Mention the idea of home extensions to some people and the image that emerges might be a very specific type of extension, such as adding a one-storey space on the side of a home or attaching a conservatory to the back.

However, anyone who simply looks around at different house extensions in the West Midlands will see that on street after street, there is a lot of variety. If you thinking about an extension, there may be more possibilities than you have considered.

Before starting on any extension project it is essential to do some research and decide exactly what your best option is. That may depend on many factors: Firstly, what you need or want, be it more living space, a work room, somewhere to entertain or another bedroom. You should also take into account your budget and where the available space lies for possible expansion.

For example, you may wish to add only a single-storey extension to your home, perhaps to create a kitchen space. This would make sense either if your house is a bungalow or if building something of more storeys would either be too costly or intrusive to your neighbours.

Garage conversions can be a good move if you don’t want to park your car inside it even in winter, but if you do still need your garage for its conventional use, there is always the option of building an above-garage room. This can be a novel and innovative option that may work particularly well when there is no other available space.

Smaller extensions based on a smaller budget may not create a large amount of extra room, but in the right place they may be ideal, for example by providing space for a kitchen diner, or making a bathroom larger to fit a walk-in shower unit.

These examples are just some of the possibilities, which shows that with innovation and creativity, you don’t have to stick to any stereotypical ideas of what an extension looks like and can instead go for one that makes the difference to your home that you need.