Your first design meeting with one of our designers is an exciting step towards your self-build oak frame garden room. A little prep beforehand will define your brief, and help you be clear about your vision and goals. This will help achieve the perfect garden room in oak for you.

What is the extension for?

This is an obvious question so list the obvious answers – but delve a little deeper too. Is it a kitchen to eat and relax in, as well as cook? Is it a sitting room where you want to read the newspaper in the morning? Having an understanding of the activities that will go on in the space will help shape its size. Consider also the layout, heating requirements, windows and so on – and how oak can define these different areas.

How will you use this room?

Be emotive here. For example: ‘I’d like to sit in a chair by the window with my mid-morning coffee and enjoy looking out into the garden.’ Building a visual picture will help orientate windows for views and light. This will take into account where the sun falls at different times of the day and measures to mitigate too much heat/brightness – or encourage more.

Which room will the extension attach to?

Think about the flow. If the extension is for a new dining room, but you have a play area between here and the kitchen, then this layout has the potential to be hazardous. If it’s a separate seating area attached to the kitchen, do you want doors – or not?

How do you want to access the garden?

Side or rear? Bi-folds, sliding or French doors? Contemporary or traditional?
The door style/position impacts on where you can place furniture in the room and needs to open onto a terrace, patio or path. Doors with large amounts of glazing and less framework will give you a bigger ‘picture window’ view. Oak frames add more character.

Which way will the garden room face?

Work out the orientation of your garden so your designer can be thinking about how to make the most of solar gain and provision for solar glare, if it is needed. Roof lanterns in our orangeries are great for drawing in ambient light throughout the whole day and work well for north-facing aspects.

How big do you want to go?

It’s good to have a rough idea of the floor plan size*, especially if you want the room to be multi-purpose – a kitchen-diner, for example. You might have a certain kitchen layout in mind, existing furniture that needs to fit in, or an idea for bespoke shelving to display trinkets and books. Make a note of the dimensions of these important pieces so your designer can take them into account.
*See planningportal.co.uk for more details on extension sizes that fall under permitted development. Planning approval will be needed for bigger projects – our team of designers can advise.

How much oak do you want?

Sounds like a silly question but the reality is we design all kinds of projects –garden rooms with huge vaulted oak ceilings to those with pretty oak bays and beams. Self-build magazines like Build It and Homebuilding & Renovating are a good source of inspiration. Collate pictures of garden rooms and extensions and think about doors, windows and even roof shapes – the smaller details are just as useful so your designer can get a real feel for your taste.

Any potential obstacles?

What do the other houses in the area look like? How close will the garden room be to the neighbours? Make a note of where the drains lie – for example, if they’re on the other side of your house this can be overcome with a drainage pump.

What’s your budget?

Revealing your budget won’t commit you to this figure as a final cost, but will help your designer know how far they can take the design – with appropriate product recommendations. During the design process, we can adjust visuals to show more or less oak so you can see the differences in design versus cost

What will make your project a complete success?

Think about how you want your garden room to enhance the way you live. Again, be emotive to paint a clear picture. For example: ‘I’m looking forward to sitting in a bright room to sew or read, and feel comfortable whatever the weather or time of year.’

Achieve your ideal self-build garden room with the help from Welsh Oak Frame.