Multi-Use Family Room in the Garden by Timber Rooms
Published: 29 March 2026
Reading Time: 3 minutes 30 seconds
Working with a bespoke garden room designer such as Timber Rooms gives homeowners much more freedom than choosing from fixed sizes or standard layouts. This East Grinstead project is a clear example of that approach in practice: one building, shaped around several everyday uses for different members of the same family.
The brief was to create a self-contained space in the garden that could operate as a home office, games room, and family sitting room, while also incorporating practical supporting spaces. Timber Rooms delivered all of that in a single 48sqm building, complete with a shower room and a discreetly integrated storage area.
One Building, Several Daily Uses
The footprint is generous at 10m x 4.8m, with a large open-plan main room that is subtly zoned for different activities. Rather than breaking the interior into lots of enclosed rooms, the layout keeps the space open and social while still allowing each use to feel distinct.
The result is practical and aesthetically pleasing. Instead of forcing the garden level or introducing a heavy-looking platform, the building appears comfortably settled into the plot.
Canadian Red Cedar Cladding
Externally, the room is finished in Canadian Red Cedar with anthracite grey doors, windows, and decking. The warm cedar and darker frames give the building a clear contemporary character. A sedum roof covering softens the garden room in the landscape when viewed from above.
Glazing is arranged to create a strong indoor-outdoor connection from several points across the main room. Large windows and bi-fold doors frame different views, and the low-threshold bi-fold set has been detailed so the internal floor level and deck run through at the same height, making movement between inside and outside feel seamless.
Recessed Wall Detail
A nice architectural touch is the way the side and front elevations are recessed slightly from the rear wall and roof line. This creates a canopy effect that makes the roof appear to float above the walls, adding depth and shadow to the facades.
Exterior-grade LED lighting is recessed into the underside of the soffit, which will cast a curtain of light down the walls in the evening. At the rear corners, dark grey return boards provide contrast against the richer cedar tones and sharpen the junctions.
High-Spec Interior Finishes
Inside, Timber Rooms finished the building with plastered and decorated walls and ceilings, paired with wooden flooring. Corner glazing details draw natural light deeper into the plan and frame garden views from multiple positions in the room.
The kitchenette is arranged in an L-shape beside the shower room and the office area is screened with a half-height partition, so it is available when needed without dominating the open-plan space. Timber Rooms worked with their clients to choose the fixtures and finishes in both the kitchen and bathroom areas, so the different uses work as one cohesive space.
Storage is accessed discreetly from the rear of the building, so you wouldn't know it was there.
Turnkey Delivery From Groundworks to Sign-Off
As part of their turnkey service, Timber Rooms handled the full project scope, including groundwork and connections to mains services for electrics and the bathroom, with the completed work signed off by Building Control.
For homeowners planning a larger, multi-purpose garden building, this project shows what is possible when the design is developed around real day-to-day use from the outset.
Learn More
Timber Rooms design and build bespoke garden rooms across Sussex, Surrey, and South London, tailoring each project to the client, the plot, and how the space will be used. To discuss your own project, visit www.timberrooms.co.uk, call 01273 839 491, or email hello@timberrooms.co.uk. We've also featured several other Timber Rooms projects on The Guide.
