Great Room Addition Ideas

Pre-Fab

• You might not have considered a pre-fabricated home addition. The addition is built in a factory after you supply the company with measurements and other requirements for a great room. Working with a factory, you control the costs and secure the necessary space. A factory also ships your addition to your location and sets it up to fit seamlessly with the rest of the home.

  Shop around for manufacturers of home additions and pick the one with the best reputation for quality building. Also, look for the use of green building principles, the ability of the factory to conform to local building codes, and the energy savings you might realize given the factory's building materials.

Online Design

• Design a great room addition using online design tools or using a website service that gives you design proposals from professional designers. This helps you consider space needs, architectural requirements and special design features. These details will come in handy when you shop around for a homebuilder. Even when you get proposals, you aren't committed to buying them. You can take your ideas and present them to a builder to modify the project according to your budget and your home's conditions.

Closed-In Porch

• One approach to the great room design is to remodel the back porch that is under truss into a family room. One drawback is that your roofline may not offer you the option for vaulted ceilings. However, you can work with a homebuilder to make custom features inside the walls, such as adding a half-bath, a fireplace, French doors or built-in shelves.

Square Room

• If you like simplicity, add a square room on the back or side of the house. If there is already an exterior window or door, it is easy for a builder to turn that opening into an entrance into the new great room. A builder also ensures the new living space is permitted on your property based on local building codes. He also ensures there is a way to match the roofline without increasing your building costs too much. Adding a perfect square, such as an 18 ft. by 18 ft. room, behind your home provides more space than many master bedrooms and living rooms.