All too often in modern homes the conservatory has become too separated from the rest of the house to be used on a day-to-day basis. To avoid having a room that doesn’t get used for ninety per cent of the time, you have to make a few changes to make it more of a central part of your home.

You might decide to turn it over to the children as a second sitting room. If you have an extending dining table in your conservatory then when it’s set up without the extension, it gives more room for other activities apart from eating. You might even have enough space to put in a leather sofa that could easily remain in the room during the times you want to use it as a normal conservatory again.

And, instead of having a really formal dining table, you might want to get a more casual style table, so that the kids are able to use the same table for drawing and colouring without worrying about whether they’re damaging it. Look online at sites like Harveys for some inspiration on different dining furniture styles.

The best way to use a conservatory more often is to make sure you eat dinner in there

at least once or twice a week; no matter if you’ve got a big enough table in your kitchen. It can sometimes feel like a bit of hassle carrying all the serving dishes, crockery and cutlery into the dining room, but if you enlist the kids to help, it’ll soon be done quickly enough.  One big advantage is that you can eat away from the preparation and washing up area. After all, you’d go to this effort for guests, so you should do it for yourselves, too. It will make family meals feel special, and it’ll ensure that your conservatory gets used, even during the winter months.