How to Create a Room for Your Hobbies
Many of us have hobbies we like to do at home, such as papercraft, sewing and pottery. They’re a great way to fill our spare time with fun and productive activities while reducing stress and anxiety.
But the benefits of doing hobbies at home can soon be outweighed by the clutter it causes around the home. To reduce mess and keep living space useable, you may want to invest in a dedicated room for your hobbies. So, read on for tips and advice on how to create a room for your hobbies.
Making Space
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The first thing you’ll need to do is to identify a suitable space in your home. You may be lucky enough to have a spare bedroom or a converted loft. But if not, you’ll need to get more creative to make some space.
A garden room is a good idea for those who like crafting or painting, as you’re closer to nature. This makes it a calming and inspirational space to use. You can spend between £5,000 and £20,000 on a garden room, so it’s more affordable than building an extension.
But if you don’t have the garden space to do this, you may find converting the garage is an alternative option to consider. We don’t tend to keep our car in the garage anymore, so they’re often an under-used space. At between £10,000 and £20,000, the garage conversion cost is typically more affordable than extending. So, it’s a cost-effective solution.
Workspace Design
Once you’ve identified a suitable space to dedicate to your hobbies, you need to think carefully about its design. Good planning will ensure it’s comfortable to use and has a practical workspace with ample storage.
In your design and planning, remember to include insulation and heating, as a cold garden room or converted garage or loft won’t be nice to sit in for long periods of time. And you want your hobby to be enjoyable, so creature comforts are essential.
Think about a worktop, bench or desk space that’s ergonomically shaped and set at a practical height. If you’re doing a hobby such as painting, you may want a desk that can rise and fall in height and tilt at different angles. A good chair or seat is equally important, even if you plan to stand up while you work.
This may be an adjustable office chair, an ergonomic kneeling chair or simply a comfy or reclining chair that you can relax and take a break in. If you’re not sure what you need, head to a furniture showroom or store to try a few out in person.
Creating Storage
With any hobby, storage is going to be an important part of your dedicated room. What type of storage you’ll need will depend on the type of hobby you have or crafts you do. If it’s woodwork or jewellery making, for example, you’ll need safe but accessible tool storage over your bench or worktop, as well as extra space to store materials.
Whereas if you’re sewing or knitting, you’ll need a way to organise needles, plus shelves and racks for cotton, fabric and wool. This needs to be near your sewing machine or main workspace so you don’t need to keep getting up and down while you craft.
Most hobbies benefit from shelves and cupboards that are easy to keep organised. Pigeonholes are ideal for slotting balls of wool, sheets of card and other things in. Using these means, you can arrange supplies by colour or size, and they’ll be easy to access.
Smaller items can be stored neatly on shelves in labelled baskets, jars or crates. Alternatively, drawers with dividers fitted inside work well. And wall mounting a metal or wooden rod is a great way to store and dispense reels of ribbon, string, wire and tape.
Bringing in Light
Finally, when creating your hobby room, you need to think about light. There’s no doubt you’ll need as much as possible. So, maximising natural and artificial light is important.
If you’re in a loft space, add in multiple Velux windows or similar roof lights. And if you’re converting a garage, try to build in as much window space as possible, prioritising the sides that catch the sun or look out over the garden.
Using slatted blinds or shutters instead of curtains is a good idea, as you can open them right up or adjust them to filter the light when needed.
A fully adjustable task lamp is ideal to boost the amount of light while you work. If you don’t want it taking up valuable workspace, install a wall-mountable version with a hinged arm. Alternatively, rise-and-fall ceiling light with a smart bulb or dimmer will give you a flexible way to light your hobby room.
