Orangeries for Bungalows and Single Storey Homes
Updated: Oct 6
A bungalow suits an orangery better than most houses do. With no first floor to work around, the orangery can sit against any wall, take light from any direction and open the whole plan to the garden. The one thing it has to respect is the roofline. A bungalow's eaves are low, so the orangery's roof must be lower still, and that single constraint decides most of the design. Get it right and the orangery looks as though the house was built with it.
Why choose an orangery for a bungalow?
Most bungalows were built between the 1930s and the 1970s with modest rooms and a low-pitched hipped or gabled roof. An orangery gives such a house the one room it usually lacks: a tall, bright, sociable space that opens to the garden. Because there are no upstairs windows to clear, the lantern can sit close to the house and the glazing can run the full width of the elevation. The solid roof perimeter and the piers keep the room warm through the winter, which a conservatory for a bungalow of the same size never manages. And an orangery adds architectural interest to an elevation that is often plain, without adding height.
Keeping the roofline low
This is the design problem on every bungalow, and there are three good answers.
A flat roof with a low lantern. The orangery roof sits below the bungalow's eaves and the lantern rises just enough to clear the gutter. This is the standard solution and it works on most plans.
A lean-to form. Where the orangery is very deep, a single shallow pitch or a flat roof draining away from the house keeps the height at the garden edge to a minimum. A lean to orangery is often the natural bungalow orangery.
Against a gable. If the orangery sits on a gable end the roof can rise higher, because there is a wall rather than an eaves line to meet, and a pitched or ridge-lantern roof becomes possible.
Where the orangery meets the bungalow's own roof slope, a shared box gutter between the two roofs is the detail that keeps water out and the junction tidy.
Design considerations for bungalows
Proportion matters more on a bungalow than on a two-storey house because everything is seen at eye level. Piers should be slim, bays wide, and the fascia deep but not tall. The lantern should be centred on the doors and, as a rule of thumb, its glazed area is about a quarter to a third of the ceiling it sits in, adjusted for orientation and room use. Materials should match the house exactly: brick from the same range, a paint colour picked from the existing windows, and a fascia that repeats the bungalow's own eaves detail where it has one.
Where the bungalow is modern or plain, a slim aluminium frame in a dark colour with a plain fascia and a low flat lantern suits it better than a moulded traditional orangery. Where it is an older bungalow with some character, painted hardwood on a brick plinth is the right choice, and the same approach runs through designing a countryside home.
Popular uses for a bungalow orangery
Most bungalow orangeries become a kitchen-diner that opens up the whole back of the house; the others are garden rooms, a main living room where the original sitting room is small and dark, or a quiet daylit home office.
Maximising light without losing it from the house
An orangery on a bungalow can shade the rooms behind it, because those rooms have no upstairs to borrow light from. The lantern is the answer: it lights the orangery from above, so the orangery does not need to be glazed on the house side, and the rooms behind it keep their windows onto a bright space rather than a dark one. Where the orangery faces north, glaze it generously and it will pass light into the house. Where it faces south, specify solar control glass and consider a retractable awning over the doors so the room and the rooms behind it stay cool.
Modern winter gardens for single storey homes
Contemporary bungalows, cottages and barn conversions often suit a modern aluminium winter garden: slim frames and highly insulated glass, with a reverse-pitch roof rising towards the garden so the roof leaves the sightline. For a squarer, more solid room, a glass box extension with slim sliding doors and flat rooflights does the same job. Our winter garden conservatories and glass box extensions pages show both.
Planning permission for bungalow orangeries
Permitted development in England treats a bungalow like any house: a single-storey rear extension up to 4m deep (detached) or 3m (attached), no higher than 4m, with the extension's eaves no higher than the bungalow's own. That eaves rule bites on a bungalow, because its eaves are low, and it is why the roof design matters. Our guide to planning permission for an orangery covers the full rules, conservation areas and listed homes.
Cost of an orangery for a bungalow
A bungalow orangery costs what any orangery of the same size costs; the low roof does not make it cheaper. Our orangery cost guide sets out typical prices by size.
Bungalow orangery questions, answered
Can you put an orangery on a bungalow?
Yes. The only constraint is the low eaves, which the roof design has to respect. A flat roof with a low lantern, or a lean-to form, solves it on almost every bungalow.
Is a conservatory or an orangery better for a bungalow?
An orangery, for a room used all year. A conservatory is lighter and cheaper but cannot hold its temperature and has to be shut off from the house. A modern winter garden is the alternative where a lighter look is wanted.
Talk to our design team
Our traditional hardwood orangeries page shows the range, and if you have a bungalow in mind, ask our design team what the roofline will allow.
