Give yourself some breathing space

17 November, 2015

A garden room can be a fast, easy and inexpensive way to expand your home

There can’t be many people who wouldn’t welcome an extra room in their home. Whether it’s just a quiet space to get away from the hubbub of family life, or a room designed specifically to be a home office, an art studio or a mini gym, having such a space can be a quick route to harmony and happiness. But the only way to get such a space is usually by either extending or selling up and buying a bigger house – both expensive and time-consuming options. A cheaper, faster but just as effective way is to have a garden room built.
JML Garden Rooms, a family firm based in Auchterarder, has been building these spaces for the past decade. “We offer a range of standard and bespoke garden buildings,” says Katie Langley. “We can manage every step of the project for you, from planning (if required) to lighting, flooring, decking and other extras such as phonelines and high-speed cabling. And for those wanting something super-snazzy, we have partnerships with brilliant media, lighting, interior design and paint-finishing individuals who are all leading experts in their fields.”

JML’s garden rooms are usually clad in Siberian larch or western red cedar but these are not the only options: “We recently completed a beautiful one in stone to reflect the client’s own home and surroundings,” says Kate. The Highlander has a pitched roof of either heavy-duty slates or cedar shingles

This is what appealed to the family who own this example of JML’s Highlander range. “We wanted to create a family room we could all enjoy,” says the owner. “The kids use it as a cinema room for their ‘movie nights’, my husband John works out on his rowing machine (watching reruns of the Olympics on the flatscreen TV for encouragement!), I use it for my yoga, and we all enjoy it for family barbecues. It is fully kitted out with broadband, audiovisual connections and a Sonos music system.”
Measuring 5m by 2.8m, the room makes a sizable addition to the house – so did it require planning approval? The answer is no. So long as the structure is to the rear of the house, is a single storey, won’t be used as a separate dwelling and doesn’t take up more than 50 per cent of the garden area, there is generally no need to seek planning permission, at least in Scotland. It means that the process of designing and building such a structure is remarkably rapid.