What Is A Bonus Room?

A bonus room is a room in a home that is not a kitchen, bathroom, family room, hallway or closet. These extra rooms are just that – a bonus – and are sometimes referred to as flex spaces. Typically, bonus rooms do not meet the local requirements for a legal bedroom (often requiring a closet and a window) but are still great, useful spaces.

Bonus rooms are popular because of the flexibility that they offer to homeowners. Whatever your needs or preferences – and even if they change over time – a bonus room can be adapted to best suit your needs. If you are looking to do renovations on your home, finishing a space to create a bonus room could be great for your family – and improve the value of your home.

Thinking about adding a bonus room to your home? Learn about the advantages and possibilities of bonus rooms in this blog post.

How Are Bonus Rooms Different From Other Rooms?

Bonus rooms are typically renovated spaces that are transformed to serve a function of the home. They might not be required for your home to be functional (like a bathroom or kitchen would be) but are just a nice extra space to have to customize to your family.

These rooms usually do not qualify as extra guest bedrooms due to some of the requirements a room must have to legally be considered a bedroom. They usually do not have a closet. Sometimes they don’t have a window, or even have four walls making them an actual room. They may just be in the form of a large open space at the top of the stairs.

While they don’t count as a bedroom, there are many advantages to having a bonus room in your home.

Advantages Of A Bonus Room

There are many advantages to having a bonus room in your home. Of course, an extra room will add square footage to your space and often adds to the home value. But there are many benefits from this bonus space to the owner’s life.

Home Value

A bonus room can positively impact a home’s appraised value. This bonus space can appeal to a wide variety of potential home buyers due to the flexible nature of a bonus room. House hunters can imagine the room working in many ways for their family, which makes this an attractive addition to most homes.

Privacy

A bonus room can add some much needed extra privacy to a home. Since bonus rooms are typically rooms with walls and a door, homeowners with open floor plans might appreciate some of the peace and quiet an extra room can provide. This can be great for watching movies, entertaining company or giving kids a separated space.

Flexibility

There is a lot of advantage to having some flexibility in a home’s floor plan. Throughout the course of living in a home, it might be worth it to have a room that can adapt to a homeowner’s needs as they change. Families with small kids can use a bonus space as a toy room, but it might transform into a movie room when they get older. Adults might use the space as an office as needed and could transform it into a hobby room after they retire. The possibilities really are endless.

Designing A Bonus Room

Every bonus room is different, and depending on the size, design and features of the space, it might serve one function better than another. The best way to utilize the extra space depends on the homeowner’s personal needs. Here are some ideas for how some homeowners have utilized the bonus rooms in their home.

Home Office

Homeowners that work from home can benefit from this extra space in the form of a home office. Some bonus rooms have a door, meaning that they can be closed for privacy and dedicated work time. But it can also be a home office space just to take care of your personal finances and family life if you only have a small area.

Kids Playroom

Parents with younger children might appreciate a designated playroom in their home. While it can be impossible to keep toys out of every room in the home, it is great to have a space with a door that can be closed to contain most of the clutter. These spaces can easily be transitioned into game rooms or movie rooms as kids get older and their hobbies change.

Extra Guest Bedroom

While a bonus room might not technically be designated as a legal bedroom, they can often function as one if space is needed. You could consider adding a transitional bed such as a pullout couch, murphy bed or daybed if you want the room to work as a guest room only sometimes.

Exercise Room

There are many benefits of having a home gym. Bonus rooms acting as exercise rooms usually require a little more space but can be a good addition to a home if possible. Think about the type of equipment that you have and the location of the room – you might not want to lug a super heavy treadmill into a converted attic, for example. But, having a dedicated workout space could be a great motivator to encourage you to keep up your fitness routine.

Hobby Room

Have a hobby? Whether you like crafting, model trains, reading, wine or painting, a bonus room could be set up perfectly to suit your interests and needs. Plus, if you change hobbies, you can easily change up the space to suit your newest needs.

Storage Space

Bonus rooms, in addition to being used for activities, can serve as large storage spaces that can help reduce clutter around the rest of the home. If you have a lot of seasonal items to store, you could consider adding floor to ceiling shelves to store bins or boxes. Vertical storage options will help to make the best of a small storage space.

Bonus Rooms And The Real Estate Market

A bonus room impacts a home’s value. These spaces can really help your home stand out from others on the market. Here are some tips for maximizing that value.

Speak To A Real Estate Professional

If you are concerned about increasing your home value, speak to a REALTOR® who is very familiar with your neighborhood. They can best advise you as to what buyers in your area are looking for and any regulations in place. For example, your location might require a space to have a closet to count as a bedroom on listings. You might add a closet to your bonus room for a small cost and add a large value to your home with an additional bedroom.

Bonus Rooms And Property taxes

Bonus rooms can also impact property taxes. If you are choosing to finish or renovate a space into a bonus room, it might increase the appraised value of the home, which could increase the amount of property taxes in turn. Remember that turning a bonus room into a legal bedroom could actually increase the value of your home, in turn increasing your property taxes more than adding a non-bedroom bonus space would.

The Bottom Line: Boost Your Home With A Bonus Room

There is no denying that a bonus room is great to have. They add extra space – and potentially extra value – to your home. Continue researching more ideas on the best way to renovate or update your home at Rocket Homes^SM.