Photo by Naomi Hébert on Unsplash
Spare rooms are helpful when you need them, but they often remain unloved the rest of the time. Most sit doing pretty much nothing except accumulating junk you don’t want to keep elsewhere in the house.
The trick is to treat the room with more love. Revamping it can be an excellent way to show it some care, get the most out of it, and increase the value of your home. Here’s everything you need to know:
Think About What You Want Your Spare Room To Do
The first step is to consider your spare room’s purpose. It needs to function as something for it to thrive as a space in your home.
You could use it for all sorts of things, from a playroom for the kids to a home office when you’re working remotely. You could also use it as a reading nook or a place for crafting.
Be honest with yourself about how much you’ll use it. Try to balance that against the cost of carrying out renovations.
Declutter And Clean
The next step is to declutter the room and clean it. Consider investing in skip hire if you have a lot of stuff you want to remove.
Make sure you remove all the furniture and belongings from the room. Discard anything you don’t use anymore and attempt to sell or recycle it. (You can use any money you make to enhance your spare room even further).
Then, deep clean all the walls and floors, making sure everything is spotless before renovation begins.
Fix Anything Broken
Next, ensure you fix anything broken. Ensure you repair any holes, imperfections or problems with the ceilings or floors. If you need to, repaint the walls to cover up issues that might have developed since the last renovation.
Install The Flooring
Once the basics are out of the way, you’re ready to install the flooring. Be sure to choose something that complements the intended usage of the room. For instance, if you are turning it into a gym, ensure you put down a hard floor with some padding on it, just in case you drop the weights. Likewise, if you want it to be a bedroom, carpet is probably the best option.
Lighting
Installing the lighting is usually the next step. That’s because it usually requires you to rip out part of the walls first.
Make sure you choose suitable lighting for the room you want to create. For instance, if you are planning on using it as an office, you might want task lighting, which means plenty of sockets for lamps and other reading aids. Likewise, if you are turning it into a bathroom, you might need to run a special line for a shaver connection.
Decorate
Finally, you’ll want to decorate the room, adding artwork, throws, and pillows where necessary. Ensure you choose a colour scheme that suits the room and gives it some personality. Create a space that encourages you to use it more often so that you no longer feel the urge to call the space your “spare room.”