Design Ideas to Turn Your Attic Into More Than a Dusty Storage Room

It’s always important to appreciate what you have. But this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make the most of it. Leaving the attic as nothing more than auxiliary storage for old furniture, boxes of forgotten items, and a few family heirlooms are one way to utilize the storage. But not many homeowners realize the true potential of their attics.

This little room that sits all the way at the top of your home can become something far more special than many homeowners can possibly imagine. And if you utilize the full potential of your attic, you could create something that is wholly unique and make it an additional room in your home that’s beloved by all. Depending on your needs, there's a variety of enticing modern attic design trends to choose from.

What to Consider Before Transforming Your Attic

All the Essentials of Transforming an Attic

Before you get into the myriad of transformation ideas, there are several important factors you must consider when it comes to attic room design —the first and foremost being permits. You’ll need those if you’re going to be making any additions to the attic as well as if you’re extending any of the utilities, and so on. Without permits, you should not start any projects as you risk being fined by your local authorities. This is also a way to ensure that your project meets all the safety standards and no corners are cut.

Next, you need to consider your budget. While some ideas may be somewhat affordable, such as a library or a rec room, bigger projects like a whole accessory dwelling unit in your attic can cost anywhere from $50,000 and beyond the $100,000 mark. So you need to consider the fact that you will need a substantial amount of money if you’re looking to create something big. However, do take into account that every addition you make to your home is going to increase its value, which can really pay off when you plan to sell it.

Finally, consider the space you’re working with. Attics come in all shapes and sizes. Yours may be just big enough to fit a rec room, but not suitable for a gym as the roof may be too slanted and low. In other cases, you might have plenty of room to create an entire guest room with a functioning bathroom and kitchen. This is why it’s so important to never overestimate the amount of space you’re working with unless you want everyone to lean every time they need to walk from one side of the room to another. 

Accessory Dwelling Unit

The Extra Space Your Guests Need

What better place to start than with something that’s practical and will come in handy for a variety of occasions? Say you have friends or family over and you invite them to stay in your home for the night. Surely, there are better options than having them sleep on the couch in the living room. Accessory dwelling units come in many shapes and sizes, one of the most popular ones being the attic. 

What makes attic ADUs so convenient is that they are attached to the house itself, which means that you won’t need to worry about extending the utilities of your house to another area of your property, as you would with a shed or garage ADU. For this, you will need to bring in the plumbing to create a proper functioning bathroom, a kitchen, and proper attic insulation that can accommodate the guests that are staying over. It’s just a great way to make use of the extra space in your home that would have otherwise housed dusty boxes and old furniture.

The one catch to attic ADUs is that they can get quite expensive on the count of having to install proper plumbing and all the other requisites, such as furniture for attic rooms needed to make it into a fully liveable room. ADU costs can start at around $50,000, so you would need to make quite a big investment to make it work. This investment, however, will pay off if not for the simple pleasure of having a gorgeous extra living space, then by increasing your home value significantly.

Isolated Office

How You Can Work from Home and Get Your Stuff Done

You love your household but often hate the noise they love to make. Kids watching their favorite cartoons with very loud volumes, the sound of vacuums, people talking on the phone, or even someone sneezing could disrupt your workflow. Creating a little office nook for yourself that is isolated from the rest of the household is one of the best ways you can focus on your work without having to drive to the nearest coffee shop.

A simple desk, with some shelves as well as basic decor that can help you focus on your work, is all you need. Since the attic is by nature a more isolated area of the house, you won’t have to worry about any bothersome noises distracting you from work. 

Attic Gym

The Benefits of Having a Personal Gym In Your Attic

For those who want to pump iron in the privacy of their home, then the attic gym or training room is among the most sought-after attic room ideas out there. What makes it such a practical option is that very little effort is needed to transform attic space into a fully functional gym. You don’t need any overcomplicated stylizations or ornamentation; a simple attic design will suffice as you won’t be going there to admire the art.

The important aspect of an at-home gym is flooring. Since it needs to support a lot of heavy gym equipment, it needs to be sturdy and solidly built. The last thing you want is to trip over a floorboard while carrying heavy dumbbells. Other than that, you will also need gym equipment, which can get a little expensive. However, you can find DIY options that cut the costs significantly. 

Game Room

Become the Host of All Future Game Nights

Hosting guests is not simply about giving them something to eat and drink, and then sending them on their merry way. You need to find ways of entertaining them as well. If a simple conversation about the most beloved topics like politics and religion does not interest them, then why not give them some escapist entertainment instead.

Dedicating your attic to creating a game or recreation room is a great way to have an evening of laughs and some friendly competition. Depending on what goes in your game room, it can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000. You can get away with more affordable options, such as a dartboard, video game consoles, and a few board games. But for a more luxurious and VIP scene, you can invest in a classy pool table, home theater set, and even a few retro arcade cabinets to spice things up. 

Household Library

How to Turn Your Attic Into a Library

Taking it easy and enjoying a good book is one of homeowners’ favorite pastimes when they have the proper area for it. The ​​attic transformation required to build a library is by far the most forgiving in terms of both pricing and installation. You can get away with building a library in your attic with around $2,000 and have it function exactly the way you would expect.

At the end of the day, all you really need are a few shelves and comfortable seating to create a library, making this attic conversion work. Also, make sure to look into proper lighting. Since you’re in the attic, it would be a great idea to have skylights. As for artificial lighting in this attic room design, you need to make sure that it is functional. Move style and design to one side as the importance here should be placed on functionality and illumination. Once you have all that down, the library attic design should be complete. 

Art Studio

Bring Out the Artist In You With a Personal Studio

For something that is a little more compact, an art studio is one of the quaintest and most fun small attic room ideas. You really don’t need much in the way of furniture, other than a few drawers and cabinets for you to place your art equipment and tools in and onto. Place all your art equipment around the area and you can transform the attic into a room for your creative endeavors.

It’s important to keep your studio slightly separated from the rest of the household. You likely have a few butterfingers living in your home and they can very easily break some of the equipment or ruin your work. This is why when looking for attic room inspiration, the artists in the family always look for a secure area in the house to create their own studio. It’s just secluded enough to keep everything in it safe, but not impossible to get to. 

Wardrobe

The Advantage of Having a Dedicated Dressing Room

Does someone in the household love dressing up and owning metric tons of clothing? Well, then you can give them their own walk-in closet where they can keep all their favorite clothes in a tidy place where no one else can get to them. An entire room dedicated to clothing has its advantages. In a big household where everyone is getting dressed for a big event, it’s easy to lose pieces of clothing at the very last minute.

A dedicated wardrobe or dressing room allows you to organize all your clothing in a neat and orderly fashion (these puns just write themselves). No more bickering and fighting to find the favorite dress, no more pushing and shoving for the full-body mirror, and no more losing the second pair of those winter holiday socks that everyone hates so much except for the wearer. Everything is easily accessible and conveniently placed. A walk-in closet is quite a simple attic room design when you consider what needs to be placed in it. Other than some cabinets, drawers, wardrobes, as well as a few stools, mirrors, and perhaps a table, there isn’t much else you’d need to invest in for this attic interior design, making it both convenient to build and just as convenient to use.