Scoping for ideas for a 'garage'

Hi all. Well it's a long story but I've managed to get planning permission to build a garage on agricultural land next to my house. In the UK this is not always that straight forward as planning authorities are not always that keen on what they see as encroaching on 'open countryside'. We live in a kind of small (or really small if you're comparing it to houses in the states) 3 bed house that was fine for me and my wife when we moved in but now we have 2 young boys we needed a bit more living space and the garage that's part of the house was looking in danger of becoming that space. Luckily the Ferrari can now move into her new lodgings when they are built so that will not be a snag (or divorse as the case may be ) Just kidding, but I'd loose that argument eventually.

The new build will only have the Ferrari in half of the downstairs as there's a protected tree (don't get me started!) in front of the other half. Upstairs will be accessed from steps outside and will be a room of about 6.5 meters by about 4, kind of got it ear marked as an office/study. Downstairs is where I'm looking for ideas for. I've read through the 'dream garage' threads on many forums but thought I'd see what ideas you guys may have.

It'll be fully insulated (including the garage door) and centrally heater. Walls plastered, probably spots in the ceiling, have water and power.

One idea I've had is maybe a rustic slate floor, home bar, rustic pool table, wide screen tv (that'll only pick up the sports channels) with view of Ferrari in other half. Maybe some oak beams? Anyway, that's one idea. Maybe the pool table is a bit optimistic, although they are smaller over here than an American Pool table is, but the idea of my own pub or bar with my Ferrari in it appeals. It's daft but it appeals.

So the floor is open. Any ideas considered, pictures especially welcome as I lack imagination. The space you have to 'play with' is about 6 meters by 3.5 and will have views of a Ferrari in the other half. Over to you, guys.

 

Andrew, reference what I said in pm this is the aspect I was talking about. For others, part of the conditions for gaining planning permission is that I plant a tree or two so the garage isn't "prominent" when viewed from a local road. This is the view being referred to. I can see what they mean, it'll really stick out from this vantage point......My house is in the middle of the shot, kind of in the distance I would argue (not the building in the field, we're talking right in the distance!)...
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Not really. Planners want a total landscaping scheme together with types exact locations sizes etc of plants . The scheme will then be protected for 7 years (I'm not making this stuff up!) during which time if any individual plant dies etc I have to replace it with the same variety unless I have written consent to plant a different type etc..... it goes on.

Barking mad but hey, got my permission to build so can't get too hot under the collar about it.

 

Anyway Andrew, lured you onto this thread, what would you do with downstairs? You've got 6meters by 6 meters to play with, more or less, with a 348 parked on one side.

 

Just so you know what you've got to play with, this is a shot of the elevations. Small red square on house is currently garage with Ferrari in, red building to right in red is obviously the new garage - little bit of an improvement. It's a bit wider than it looks as I had the eaves raised a bit to give more space in the room above so it's taller than it 'should' be, making it look thinner.
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Thanks Andrew. I think upstairs will be an office type arangement (although I do bugg*r all work so no idea why I think I might need one!). At present that's just accessed from the steps up the outside. Another idea might be to bin the office idea (sort of dull anyway) put the pool table up there as a proper pool room as it'll be bigger and just have the 'pub' or 'coffee house' downstairs. Could maybe add a small internal staircase if the 'pool room' is up there as I'll have the space without the pool table down below.

Would have to convince the other half that both up and down need to be fun rooms though, think I'm getting away with the 'pub' idea downstairs with the promise of a quiet place away from kids upstairs for her to be able to work as well (and unlike me she actually does work pretty hard).

 

Both good points. Think I could possibly cater for both, sort of a pub that sells coffee out of licencing hours?

 

Was looking at a pool table from these guys, either rustic or traditional, you can spec them how you like with wood colour, type, pocket types, cloth colour (quite like the red).

Pool Tables | Luxury Pool Tables Ltd

 

Could live with that, think they look great and love playing pool. Not sure if the way forward would be internal staircase with just lounging about area downstairs then upstairs one of their pool diners so you can just put the top on, move it to the side of the room and hey presto, you've got your office when needed.

Pub I used to hang out in when I was at school had a pool room upstairs, would just kind of feel right I think........

 

I kind of left this thread hanging so thought I may as well pop in and finish it off. I got my garage built and used some of the ideas Andrew posted above so thought it fair to show him the results.

Firstly, the reason for the new build. In many newish hoses in the UK the idea of a decent sized garage doesn't really occur to the planners, they go for a bear minimum and this was the size my 348 was having to put up with before. Very much impacted on my enjoyment of owning the car based on the fact I could hardly get at her other than pushing her out for a drive:
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Anyway, I've never been one for half measures and so had a slightly different garage built. It's built to 'house' specs ie fully heated, insulated above what is required for a house here has sotlighting etc. It's a big change:
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As an aside I took the oportunity to put in a den for my 2 boys at the end of our garden, you can just see it under the trees. Extending the garden behind the new garage gave us a bit more space so I could fence off this area under the trees. My youngest practically lives in there now.
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This gives an idea of what the side of our house used to look live compared to now and also shows off one of the additions to the build - having stood up on the scaffolding during the build I decided to add the small platform at the top of the steps, this shows why:
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Right, to the interior. I went a bit minimalist as Andrew suggested so there's not a lot in there and I may add to it but having seen where my car was before, this is where she is now. I also got hold of a Ferrari tool cart and this gives an idea of the 'change of scale' old garage to new (excuse the 'artist's impression' of the blinds that I added to this shot but can't find the original):
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You can probably see the ceiling is a bit higher than normal, in fact it's over 11 feet up there so a bit of a cavern. You can also probably spot the edge of what takes up the other half of the garage - my golf sim. Now while playing golf in the same room as your Ferrari may seem to be tempting fate a tad, she is in fact pretty well protected.

As well as being a golf sim this setup is linked up to my TV feed so I can watch the F1 or Rugby on an 11 foot screen in the room with my car, this necessitated the addition of the sofa. you can also see the rosso corsa blinds are up now.

Bottom picture gives an idea of my car under the spots.
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Right to upstairs. The idea was this was to be my wife's office - I get downstairs she gets up, so we bought her a nice oak desk ........
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The more observant of you may have seen somthing sneaking into that last shot.

Well she really didn't need the WHOLE of the upstairs so I 'decorated' it with some small 'furnishings'. The last picture doesn't do the table justice (or rather shows how rubbish my photography skills are - the spots upstairs are on dimmers and on 2 circuits, one is just 3 spots over the pool table, the other is a circuit of spots that can be angled out down the walls and obviously dimmed off. The effect is really pretty good.

You can probably make out that when I got the place built I got them to build a wine rack into the wall over by the barrel bar. The cupboard nearest that has a small beer fridge in in case that's your preference.
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Thanks mate, certainly a small change from before

Anyway, that's my new garage