Published: June 18, 2010, By Abbe Fenimore

Be our guest

Have you ever wanted to set up that extra room in your home like a true guest room but really needed “office” space?  The age old problem of creating a multifunction room that isn’t cluttered or awkward can be solved easily. Knowing what you need the room to provide for you on a day to day basis is the most important thing.  Sticking with that will keep the room from becoming cluttered and someplace you don’t even want to spend time.

I wanted to share a room that has two purposes. A majority of the time, the room will be a place to work on paperwork or set up the laptop to catch up on emails.  Every now and then the room will serve as the guest room so we wanted the space to be comfortable. There is nothing worse than staying in a guest room where you, the guest feels like an after thought.

Fabulous Images from Melanie Johnson Photography

This room was long and narrow so using a standard bed for our guest would have chopped up the room and made for poor traffic flow.  Using a daybed is a great way to create a comfortable place to sleep and can even be used as a “sitting area” to read.  The white overlapping squares daybedfrom West Elm works perfect in the space and creates more of a hip and comfortable place to sleep or lounge.

We wanted to have storage space in the room but didn’t want it to take over and crowd the space.  These bookshelves bring in height needed to balance out the tall ceilings. Going with a white finish keeps the room cohesive and from feeling cramped.

The window provided a natural place to add a desk. The view of  the patio below and urban surrounds are soothing and become part of the room through the full height windows. Since the space has more of an industrial feel, the drapery sheers soften the room and frame the window. We did not want to bring in something that was heavy and dark.