The Multi-Functional Guest Bedroom Reveal - How To Max Out Every Inch Of Space
In collaboration with Sofa Workshop and Amara Living
The ‘guest or spare’ bedroom. In most homes, it’s usually a storage facility for all the clutter and furniture that doesn’t fit into the rest of the house, a kind of waiting room, before we decide, or find the time, to transport these unfortunate things to their final destinations - the charity shop or dump.
My guest bedroom before it’s final makeover, looking a bit bland with the 8 year-old Ikea sofa bed and and random selection of tables.
We are so lucky to have a guest bedroom, especially in London where space is at a premium - for now anyway, until my youngest outgrows her nursery. So I have maxed out the functions of this space until that happens. At the moment, it’s not only a bright guest bedroom, but also an over-spill living room when we have lots of friends and family over, as well as my office on my working days.
As with all the rooms in the house, I’ve carefully planned the storage to accommodate as much of what needs to be stored as possible. We don’t have a loft or garage, so everything from Christmas and Halloween decorations to sewing machines and kid’s scooters have to be stored in this room. I’ve used my trusty storage wall idea in here too, using an entire wall as extra-deep floor-to-ceiling storage. It means you lose a wall to put furniture up against, but you gain plenty of storage in comparison to the amount of actual floor space lost.
This room gets great light, so I wanted to keep it bright and breezy with lots of plants.
AS A LIVING ROOM
This room set up as a living /office most of the time, so I wanted it to feel like a useable, comfy living room, not just like a spare bedroom with a sofa plonked in it. The bones of the room are good, it’s a mirror of my older daughter’s room next door, both lead directly off the entrance hallway. I love the large floor-to-ceiling window which floods the room with natural light in the mornings.
The pale oak herringbone flooring and the pale grey walls provide a good canvas for this multi-functional space. I’ve carefully chosen every piece of furniture to work in at least two ways to earn it’s place in this room.
The velvet Jude sofa bed from Sofa Workshop in Dusky Ocean velvet, feels so soft and luxurious, but is extra durable - which is very useful with kids, as it doesn’t mark or crease like traditional cotton velvets. It a lovely, comfortable piece to have in this room, it jut makes it feel like a ‘proper’ living room.
Even the small square-marble topped tables serve two functions, I put them together to form a coffee table for the living room and office function, but split them either side of the bed as bedside tables when the room becomes a guest bedroom.
Little details: I love lighting a scented candle while I work. I’m constantly switching modes from mum to taxi to business owner, so every little thing that helps me focus is all good!
I chose classic String shelving in a dark colour to compliment the desk, which provides storage as well as display, and hung them so that the sofa lines up exactly with the left side of the second shelf from the window (ocd much!) even the white leather Jonathan Adler pouffe has to have a multi-function to earn it’s keep, it’s a footrest, extra seat and instant coffee table when a tray, or even just a few books are placed on top.
To finish the room, I’ve chosen a geometric print Kelim rug, and a simple brass and white glass orb pendant light, both from Amara Living. The darker colour in the rug is a deep Forest green, which works so well with the sofa colour and the little bursts of orangey-gold in the cushion and artwork.
AS AN OFFICE
Because the room is modest in size, I chose a smoked glass desk with narrow brass legs, I wanted to place it by the window, as I love looking out at the neighbouring gardens while I work, but not block it, I also needed quite a large surface area for what I do. The fact that you can see through it gives the illusion of spaciousness, a solid wooden desk in here at the same size, would have made the room feel small and claustrophobic. The glass feels light and un-intrusive in the room and the smoked glass adds just that little bit of drama that you wouldn’t get from plain, clear glass. An added bonus is that whit acts as a mirror, so when I’m working, I can see the planes, birds and treetops above reflected in the glass.
My beautiful Knoll Krusin chair, also in green velvet, is actually mostly used as a dining or conference chair, but it’s so comfortable that I use it as a desk chair, and it also functions well as an occasional chair when the room is in living room mode.
Having the sofa and coffee table in my home office also makes it an informal and relaxed place to sit with clients and go through project details and inspiration, so I always have a few interior design books out.
AS A GUEST BEDROOM
With the festive season on our doorstep, I’m sure lots of us will be accommodating friends and family overnight. When it comes to transforming a room from one use to another, I’m all about ease and speed, I like everything that is needed for the change to be stored in that particular room, no one wants to be lugging mattress toppers and furniture up and down stairs when overnight guests are expected. Good storage and planning is key to this.
I keep all the bedding easily accessible in the storage wall, making it really quick and easy to set up - even for last minute guests. The sofa pulls out really smoothly and easily for into double bed for overnight guests.
The multi-functioning furniture continue to work in bedroom-mode, the desk becomes a dressing table for somewhere to get ready, the coffee tables split to form bedside tables, the corner lamp becomes a bedside lamp and the desk chair and pouffe placed together with some books, forms a little reading corner.
I’ve kept the window treatment simple and relaxed, with good quality, white flax linen curtains, it softens the look and they are black-out, so I know my guests will get a good night’s rest.
Little details make all the difference when you want to make guests feel at home, especially if they are staying for a few nights, I like to add a glass with a jug of water, a scented candle, a small vase of flowers and some fluffy towels.
As part of our collaboration, this post contains gifted items:
The Jude sofa in Dusky Ocean Velvet was generously gifted to me by Sofa Workshop
The White Opal Ceiling Lamp, Kelim Lines Rug, Calvin Klein Pebble Moonstone Pillowcases and A by Amara Mustard Velvet Cushion were all kindly gifted by Amara.
