It's becoming more and more common for people to downsize and it's important to know how to maximize square footage in the smaller space. There are thousands of tips and tricks that designers use every day to help people who are struggling with the idea of double-duty rooms.
Double-duty rooms certainly aren't anything new. People have been coveting the home office/guest bedroom combination for years, and it's stuck around for a reason. Not all of us have the luxury of living in McMansions, so we've had to get creative!
Whether you're looking to accomodate guests in your guest bedroom or turn your dining room into a library room, here's some excellent inspiration.
&bull Double Duty Guest Rooms: Five Ideas
&bull Daybeds for Double-Duty Guest Rooms
&bull Look! Library Dining Rooms
&bull Retro Rooms Doing Double Duty
&bull Shauna & Stephen's Lively Loft
Do you have a double-duty room?
Images: Metropolitan Home, Design Sponge, Habitually Chic, Better Homes & Gardens, Apartment Therapy
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Comments (16)
does anyone know the source of the rug in the second photo? Exactly what I've been looking for.
We have an office / guest bedroom, and I hope to always have a space like this in my home. Our two boys share a bedroom so that we can have the room for the office/guests, and it really makes me feel like I have SPACE, and that my kids don't own half my house. I realize I have the luxury of an extra room, and I thank my lucky stars for it.
I absolutely love that photo! I swoon every time you guys use it. :-D
My boyfriend and I recently downsized to a two-and-a-half room studio for us and our dog. We decluttered a lot and we're saving a bit of money, too. Our kitchen is my informal office when I'm working from home, and the main room of the studio is our sitting room/bedroom.
I think I may be the first to dub my combo walk-in closet/home office space (drum roll, please) the CLOFFICE! It is an amazing space that I'm currently working on.
Many DC rowhomes have a third bedroom that I've often referred to as "the closet" because it only measures 10' x14'. It may have orginally been considered the "baby's room" when the house was first built but the established closet in the room would be considered small for a baby as it only measures 13" deep.
There's not much you can do in this room as a bedroom without feeling claustrophobic. As an office alone, it feels like there is so much wasted space. So, I decided to blend my most needed home spaces and voila! the Cloffice was born.
I'm using a few suggestions I've read on this site, a few perfectly sized IKEA items, some Elfa shelving and a few things I've picked up on my travels to decorated the space.
I hope that this inspires others to do the same!
OMG, the cloffice. I love it. I have one too : )
All except the kitchen and baths are typical double-duty rooms: library-foyer with attached TV-living room with perpendicularly attached sewing-dining room, pantry-laundry, gallery-hall, office-(my husband's business wardrobe) dressing room, guestroom-(my) dressing room, bedroom-(his casual wardrobe) dressing room. Double-duty rooms arranged in zones work well.
I once lived in a home with a walk-in closet, and loved it. What a great idea of yours to make it an office, too.
10' x 14' is larger than our current bedroom... No way I would call that a closet!
Our second bedroom functions as an office/music room/guest room. We have a futon in there that allows for regular seating most of the time, but can fold out if we have guests spending the night.
Re: room size-- the room I grew up sleeping in is 10x11, so I thought my 10x14 foot "master" bedroom was huge when we moved in! It's funny how persectives are different depending on what you're used to.
LOVE the curtains on the first photo "cloffice." Does anyone know where they're from? Thank!
Oops! I meant 6' 6" x 10' not 10' x 14'. ( I was thinking of another room in the house.)
First photo reminds me why I like yellow. It can be ethereal & down home all at the same time.
When we bought our house, I thought a giant foyer was a waste of space, as was a formal dining room. The DR is now a den and the foyer is now a dining space
I'm moving into a 1 bedroom apartment, which I'm sharing with a flatmate. So, I'm taking the living room as my bedroom - it's about 12 x 15, bordered at the end by an open kitchen. I was wondering whether anyone could suggest a good setup that would allow the room to be used as a bedroom but easily convert to a living room? I was thinking something like the Lubi daybed with a mattress on top, easily stowed away. The reason I don't want to partition off the room is that we'd lose all the light...
Does anyone know the bookcase source for the 2 wall bookcases pictured above?