I bet you can easily think of at least ten ways you could use an extra room in your home.

Whether it’s having an office space other than your kitchen countertop, a spare room where your in-laws can stay, or even a space where the kids can be free to be a little messy, we all seem to want square footage we don’t have.

Luckily there are a few solutions I’ve discovered that don’t require taking a sledgehammer to the side of your home or even considering a move.

And I don’t know about you, but the thought of moving is enough for me to explore all the alternative options, so here’s some of the best:

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Split a room into two

You might have more room than you think, especially if you have a floorplan that gets a little dicey in spots.

For example, many open floor plans look great at first, but then you start filling your space and realise you’re left with a crammed room in one area and an awkward blank space in another.

Whether it’s an awkwardly placed corner or an overly large room that you feel compelled to fill with more stuff, try doing a little rearranging and then placing a divider that creates a whole other separate space.

You would be surprised how much more of your home you can utilise with the addition of a strategically placed divider.

This is a great option should you have a large room. Most homes unfortunately, will not have a room large enough for this option, therefore the following ideas coming up may be more for you.

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• 6 ways to declutter your house
• Create your very own parents retreat

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Convert your garage

Garages need not be reserved solely for the cars and the terrible grunge-revival band your teenage son is trying to put together.

With some craftsmanship and a vision you can transform your garage into an awesome space for an at-home office or a guest suite that allows your visitors some privacy while still being connected to your home.

Personally, I have a grand scheme of repurposing the garage for an in-home gym, which will give us some added storage space for our fitness items that currently live on the back porch. We’ll also save on our two over-priced monthly gym memberships. Score! The only issue with this tip is, where you put your cars?

Do be mindful that your cars may suffer from damage from the outside elements should they have to live outside after the garage conversion.

You just need to weigh up whether this option is worth your while with this in mind.

Move a room outside

I can’t be the only one with a mother-in-law that “jokes” about having her own house out back so she can come see her grandbabies whenever she wants.

Since most people, myself included, don’t have it in their budget to hire all the moving parts required to build a cabin out back, finding a company the provides pre-built additional room solutions, is the way to get quality space on a modest budget.

Now that’s something your mother-in-law can be happy about. Speaking from experience I can tell you this option your hubby will love.

There have been countless times my man has come home from the pub after having a couple too many drinky poos and I have found him asleep in our cabana in the backyard.

Win, win for us. He doesn’t keep me awake snoring in his drunken coma and he doesn’t feel guilty for waking me up in the middle of the night when he comes to bed. The joys of marriage.

Stack up your space

Who says kids should be entitled to their own room?

Sure, if there’s a drastic age difference it makes sense that kids have their own space, but if you’ve got two tiny tots that are on the same sleep schedule, make them share a room.

Not only does this free up some of your space, it’s also a great way for siblings to bond.

They may not think it’s a great experience at the time, but trust me, when college dorm living rolls around they’ll be thanking you for it.

Hire a storage shed

Let’s be honest with each other, sometimes we believe we don’t have enough space when the truth of the matter is we just have too much crap taking up our space.

Over the years, we accumulate stuff without a second thought that is until we’re tripping over all of it.

Of course, this comes long after we’ve forgotten the reason we needed all this stuff in the first place.

If you’re feeling the clutter overwhelm, try hiring a storage shed and packing it full of the unnecessary stuff. Do consider the cost factor here, is the money you spend on this going to be better spent elsewhere? If it is for a long term idea, maybe you would be better spending the money buying yourself that prefabricated backyard studio instead of throwing lots of your hard earn money down the drain.

No matter what option you choose to go with, know that with some creativity and a clear goal of what you need your extra space to do for you, there’s a solution out there that doesn’t require desperate measures.

Also, if you’re feeling some resistance on switching stuff up around the house, just tell the husband you might be able to make enough room for the addition of a man cave where he can watch sports and drink beer to his heart’s content. That should get him on board.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.com

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