Renovating
The Great Space Grab: Creative Ways to Include an Extra Room
No extra space? No problem. Here's how to create the spare room you've always wanted without increasing your land size
As Aussie homes continue to shrink in size, especially in inner-city areas, we have become highly inventive at carving out extra space. We may not be able to acquire more land, but it is possible to create more internal floor space or eke out a spare room. Read on to see some big ideas for small places.
Ironically, these smaller figures still seem palatial to many city dwellers who occupy charming Victorian terraces about a quarter of that size. The new reality is that many of us live in pint-sized places, and more people will with time. However, just because your lot measures a modest square metreage doesn’t mean your floor space has to. Here’s why…
Convert your attic
Most people convert attics to create an extra bedroom, though don’t let convention limit you. This all-white mosaic bathroom occupies peak position atop this home in Sydney.
The extra floor space freed up enough room for a toilet, bidet, bathtub crowned with a ceiling-mounted showerhead and a vanity complete with a sink and storage. Carter Williamson Architects cleverly rounded the walls to avoid the inaccessible or ‘dead’ space that results when low ceilings meet the floor on a slant. The rounded walls also bestow the rooms below with double-height ceilings.
Tour the Upside-Down Back-to-Front House
Most people convert attics to create an extra bedroom, though don’t let convention limit you. This all-white mosaic bathroom occupies peak position atop this home in Sydney.
The extra floor space freed up enough room for a toilet, bidet, bathtub crowned with a ceiling-mounted showerhead and a vanity complete with a sink and storage. Carter Williamson Architects cleverly rounded the walls to avoid the inaccessible or ‘dead’ space that results when low ceilings meet the floor on a slant. The rounded walls also bestow the rooms below with double-height ceilings.
Tour the Upside-Down Back-to-Front House
Older houses are generally more suited to attic conversions by virtue of their pitched roofs. Reclaiming your attic space can be costly, though if it’s in your budget, adding an extra level can vastly increase your floor space and enhance your views.
Tip: Converting your attic can result in picturesque sloping ceilings like the ones seen in this Sydney home designed by Luigi Rosselli Architects and furnished by Decus Interiors.
Tip: Converting your attic can result in picturesque sloping ceilings like the ones seen in this Sydney home designed by Luigi Rosselli Architects and furnished by Decus Interiors.
Add a mezzanine level
A mezzanine can be added in most buildings that have enough ceiling height. In an ideal world, your ceiling needs to be a commanding 4.4 metres high to accommodate a mezzanine, though it’s uncommon for today’s homes to have such grand proportions. The good news is that the Building Code of Australia offers some dispensation with attic space, providing a percentage of the floor area meets the requirements for minimum ceiling heights, which generally fall between 2.1 and 2.4 metres.
A mezzanine can be added in most buildings that have enough ceiling height. In an ideal world, your ceiling needs to be a commanding 4.4 metres high to accommodate a mezzanine, though it’s uncommon for today’s homes to have such grand proportions. The good news is that the Building Code of Australia offers some dispensation with attic space, providing a percentage of the floor area meets the requirements for minimum ceiling heights, which generally fall between 2.1 and 2.4 metres.
Ceiling heights vary depending on whether a space is classed as a ‘habitable’ room (such as bedrooms, kitchens and living rooms) or a ‘utility’ room (for example bathrooms, laundries, walk-in-robes and storage space).
Tip: Do you have the ceiling height for a mezzanine but not the space for a staircase leading up to it? Try using a spiral stair or ladder instead.
Tip: Do you have the ceiling height for a mezzanine but not the space for a staircase leading up to it? Try using a spiral stair or ladder instead.
Excavate a cellar under your house
Don’t have enough space to go up? You might be able to go down instead. This is easier done with houses elevated on piles or stilts, and depending on your site you might be lucky enough to excavate a generously sized cellar, media room, gym… you name it. Usually, however, under-house space is more modest in size, though thanks to some clever designs it can be equally useful.
Don’t have enough space to go up? You might be able to go down instead. This is easier done with houses elevated on piles or stilts, and depending on your site you might be lucky enough to excavate a generously sized cellar, media room, gym… you name it. Usually, however, under-house space is more modest in size, though thanks to some clever designs it can be equally useful.
Spiral cellars may fall short of comprising a full-sized room, though they provide enough storage to make a big difference – some models house over 600 wine bottles, others hold over 1,300. Perhaps the most prohibitive aspect is their cost: spiral cellars often start around $60,000 and can blow out to over $130,000.
The trapdoor of this custom-built spiral cellar is made of acrylic that is tough enough to withstand people walking over it (so it doesn’t rob the owners of precious floor space). It’s also fitted with a humidor that maintains the humidity at an optimum level for wine storage.
Browse more incredible cellars
The trapdoor of this custom-built spiral cellar is made of acrylic that is tough enough to withstand people walking over it (so it doesn’t rob the owners of precious floor space). It’s also fitted with a humidor that maintains the humidity at an optimum level for wine storage.
Browse more incredible cellars
Convert a hallway into a nook
Many hallways are 900 millimetres in width, which can be enough to fit in a little desk, a chair and some shelves to create that home office you’ve always longed for. This is possible if you don’t rely on your hall to get from one room to another and have other points of access. In these cases you could potentially convert your hall to a spare toilet, a hidden laundry, a pantry, storage space or, for wider and longer halls, a one-sided walk-in-robe.
Tip: If you’re unable to transform your hallway into a separate room, consider giving the thoroughfare a dual purpose and adding recessed shelving for instant storage or a walk-through library.
Many hallways are 900 millimetres in width, which can be enough to fit in a little desk, a chair and some shelves to create that home office you’ve always longed for. This is possible if you don’t rely on your hall to get from one room to another and have other points of access. In these cases you could potentially convert your hall to a spare toilet, a hidden laundry, a pantry, storage space or, for wider and longer halls, a one-sided walk-in-robe.
Tip: If you’re unable to transform your hallway into a separate room, consider giving the thoroughfare a dual purpose and adding recessed shelving for instant storage or a walk-through library.
Make use of space under the stairs
As someone whose pantry is cleverly fitted beneath the staircase, I can attest to making the most of this often squandered space. In small houses, every centimetre counts, and there are often enough unused centimetres under the stairs to create a little nook or even a new room.
Before this old Victorian home was renovated, the space below the stairs was redundant – the ceiling height was too low to make it a liveable corner of the room. There was, however, enough height for a toilet and basin with a little cloakroom off to one side.
As someone whose pantry is cleverly fitted beneath the staircase, I can attest to making the most of this often squandered space. In small houses, every centimetre counts, and there are often enough unused centimetres under the stairs to create a little nook or even a new room.
Before this old Victorian home was renovated, the space below the stairs was redundant – the ceiling height was too low to make it a liveable corner of the room. There was, however, enough height for a toilet and basin with a little cloakroom off to one side.
If you don’t have enough room or ceiling height to build an enclosed room under the stairs, a recessed nook or walk-in-cupboard can still make a big difference. Here, dual sliding doors conceal the kitchen pantry, while a separate study nook is finished with open shelving, giving the space the flexibility of being used as a mini home office or as storage space.
Tip: Sliding doors like the pocket design above require less room than regular doors so are great to use in small spaces.
Tip: Sliding doors like the pocket design above require less room than regular doors so are great to use in small spaces.
Convert your laundry
Sequestered laundries have become a thing of the past in homes where space is at a premium, and for good reason. By moving your washing machine and dryer to rooms with existing plumbing, such as your kitchen or bathroom, you can use the laundry as a spare room. Art of Kitchens combined the once separate laundry, kitchen and living room in this Sydney home to maximise the space.
Tip: A separate laundry rarely adds value to homes, though a separate study or a spare bedroom does.
Sequestered laundries have become a thing of the past in homes where space is at a premium, and for good reason. By moving your washing machine and dryer to rooms with existing plumbing, such as your kitchen or bathroom, you can use the laundry as a spare room. Art of Kitchens combined the once separate laundry, kitchen and living room in this Sydney home to maximise the space.
Tip: A separate laundry rarely adds value to homes, though a separate study or a spare bedroom does.
Build a wall or room divider
The most straightforward way to section off an extra room is to build a wall or room divider, but for this you’ll need enough existing floor space. Most queen-sized beds measure 1530 millimetres in width and 2030 millimetres in length. Add 900 millimetres to the foot and both sides of your bed to allow enough room to comfortably walk around it. This means the minimum width needed to easily fit a queen bed into a room (without other furniture except bedside tables) is 3330 millimetres in width and 2930 millimetres in length.
Single beds only measure 920 millimetres across and 1870 millimetres in length, so a single bedroom only needs to be 2720 millimetres in width (1820 millimetres at a bare minimum if you butt one side of the bed up against a wall) and 2770 millimetres in length.
What Size Bed Suits You and Your Family?
The most straightforward way to section off an extra room is to build a wall or room divider, but for this you’ll need enough existing floor space. Most queen-sized beds measure 1530 millimetres in width and 2030 millimetres in length. Add 900 millimetres to the foot and both sides of your bed to allow enough room to comfortably walk around it. This means the minimum width needed to easily fit a queen bed into a room (without other furniture except bedside tables) is 3330 millimetres in width and 2930 millimetres in length.
Single beds only measure 920 millimetres across and 1870 millimetres in length, so a single bedroom only needs to be 2720 millimetres in width (1820 millimetres at a bare minimum if you butt one side of the bed up against a wall) and 2770 millimetres in length.
What Size Bed Suits You and Your Family?
Bathrooms, particularly ensuites, can be smaller than bedrooms, so providing you have the budget and plumbing potential you may find it easier to incorporate a spare toilet into your existing floor plan. Because the layout of your toilet, sink, vanity, shower and (if you have room) bathtub will vary according to the best use of space, there are no minimum dimensions for the size of a bathroom. Some ensuites, however, are perfectly workable at a compact 900 x 1500 millimetres, which is enough room to house a toilet and sink.
Tip: Trying to squeeze in a shower? Consider using a corner unit, which takes up less space.
Tip: Trying to squeeze in a shower? Consider using a corner unit, which takes up less space.
Embrace moveable walls and room dividers
If you don’t have enough floor space to incorporate an extra room, partitions or room dividers could be your answer. Moveable walls and sliding doors offer the flexibility to convert a space from one room to two on a part-time (rather than permanent) basis.
In this home, a barn door slides closed to section off a portion of living area and create a fully enclosed spare room. The space also makes use of a wall bed that folds down when needed or up when not in use, when it blends in with the shelves and wall on either side.
If you don’t have enough floor space to incorporate an extra room, partitions or room dividers could be your answer. Moveable walls and sliding doors offer the flexibility to convert a space from one room to two on a part-time (rather than permanent) basis.
In this home, a barn door slides closed to section off a portion of living area and create a fully enclosed spare room. The space also makes use of a wall bed that folds down when needed or up when not in use, when it blends in with the shelves and wall on either side.
Reclaim a verandah
Many older houses have balconies or verandahs that can be reclaimed and included in a home’s internal floor plan. If you’re one of the lucky ones in this position, it can be relatively easy to create another room by enclosing an existing balcony or verandah.
This Annerley home in Queensland boasts a whitewashed playroom in a traditional sunroom style. Being on the house’s perimeter, balcony or verandah conversions often reap views of the great outdoors.
Many older houses have balconies or verandahs that can be reclaimed and included in a home’s internal floor plan. If you’re one of the lucky ones in this position, it can be relatively easy to create another room by enclosing an existing balcony or verandah.
This Annerley home in Queensland boasts a whitewashed playroom in a traditional sunroom style. Being on the house’s perimeter, balcony or verandah conversions often reap views of the great outdoors.
Transform your garage
If you don’t have a car or can rely on street parking, converting your garage into a spare room can make a big difference. Garages often provide ample space for a generously sized extra bedroom and ensuite (sometimes with room leftover for a kitchenette to create a self-contained studio or granny flat), though you may need to check the minimum ceiling height. As an added bonus, bumping up your bedroom count might also increase the value of your property.
Tip: It’s wise to talk to a real estate agent who works in your area before you convert your garage, in case on-site parking sells for a premium in your suburb.
If you don’t have a car or can rely on street parking, converting your garage into a spare room can make a big difference. Garages often provide ample space for a generously sized extra bedroom and ensuite (sometimes with room leftover for a kitchenette to create a self-contained studio or granny flat), though you may need to check the minimum ceiling height. As an added bonus, bumping up your bedroom count might also increase the value of your property.
Tip: It’s wise to talk to a real estate agent who works in your area before you convert your garage, in case on-site parking sells for a premium in your suburb.
Build a rooftop terrace
You’ll most likely need a house to do this… and council approval. But if you can tick both those boxes, building a rooftop terrace will change the way you live. The sky is (figuratively speaking) the limit with rooftop conversions. Fancy an outdoor kitchen and a rooftop bar like this Fitzroy North house in Melbourne by MMAD Architecture? Cheers to that!
Tell us
Have you created an extra room in your home or are you keen to carve out more space? Tell us all about it. And if you enjoyed this story, like it, bookmark it and join the discussion in the Comments below.
More
Browse more clever and compact Australian homes
You’ll most likely need a house to do this… and council approval. But if you can tick both those boxes, building a rooftop terrace will change the way you live. The sky is (figuratively speaking) the limit with rooftop conversions. Fancy an outdoor kitchen and a rooftop bar like this Fitzroy North house in Melbourne by MMAD Architecture? Cheers to that!
Tell us
Have you created an extra room in your home or are you keen to carve out more space? Tell us all about it. And if you enjoyed this story, like it, bookmark it and join the discussion in the Comments below.
More
Browse more clever and compact Australian homes
For an accurate snapshot, Houzz took a look at the 2009 and 2016 State of the Land surveys from the Urban Development Institute of Australia.
In 2000, Melbourne’s median lot size was a whopping 650+ square metres. In 2010 that figure decreased to 474 square metres, then to 430 square metres in 2015.
The same trend could be seen in Sydney (and other Australian cities). In 2000, Sydney’s median lot size was over 560 square metres. This contracted to 524 square metres in 2010 then to 454 square metres in 2015.