Creating the Ultimate Home Office/Guest Room
Everyone needs a space within their home that they can set up as a home office. Part of the challenge people face is deciding what room to use and whether they have sufficient space. In some homes, you may also need to use the space as a guest room, so fitting everything in becomes another issue you will need to address.
The best time to set up a home office/guest room combination is when you are first moving into a new house. Since the room will already be empty, you do not have the issues of having to remove everything from the room before converting the space.
Even if you are not moving into a new home in the near future, you can still convert a room in your home into a multi-purpose room. For instance, you might need the space for a dedicated home office, an arts and crafts room, or a quiet spot where the kids can do their homework.
Form AND Function – The Importance of Both
When designing your custom home office, built-ins are a great solution . They allow you to take advantage of the room’s form and function so you do not have to sacrifice one over the other.
Form refers to the overall design of the room, from the color scheme to the placement of furniture. Function refers to the purpose of the room—i.e., home office, arts and craft room, guest room, etc.—and who will be using the space.
It is best to define the function of the room first before working on form. The design elements will come into play once you decide exactly how you want to use the room and for what purposes. In our case, we are discussing home office/guest room spaces, so that would be our function.
The form of our room depends on some things we need to do before creating our design. The first and most important thing to do is empty the room of its existing furniture and wall hangings, as well as empty out any closets.
Once the room has been stripped down to the basics—floor, walls, and ceiling—now we can start to consider the design of the room. TIP: With the room bare, this is also a good time to do any repairs, painting, and so on, if needed. Otherwise, give the room a detailed cleaning, including the windows, blinds, and baseboards.
Maximizing Your Floor Space
Most home offices have several key pieces of furniture, such as a desk, filing cabinet/storage, and bookshelves. Fitting these in—along with a bed, end table, and other pieces for the guest room—can be a concern.
The last thing you want is for the room to be overly crowded so that you have to navigate through narrow openings in between furniture just to move around the room. Since your floor space is limited, you can maximize the space with custom Murphy bed and office desk combos .
Murphy beds are wall beds that fold up into the wall and out of the way when they are not being used. They are a great solution for guest rooms that also are being used as home offices or arts and crafts rooms.
The bed can be incorporated into home office built-in furniture solutions where the desk is part of the bed. The desk elements can be designed so they fold up and down on the backside of the bed or are on a moveable hinge/support that also doubles as a support for the bed when it is folded down.
Aside from incorporating a wall bed/desk combination into the room’s design, there are other built-in storage units, shelves, bookcase systems, and furniture options to consider. For instance, you may want to put a TV in the home office/guest room, but want it out of your way when you are using the room as a home office.
A built-in entertainment system would be perfect, with closable/sliding panels that hide the TV when it is not being used. Underneath the section with the TV, you could have built-in shelves or storage included where you can store office supplies, files, or other essential items you require to run your home office.
Some of our past challenges have included designing and building a wall bed into built-in storage shelves, combining a Murphy bed with closeable storage cabinets/drawers, and incorporating a wall bed with “wall” storage when the bed is closed.
Do Not Forget About Closet Space
When you are maximizing the floor space and evaluating different built-in solutions, do not forget the closet space is also valuable floor space you can convert. If you have a larger closet, you can divide it into two smaller built-ins. One side can be used use for office supplies storage and the other side for your guests to hang up clothes and keep suitcases out of the way when they visit.
TIP: If you have a huge walk-in closet and no extra rooms to use for your home office, consider renovating the walk-in for your home office space. Then, have us custom build some built-ins for storing your clothing and apparel.
One Room Becomes Two
By combining the functions of two rooms into one, it can be more economical for homeowners. For example, a family of four requires three bedrooms. The family also wants a home office, a guest room, and an arts and crafts room/playroom for the children.
This family of four would need a six to seven bedroom home! With our built-ins, they could combine the functions of individual rooms so they become two or even three different rooms. They could have us help them combine the home office and guest room into one room and create another room for arts and crafts and play time.
Another potential solution would be to convert a single room into a home office/guest room/arts and crafts room and use one child’s room as a combination bedroom/playroom. We could even help you covert a sitting room you hardly use into a multi-purpose room.
With our built-in room combos, our solutions would mean the difference between a three- or four-bedroom home instead of a six- or seven-bedroom home. The family in our example can enjoy living in a smaller home while still satisfying all of their room requirements.
Who Would Benefit from Multi-Purpose Room Combinations?
Anyone who has a need for a home office and guest room, yet lacks the sufficient space in their home, benefits from our multi-purpose guest bedroom and office combination solutions. In addition, these same solutions can be used in other areas of your home to help you maximize every square inch of your home, including:
- Garages
- Basements
- Man Caves
- Living Rooms
- Laundry Rooms
- Dining Rooms, and More!
Combining the functions of various rooms in your current home or a new home you are getting ready to move into will help you get the most form and function out of your entire home. Not to mention, it could potentially increase the value of your home, should you ever decide to sell it.
We offer direct wholesale-to-the-public and FREE initial consultations in the Bay Area for all of our built-in products and services. We also provide custom plantation shutters you can use to put the finishing touches on your new home office/guest room combination!
To learn more about our custom home office built-in furniture , custom closet solutions, and other built-in solutions, or our plantation shutters, please feel free to contact Bay Home & Window at 888.766.5919 today!
Sources
- http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-decor/decorating-styles-techniques/home-decorating-tips4.htm
- http://www.hgtv.com/shows/room-lab/how-to-add-a-home-office-or-craft-space-anywhere-pictures
- http://photos.hgtv.com/rooms/viewer/living-space/home-office
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