What Garage Design is Best For You?

At The Garage Specialist, we’ve had the pleasure of crafting timber and oak framed garage kits for customers across the UK for over 30 years. As a result, we’ve seen a wide variety of garage design ideas and uses once they’ve been fully built and installed, including:

  • Home offices and studies
  • Living spaces and gaming rooms
  • Art and photography studios
  • Gyms and exercise spaces
  • Workshops for mechanics, pottery, and carpentry
  • Storage spaces for tools and garden furniture

Below, we’ve set out a few professional suggestions of how each of these ideas might fit into the garages we’ve got for sale. Take a look to get some inspiration for your new wooden garage, or get in touch with us right away if you’re ready to place your order.

Our Single-Storey Garages

garage design

Single-storey wooden garages may not look like they can offer a lot in terms of ideas for your property, but there are a number of hidden uses you can uncover and utilise once you’ve had one installed. Every bay can become its own unique storage space, even if you only have a one-bay garage! All you’ll need to do is put up some shelving units in the smallest build we offer and you can have that little bit of extra room for anything from paint cans to power tools.

Anything from a double garage upwards can be turned into extra space. The more bays you have in your garage, the more you can make use of the room provided. When they’re not being used by the family cars or visiting guests, they can easily be filled up by anything you need to be kept safe, from storage boxes and crates to furniture and more. If you’ve always wanted an open plan workshop, you could even keep a bay or two reserved for you to use!

Our Garages with Rooms Above

garage design

Sometimes, you might find that your outdoor space isn’t quite large enough for all the things you have planned to do, or all the garden buildings you’d like to have. When this is the case, you might consider garage design ideas that offer you a room above the garage space itself. This gives you the room you’d like for your work or any hobbies you want to make some room for on your property, while still allowing you all the room you need to park as many cars as you have.

With a room above your garage, you could soon adapt the space into a study and reading space if you’re in need of some peace and quiet away from the rest of your household. It could also become a great second living space if you’ve been thinking about where in your property you could fit a gaming area for you, your friends, or your kids that wouldn’t interrupt anyone else. If you’ve got a hobby like art or photography, you could even find enough room upstairs for an entire studio.

Our Large Complexes

oak garage complex

The biggest kits and the largest complexes we offer have endless potential and possibilities attached, with room for work, storage, and hobbies alike. Depending on the kit you choose, you could be getting your very own home office right next to a space where you park your cars, a place to keep logs for your burner, or even a couple of rooms you can use for hobbies and relaxation as you see fit!

Imagine having a potter’s or carpenter’s workshop, or even an art or photography studio on your ground floor, with more than enough room for garden tools or furniture if you still need a storage shed for all the other bits and pieces you keep, and then all the space you could need above it for rest and relaxation when you’re done for the day. You could even turn the entire upper floor of the building into a gym if you’ve always wanted a space where you can work out in private once you’ve finished working.

Getting Planning Permission for Your Garage Room Ideas

Whenever you’re intending to build something on your property, planning permission will be a cause for concern. It’s important to know whether or not you need planning permission for a garage before you start, and in most cases, you’ll be relieved to know it shouldn’t be necessary. 

Small, single-storey timber and oak framed garages are usually considered to be permitted development in the UK, so you should be able to go ahead and build these on your property. This will stay the case as long as:

  • The garage isn’t built in front of a wall forming the principal elevation
  • It’s not built within two metres of a property’s boundary
  • It doesn’t have any verandas, balconies, or raised platforms (platforms shouldn’t be more than 0.3 metres in height)
  • It doesn’t cover more than half the land around the original house
  • It’s not built to the side of a property on designated land (a national park, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a World Heritage Site, or the Broads)
  • It’s not more than 10 square metres in area (when built 20 metres from a property on designated land)
  • It’s not within the curtilage of a listed building

You’re more likely to need to go through the process of obtaining planning permission if you are planning on building a larger, more complex garage with multiple rooms or storeys. 

There may also be requirements that are specific to your area of the country, so if you need a full list of rules and regulations around planning permission in your local area, please contact your local authority. 

Got Ideas for an Oak or Timber Frame Garage?

If you’ve made plans for a timber or oak frame garage on your property and you’ve got all your ideas together for its use once it’s installed, why not buy the kit you’ll need to build it? Get in touch with The Garage Specialist today and we’ll provide you with the handcrafted wooden garage space you need in the form of a construction kit, made to your specifications and prepared for a quick, easy assembly you can do yourself. 

Your kit can be made and then delivered anywhere in the UK as soon as the work has been signed off, so you won’t have to wait long for the garage design that will complete your property.