Make your spare room earn its keep

The multi-purpose spare room: sounds like a mess and can look like a mess. But if you decide what you want your spare room to do, and design accordingly, this space can become a jack of all trades instead of a master of none.

We live in an era where we have complex and diverse families, interests and careers so we like our homes to be adaptable. Every room needs to be useful on a daily basis.

But working out what to do with the spare room is a common challenge for many people.

Some people work from home and need it as a home office. Others want it as a home gym or as space for out-of-town family to stay when they visit. But achieving a space that’s useful for more than one of these situations is where it gets tricky.

Let’s explore two scenarios where you can easily have a dual purpose room.

The home office & gym option

You might not think it, but this is actually one of the easier combinations.

Start with your office area. Once you have your desk and office chair in place, then you’ll be able to see what space is left. If you have a lot of space, and can include a treadmill or similar equipment, keep them far from your work area as possible to avoid distraction.

If you have a storage cupboard, zone off an area within for the storage of mats, weights and other smaller gym equipment. If you don’t have a cupboard, look for a large trunk or box to store away items when you’re working.

The home office & bedroom option

A spare bedroom doesn’t mean it has to be set up as a bedroom all the time. This means it can partner with a functioning office.

To achieve this, start researching sofa beds. In the past, yes, they were notoriously uncomfortable to sleep on. These days there are many options: a traditional sofa bed, a sofa with a fold-down back creating a mattress, even sofas that are actually two beds stacked together forming a sofa.

Once you’ve chosen this piece you’ll find you can work your office area in around it easily and ensure your workspace is the focus most of the time.

Adaptable furniture and plenty of storage are the key factors in achieving your stylish, functional multi-purpose room. Be sure to carefully consider your needs for the space, then get creative and shop around and you’ll find you can make it all fit perfectly.