This time of year my thoughts always turn to our future loft conversion. I guess it’s all that scrambling around up there hunting for Christmas decorations that brings it to the forefront of my mind. When I haul myself ungraciously up through the little hatch and stand up there in the roof I can’t help but think of how that space could transform our home and my mind goes into overdrive with loft conversion inspiration.
The loft feels absolutely enormous, despite the fact that it is filled with completely unnecessary amounts of junk that we really do need to sort out and get rid of. I know that we’d lose a lot of that space in the conversion but just gaining one extra room would really make our little home perfect for our family.
I’ve written before about how a local estate agent strongly advised us not to go ahead with a loft conversion saying we’d never make our money back. You see we live in a first floor flat and apparently there are ceiling prices for flats and a loft conversion wouldn’t increase the value of our home enough to make it financially beneficial.
However, as a family, we love our flat, we love the location, the stunning valley views, our lovely neighbourhood. We also love the fact that we haven’t had to stretch ourselves to the max over the mortgage. If we were to move we wouldn’t have any of those luxuries.
But we definitely need more space. We have two bedrooms currently and with two daughters it is a little cramped already. So we would need to create extra space as they grow up so we can give them a bedroom each. So the plan is to convert the loft into a living room.
I know this is a bit unusual, as lofts are usually converted into ensuite master bedrooms, but we have absolutely stunning views out the back of our home so it seems a shame to make the loft into a bedroom where the majority of time spent in there would be when we are asleep. Instead, a living room means that the whole family can benefit from this amazing space and we would be able to really enjoy those views every day, all day long.
This loft conversion is a good few years off yet and we have done nothing in the way of proper planning but I have been day dreaming of what I would like the space to look like and how I envisage we would use it. I’ve spent the past few days hunting out loft conversion inspiration on the net trying to get a better idea of what we can achieve with the space we have available.
At the same time I’ve been trying to put the more challenging aspects of the project out of my mind. For example, I have no idea where we would position the stairs and this may prove to be quite problematic as we have very limited space in the flat. And the loft hatch is currently right in the centre of the loft space.
We also have the small issue of having the water tank for the flat downstairs in our loft which will need to resolved before we can go ahead.
Then the other major is issue is how to afford this loft conversion. I’m not yet sure how we will do this but where there’s a will, there’s a way right? And now I’ve written this post it has become even more real for me as I can totally imagine exactly what it will look like and how we will decorate. I even know where I will put all the furniture.
I have used this useful calculator tool from SunLife in order to better understand the value of our property and how much money it has made us since we bought it. And in all honesty, I’m not sure whether a loft conversion would increase the value of our home that much, but it would increase the quality of life that our family has whilst living here. So it’s definitely high up on our renovations wish list.
For the time being, until we work out how to proceed with our master plan, I can be found manically pinning loft conversion inspiration images over on Pinterest. One of the things that will be absolutely integral to the success of our loft conversion plans are the windows. Our flat is currently quite dark. The living room and master bedroom face north and we (when I say we, I mean I) took the decision to paint them in dark shades of green and blue respectively.
By converting the loft into a living room we could add large windows to the north west facing side of the roof and flood the space with light. This would mean the kitchen, which is already south facing, and living room would then be the brightest rooms in the flat and the bedrooms would be the darkest, which works for me. Dark bedrooms are great for sleeping!
I’ve been checking out windows by Velux and I’ve found so much loft conversion inspiration from their lifestyle images. I was originally thinking that we should opt for the more costly option of creating a large dormer on the south facing elevation as this would give us a more usable space with bigger floor to ceiling windows, much like Karen Knox of Making Spaces did with her bedroom loft conversion (see image above).
However, having seen these images featuring the Velux Cabrio roof windows and Velux roof terrace windows, I’m actually no longer convinced that we need to spend the extra money on a dormer. I think we could probably get exactly the same effect through the clever choice of windows. And I think it would give the space more character. What do you think?
One picture that has filled me with loft conversion inspiration is this beautiful image below. I really love the way that this space has been divided into two distinct zones with the use of these steel-framed windows. This would work brilliantly for us as we will use the space not only as a living room but also as a dining room.
By using these black framed windows the space can be divided without cutting it up with walls and also without blocking out any light. I think this is exactly what we might opt for, although maybe with the Cabrio or terrace windows in the living room area instead.
So whilst the south facing elevation will focus heavily on windows, we probably won’t worry about installing windows on the other side of the room. Instead I think I’d probably concentrate on built in storage. I like the idea of having everything we need neatly shut away behind doors or tucked into drawers.
Built in storage would also reduce the need for free standing furniture and therefore help the room to feel larger and less cluttered. I envisage us only having a large sofa, a coffee table, a wood burning stove and a dining table. Oh, and lots of plants! I can just see it now and it’s beautiful. I wish I had the skills to make a mock up of what is in my mind.
Whilst researching this post I came across so much loft conversion inspiration so I think I’m going to do a follow up post next month with lots of expert tips and advice. So if you are planning your own loft conversion, you may want to sign up to my newsletter so you don’t miss the post. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be forever, you can unsubscribe at any time. Not that you’d want to of course!!!
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