Indy Total Construction

One of the cheapest ways to redecorate a bedroom is to change the pillowcases or bedcover, which can revive a room quite surprisingly. The choice of bedcovers and pillowcases in bedding departments often makes one forget the opportunities for making them at home. Some pillowcases are made with a different pattern on each side so you can ring the changes by mixing and matching them. This is another idea that would be easy and cheap to do yourself.

Two Indian bedspreads can become an unusual duvet cover and there are many other interesting fabrics to use, perhaps to get away from the idea that bedrooms should be flowery and feminine. The important thing is to choose cotton which is fine and soft; you don’t want anything scratchy in bed.

Quilted comforters, which are not as bulky as duvets or eiderdowns, add extra warmth in winter without adding much weight. They fold away into next to nothing for storage and if the fabric is chosen carefully, will provide a different winter color for the room.

Traditional patchwork quilts were made of old pieces of fabric and clothes so that nothing was ever wasted. Modern quilts may be in traditional designs or very carefully chosen fabrics in modern designs. They are often works of art which are better hung on the wall than spread over a bed.

A canopy over the bed can be in almost any fabric because it will not suffer from wear and tear. Lace, voile, muslin, sprigged cotton or Indonesian batik will create a summery effect and brocade, velvet or woven fabrics will make you feel warm in winter.

A ground floor extension can be purpose-designed and built to suit your needs exactly, or it can be constructed from a number of standard prefabricated components purchased from an extension manufacturer. Which type you choose depends on what you will use it for. The former is ideal for bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms; the latter is more suited to laundry rooms, sun rooms, children’s play rooms, work-shops and so on, and includes simple metal-framed, full-glazed conservatories.

The most important parts of the structure of your new extension are the foundations, which support the walls and spread the load evenly across the ground. Consequently, their design is quite critical and should be carried out after consulting your local Building Code which will specify the type of foundations required for the job and the depth to which they must be dug, based on local ground conditions.

To be effective, foundations must lie on firm, stable sub-soil, and depending on the soil type this may mean digging to a depth of 3ft or more. The type of soil will also dictate the type of foundations needed, as will the method of construction of the extension.

For a purpose-built extension with brick or block walls, it is usual to lay concrete in a trench and build the walls on top but for lighter constructions, such as prefabricated buildings, a slab of concrete known as a “raft” is more common.

The most common form of foundation is the “strip” type. With these a layer of concrete at least 6in thick is spread along the bottom of the trench, leveled off, then the walls built on top. Normally, a width of 18in is quite adequate, but at depths below 3ft or on certain types of weak soil a width of 30in or more is preferable — often with steel reinforcement added.

The trench-fill foundation is filled with concrete to within 6in of the ground level and the walls begun.

The concrete for this type of foundation should be at least 20in deep and about 6in wider than the width of the wall. The sides of the trench must be vertical to prevent any possibility of the load above causing the foundations to topple.

The walls of a habitable extension to your house must be of cavity construction; that is comprising an outer leaf of bricks and an inner leaf of bricks or. more usually, concrete insulating blocks with a 2in Pit- gap in between giving a wall thickness of 1 lin, although the cavity may be 3in wide to accommodate polystyrene slab insulation and still leave an air gap.

Even if the main part of your house has solid outer walls, the Building Code specifies that your extension must be of cavity wall construction.

Partitions can be used in most homes to make best use of available space, turning large or awkwardly- shaped rooms into more manageable accommodation.

The large, L-shaped room is common to many homes, yet it is not the most convenient of shapes to furnish or heat. By building a partition with an access door across one of the legs you can produce two smaller, rectangular rooms which are much cozier and more easily heated.

Long, narrow rooms also produce their own particular problems, such as giving the impression of being like tunnels or causing difficulties in positioning furniture. The tendency is to put everything around the walls, leaving a large bare area in the center of the room.

By building a partition that spans, say, only half of the room’s width, you can create two distinct areas (for living and dining perhaps) without completely losing the feeling of being in one large room.

Furniture can then be grouped more effectively into sitting arrangements and dining areas. You can achieve the same effect by building a waist-high partition across the room, but in this case there would be much more of an open-plan feel to the room. Such a partition would also provide some useful shelf space along the top, or for a tier of shelves above.

Obviously, if you are using a partition to make two rooms out of one, you will have to arrange access to the new room. The easiest way is to build a door in the partition.

However, this means that you must walk through one room to reach the other and that might not always be convenient, especially if the rooms are used as bedrooms. To overcome this problem you can either make a new doorway through one of the original walls of the room or build a second partition at right angles to the first to form a small lobby, from which both rooms can be entered separately and maintain a sense of privacy.

A bathroom formed by partitioning off part of a larger room. The confined space is visually enlarged by the overall tiling of the walls and bath platform, and light is admitted through a glass block wall.

An important point to consider when partitioning a room is the availability of daylight in both new rooms. You may find that the only suitable position for the partition means that one room has no window at all. In this situation, you can provide a fair degree of natural light by incorporating panes of glass (clear or frosted depending on the purpose of the room) along the top of the partition. You could even include a glass door.

Partitions can be very useful for creating storage. By building what is effectively a false wall across the end of a room, you can use the space between it and the original wall for inset shelving, cabinets and even walk-in closets. This can be very handy if there is a small room next to a large one, since by cutting an opening in the original dividing wall and arranging the internal divisions of the storage space partition at right angles to the first to form a small lobby, from which both rooms can be entered separately and maintain a sense of privacy.

An important point to consider when partitioning a room is the availability of daylight in both new rooms. You may find that the only suitable position for the partition means that one room has no window at all. In this situation, you can provide a fair degree of natural light by incorporating panes of glass (clear or frosted depending on the purpose of the room) along the top of the partition. You could even include a glass door.

Partitions can be very useful for creating storage. By building what is effectively a false wall across the end of a room, you can use the space between it and the original wall for inset shelving, cabinets and even walk-in closets. This can be very handy if there is a small room next to a large one, since by cutting an opening in the original dividing wall and arranging the internal divisions of the storage space carefully, you will provide a storage facility for both rooms.

When space becomes cramped at home, it is not always necessary to move to a larger house to solve the problem. Often, more usable space can be arranged using the resources already at your disposal – and usually at a much lower cost and less frustrating than that of moving.

There are several ways in which you can gain a substantial amount of extra living space in your home – from simply partitioning off larger rooms to making two or more smaller rooms, opening up under-stair areas, or removing a wall to enlarge a room to converting attic space and building a single-storey, ground floor extension.

Room divisions, and very often attic conversions, can be carried out without the need for filing with your local building department, but a permit may be required to build a separate extension. As local laws can vary considerably in different locations, it is always best to check first with your local building code.

The size of a room, its shape, and the number of rooms you have can each present particular problems – a growing family may mean you could do with more bedrooms, or an additional bathroom to ease that early morning traffic jam, perhaps even separate dens for the older and younger elements of the family. Many people have also to look after elderly or infirm relatives, in which case an extra powder room or bathroom and bedroom can be very useful if not a full-scale extension.

Extra rooms can be provided by partitioning off larger ones with wood-framed walls complete with access doors. In the same way, large open-plan rooms can be divided into smaller, cozier rooms if that is what you prefer. In the latter case, a partial or half-height partition would provide an effective division between, say, the dining and living areas of a room while retaining the spacious, airy feel of an open-plan layout.

Using similar skills, you can improve the light of gloomy rooms by installing larger windows and, perhaps, even more than one.

Converting an attic to provide extra living space may be the answer to solving the needs of a growing family and their interests. It will obviously involve more expense than a simple room division, (particularly if you need to install a window and staircase) but it is worth remembering that such a conversion will add greatly to the overall value of your house.