage then this can be the perfect large and unconnected space to turn into an annex. Likewise if you have a basement or a loft/attic space then these can also become great little self contained apartments. Finally you can go to the trouble building an ‘outhouse’ from scratch in the garden if you have enough land.
Requirements
There are various requirements here that will help to make you and your child happier with the new arrangement. Here are a few things to make sure of before you build your annex or convert that garage…
Noise: Ideally you want your young lodger to be able to make as much noise as they like and even host parties if they so require without it affecting you and keeping you all up. If you can get your child somewhere that’s separate from the rest of the house then this will be ideal, but even if you can’t you can still make sure you have thick enough walls and double glazing to keep sound in.
Separate Entrance: Giving your kids a separate entrance to the property will mean they can come home at any time and in no way risk disturbing your sleep. Of course it’s not a necessity and will depend on space and budget, but it is a great bonus if it’s possible.
Size and Style: You might resent that your parenthood has been dragged out, but note that your child probably isn’t overly happy about being forced to stay at home either. Don’t punish them then, and instead try to make the best of a bad situation by giving them a really cool pad as far as you’re able to with your renovations.
The article is written by home decor expert, Diana Lewis who has been sharing her ideas and tips on home improvement through guest blogging.