Ideas for Building Additions on a Home

Family Room

• An older living room, typically isolated at the front of a house, is often ill suited to today's lifestyle. Families enjoy gathering in the kitchen. And if you're the family cook, you like to be part of everything else while you're in the kitchen. A family room addition at the back of the house, where the kitchen is usually located, is ideal. While you're adding the family room, reconfigure the kitchen to make the space one open area. The living room at the front of the house can become a study or perhaps even an office.

Kitchen Bump-out

• A small bump-out can be just enough to give you the space and ambiance that you want. Use the additional space for larger appliance, a desk or an improved traffic pattern in the kitchen. Depending on where your kitchen is, you could add a door to make unloading groceries from the car more convenient. Or add French doors opening to the patio to integrate the space with the outdoors.

Patio

• Backyard patios can become the foundation for a three-season addition. Add a roof, and screen in the entire patio, or build partial walls and screen the rest.

Gym

• A home gym is an ideal addition for a family with teenagers or empty nesters who are committed to working out. The addition of a small breezeway connecting the house and the gym can give you the psychological lift of leaving your home behind to head to a fitness club. It just so happens that your fitness club is 25 seconds away from your bedroom and kitchen. Don't forget to add a comfortable area for sitting so you can take a breather when the workout gets a little too intense.

Apartment

• A full-scale addition can include a small kitchen, bedroom, bath and living area to give a sense of independence to an elderly parent who has decided to live with you or a grown child who has temporarily returned home. This kind of suite also holds the potential of become an income generator, as you could someday rent it out. Situations calling for less independence and a higher degree of security can mean building a suite with a connecting entry to the house. An independent living area is also a good alternative for a family that needs to accommodate the needs of someone who is disabled. Building an addition while modifying certain portions of the main house may be easier than retrofitting an entire home.