Do you have a room in your home that doesn't serve its purpose well enough? Well I have a little treat for you this week! I thought I would show you a little behind the scenes of planning a multifunctional space.
Do you have a room in your home that becomes the ‘laundry room’? Like the, fold the laundry and stick it there for the moment room? And then you get to the end of the week and the laundry hasn’t made it to the right wardrobes?
Well, in my house we have 2 bedrooms. The second one a guest room. However, this made it all too easy for it to become the infamous dumping ground! A room that we only went into to shove something under the bed, or to put piles of clothes.. I mean I could quite easily put a pile of folded clothes straight into my wardrobe, right? Well apparently not when there was a perfectly good empty bed to put it on….!
What did the room look like before?
This is what the room used to look like.. I have added a floor plan to give you an idea of how tight the space actually was! The floor plan shows the original layout when we moved in 18 months ago..
When I started working from home during Covid I put a desk at the end of the room in replacement of the wardrobe. I am sure like a lot of the country, I was having to squeeze myself in to the smallest room in the house in the height of summer and stare at a wall (I mean work!)
I then moved the bed and pushed it up against against wall as you will see below. (Here comes the dumping ground!!)
It was during this time I thought, you know, I need to start my business.. and so I did. But then along came the issue of permanently working from home and how on earth was I supposed to be an Interior Designer without any storage?! Think of the samples!!
I started to find it difficult to comprehend working from home in this awkward little space so I decided to change it up completely and get rid of the spare bed. I hear my mum saying – where am I going to sleep?!
Well not so fast, I have a plan. I measured up and drew the space out, making sure to get the correct measurements for the doorways and how much space a sofa bed would take up. It really took a while to draw up a plan that would work as a full time office, but could also have guests at short notice.
On top of this I had removed the wardrobe already to place a desk in there so we had to arrange somewhere in the main bedroom to store everything too!
Mission home office/come spare room began..
This is the plan I came too. The double length desk, was a combination of the desk I already owned, as well as a desk I made to measure the fill the rest of the wall.
I added space for a storage unit for samples and design equipment, along with a futon sofa bed that could easily be pulled out into a bed if we had guest (after covid of course!)
What did I consider while I was planning?
I considered the direction of the light entering the room – this had an impact on where I placed my computer so that I could avoid any glare whilst working.
I considered ease of transition from an office to a bedroom – it had to be quick and manageable so it didn’t feel like a chore each time we had guests.
I considered floor space and having an area that could easily be used for workout – I cancelled my gym membership during Covid and have never looked back!
I considered storage for my work equipment as well as under bed storage – there was a lot stored under the double bed before we made the change (easiest hiding place ever..)
If you're still with me, thank you! You've earned a peak at the finished product!
Wall to wall desk space.
Futon and footstool/coffee table
Spare bedroom!
If you enjoyed reading through this and have any troublesome areas in your home, I provide one-off consultations where we could solve a problem just like this! You can find out more by dropping me an email at georgina@richesinteriors.com
Thanks for reading!