What should you do with a barely-used Attic? It’s easy to think that there’s little you could do unless you have that attic properly converted. It’s no wonder that, according to a Nationwide survey mentioned by love PROPERTY, a loft conversion could boost your home’s value by as much as 21%.
However, unlocking this much extra value could depend on you adding another bedroom and bathroom, which might sound like quite a big ask – unlike the following small but impactful moves.
A Raised Platform
If your loft has been left largely untouched for many years, it could even lack proper flooring, with a series of trusses one of the only distractions from space’s exposed sea of insulation.
In this situation, you could create makeshift flooring from legs and chipboard – or, if you want the job to be done by a professional, utilize a service like the installation of loft boarding from Instaloft, allowing you to increase your home’s floor space by up to 50%.
Transparent Storage Boxes
Once your attic finally has stable flooring, you should have much more room in which to place storage compartments. By opting for clear boxes, you will quickly be able to see what’s in each – especially if you label those boxes as well.
Nonetheless, you should probably resist the urge to stack them – as, if your loft has sufficient head height, you could put those boxes on sturdy metal shelving instead. Then, you won’t risk harming your back in attempts to retrieve certain items, Real Homes implies.
A Shower
If showering is your preferred way to wash, you could easily rejoice in having a shower close at hand when you are up in the loft. However, you would need to have enough headroom for a shower, warns the Real Homes website, which also has further tips for adding a shower to the loft.
These tips include, if the loft lacks a good-sized window, fitting an extractor fan. You could also conceal an array of the required shower fittings to help you maximize the available space.
A Feature Wall
Usually, if you sought to make any room – a loft-based one or otherwise – look larger, you would likely be advised to paint that space in white. However, one disadvantage of doing so is that it could leave the room looking, well, a little too boring.
Therefore, you might want to think instead about adding a feature wall, such as one layered in patterned wallpaper that nonetheless remains light-hued to help reflect light around the room.
Reclaimed Materials
Yes, you can always buy mass-produced doors and accessories – but these can risk coming across as somewhat soulless once they are in your loft. For more of a rustic style, you could reuse old materials, such as by repurposing shelving units as drawers and making cupboard fronts from reclaimed doors.
You could even have a lot of fun poring images on the likes of Instagram and Pinterest to see how other people have refashioned old pieces – whether for a loft or another residential space.
