How to Design a Garden Room

It can sometimes feel a little overwhelming when it comes to designing something truly bespoke. In particular, the endless amount of choices can often be as daunting as they are liberating.

Bespoke garden offices are no exception to this rule – with countless materials and finishes to choose from, we regularly hear from our clients that they don’t know where to begin when it comes to planning the look and feel of their outdoor space.

Whilst it might be tempting to simply look up images of existing garden offices for inspiration and to visualize what one might look like in your own garden, it’s crucial to keep in mind that no two gardens are strictly alike. In other words, what looks good in one set of surroundings might not necessarily look good in different surroundings.

At Multi Space, we’ve made it our mission to demystify this process and call on the experience of our team to provide all the guidance that our clients need to create a garden office that is as functional as it is beautiful.

Using the expertise gained over many years of designing and building these spaces, our team can be relied on to offer creative solutions which ensure that your bespoke space is multi purpose and enhances the overall look of your property.

Many of our previous clients were keen to keep things consistent and apply a design that helped to establish a uniformity across their home and garden room. To accomplish this, our team sourced materials and finishes which faithfully mirrored the styling of the client’s home.

Whilst we’re able to align the style of a garden office with the house it belongs to, we’re not shy of suggesting artful juxtapositions, either. We might, for example, suggest a black vertical cladding design that contrasts with a red brick house in order to create a more modern aesthetic.

Of course, all of these aesthetic decisions are guided by the requirements of the client in question. If, for instance, the purpose of the space is to entertain guests in, we’ll apply a very different approach to the one we’ll use when designing a workspace or one that is optimized for storage space.

In addition to understanding more about the functionality that our clients require from their spaces, we also take the time to discover their personal preferences. Specifically, we’ll find out how much natural light they would like to fill their space. Armed with this knowledge, it is possible for our team to make decisions regarding the best placement and size of windows as well as the need for any roof and artificial lighting.

Altogether, our approach to building garden rooms is wholly person-centered and we take good care to make sure that each of the projects is as unique as the people who give us a call or walk through the doors of our Design Centre just outside Woodbridge.

In order to quickly find out what kind of garden office is best for you, give our team a call today. Alternatively, stick around to find the answers to five of the most frequently asked questions which we’ve rounded up below:

 

How Do I Style my Garden Room?

Just like any interior space, a garden room can be styled in just about any way that you like. Of course, it pays to style it in a way that supports your overall ambitions for the space. If you plan to use it as a workspace, for example, a more minimal design will enable you to focus on the stuff that matters.

 

What Can You Have in a Garden Room?

Whilst garden rooms have become a popular choice for remote workers who want to create a bespoke home office, there are many other possibilities to consider. By no means an exhaustive list, you may want to consider using yours as:

A fully-equipped home gym

A self-catering accommodation pod

A spa and treatment room

A home studio

A bespoke classroom

A dance studio 

A recording studio

A sustainable garden office

Your very own local

 

What is a Good Size for a Garden Room?

Much as it pains us to answer this question with “well, how long is a piece of string?”, this is perhaps the best answer to this question. The reason that it is the most appropriate answer is because each garden room serves a unique room that will determine the best size. A garden room that is designed to entertain guests will ultimately need to be larger than one that is used for a single person to work in, for example.

 

How Much Does it Cost to Build a Garden Studio?

Similar to the good size question, the cost of a garden studio will depend entirely on the choices made in the design phase. As you may expect, larger builds that contain more bespoke features will cost more than a small and simple garden studio. At Multi Space, we provide the same level of care and attention to both ends of the scale to ensure that our clients get the best possible space for their budget.

 

What are the Planning Rules for Garden Rooms?

Building Regulations don’t usually apply to outbuildings, as long as:

It’s not attached to your main home the floor area is less than 15 sq m

It doesn’t include sleeping accommodation.

And the floor area is less than 15 squared metres

If the floor area is between 15sq m and 30sq m, you still don’t usually have to apply for Building Regulations approval, as long as there’s no sleeping accommodation and it’s more 1 metre or more from your boundary and is made of non-combustible materials.  It will need to comply with Building Regulations if you ever plan to use it as a guest bedroom.

The main reasons you’ll need planning permission for a build are:

If the build exceeds 2.5 metres in height.

If your home is a listed building, your home is in a designated area (eg a National Park, area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB), conservation area or World Heritage Site).

If you’re planning on using the space as self contained living accommodation.

Multi Space can handle your planning permission application on your behalf for a small admin fee, we make it as easy and as stress-free as possible for our clients.

For more information on planning permission for your garden room, head over to our ‘Do I need planning permission for a garden room’ blog.

Any more questions?

If you still have some outstanding questions after taking a look at this article (an no question is too silly!), then feel free to get in touch with the Multi Space team for a no-obligation chat. We’ll be happy to find out more about your requirements and budget to provide you with the guidance you need to push things forward. Always keen for a challenge, we’d also love to hear from you if you have a unique idea for a space.

Multi-Space

How to design a garden room

November 12, 2021

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