20 Tips for the Perfect Multipurpose Guest Room
Guest rooms have their uses. However, if you aren’t going to be hosting a regular succession of guests, your dedicated guest room is going to go to waste much of the time. Under those circumstances, it is better to have a multipurpose guest room that remains useful with or without a guest.
Here are 20 suggestions for creating the perfect multipurpose guest room:
1. You Don’t Have to Start With a Bedroom As the Base
For starters, you don’t need to start with a bedroom as the base for your guest room. Sometimes, you can get good results by just putting a bed somewhere else. People who are flexible in this regard can work with a wider range of layouts, thus allowing for more possibilities than otherwise possible.
2. Consider a Fold-Up Bed
A fold-up bed is a classic choice for a multipurpose guest room. After all, you can save space by keeping it folded up whenever you aren’t using it.
That is more helpful than usual because you need to fit more things into your multipurpose guest room than usual. As a result, the usage of space-saving tricks is a must. You should feel free to use other fold-up furniture. Fold-up beds are just the most obvious options for multipurpose guest rooms.
3. Get a Comfortable Bed
You should still do your best to choose a comfortable bed for your multipurpose guest room. News in Health points out that sleep helps people become happier, healthier, and more productive.
On top of that, a guest bedroom is still a bedroom, meaning it is a failure on a fundamental level if it can’t give its occupant a good night’s sleep. This means you should do your best to choose a comfortable bed for your multipurpose guest room while keeping the size limitations in mind.
4. Provide Extra Bedding
Always have extra bedding in a guest room. Accidents happen, so it is best to be prepared for them. Furthermore, some people are happier when they have extra blankets and extra pillows, thus making this an easy way to keep them satisfied. You might also benefit from extra blankets and extra pillows, depending on what you have in mind for the space.
5. Have a Place to Put the Luggage
A guest room should have a place to put the luggage. This is good for you and your guest. After all, chances are good that you have to clean up everything in the end, meaning you don’t want your guest just putting their luggage everywhere.
Meanwhile, your guest benefits because a convenient place to put their luggage makes it much easier for them to access the contents. Please note that you don’t need to go too much out of your way for this one. You could get a luggage rack. Alternatively, you could get a well-chosen table to serve the same purpose.
6. Consider Multipurpose Furniture
DesignLike says multipurpose furniture enables more efficient use of space. Unsurprisingly, that makes these pieces must-haves for your multipurpose guest room, particularly since you are trying to make the latter serve not one but two purposes. A couch that can convert into a bed is a classic example. However, there are countless other possibilities.
Remember, you don’t necessarily need something purposefully-built for this. As mentioned earlier, the right table can serve as a luggage rack quite well, even though that wouldn’t have been a part of its design considerations.
7. Consider Smaller-Sized Furniture
It is also a good idea to choose appropriate-sized furniture for your multipurpose guest room. Generally, that means smaller-sized furniture, which can serve its intended purpose just as well while offering two additional benefits. One would be the increased ease of fitting them into a smaller space, while the other would be the cost reduction.
8. Provide a Place to Sit
Some people don’t mind sitting on beds. In contrast, other people loathe the idea save under limited circumstances. Due to this, if you want a multipurpose guest room, you should provide it with a place to sit. The best choice of seating depends on the space’s other intended purpose.
For example, if you want a place where you can rest and relax, you might be able to get away with a bed that can convert into a sofa. Alternatively, if you want a place where you can work, you are going to want a suitable desk and chair combo.
9. Make Good Use of Cool and Warm Lighting
HomeAdvisor reminds us that light can be either cool or warm. If you want a multipurpose guest room, you are going to need to play around with different kinds of lighting to get exactly what you want. Generally, cool lighting is better for work, whereas warm lighting is better for creating a comfortable feel.
Luckily, you don’t need to go all-in on either one or the other for your multipurpose guest room. If you want to use it as a home office, you can set up a source of cool lighting for your workspace while using a source of warm lighting for the rest of the room.
10. Make Sure There Is a Night Light
Speaking of which, a guest room should have a night light. You won’t get much use out of it. However, your guest will be very reliant on it if they have to get up in the middle of the night. That is likelier than many people imagine. Self mentions a study in which more than a fifth of queried individuals responded they woke up at least once every night.
Yes, people can navigate their way through the darkness. Alas, that is a good way for them to get stubbed toes, particularly if they aren’t familiar with their surroundings. A night light solves this problem with a single stroke.
11. Consider a Full-Length Mirror
A full-length mirror can be surprisingly useful for your guest. Most people like to make sure they look right when meeting others, so being able to see themselves can be a huge boon. With that said, a full-length mirror can also be useful in general. It is easy for multipurpose guest rooms to feel a bit crowded.
Due to that, you should look into ways to make yours seem more open and spacious. Apartment Therapy says mirrors can make a space seem bigger than it is. Moreover, a single large mirror is better for this purpose than an entire collection of smaller mirrors.
12. Avoid Overdecorating
We like decorating our spaces using things that reflect us in various ways. There is nothing wrong with that. Still, you exercise restraint when decorating your guest room.
Too much visual clutter can make a space seem smaller. On top of that, reminding your guest of your presence again and again through your decorations might make them uncomfortable. A lighter touch can create an attractive but not overwhelming guest room.
13. Leave Some Space in the Closet
Multipurpose guest rooms are great for storing your possessions. Still, you should remember to leave space for your guest’s possessions. Otherwise, you will have to clear out your guest room every time someone visits, which promises to be tedious and time-consuming.
The other option would be asking your guest to stay in your guest room while their possessions are stored elsewhere, which most people would find more than a bit annoying. The easiest way to prevent this problem is to leave some space in the closet. By doing so, you can get some usefulness out of it without inconveniencing you or your guest whenever someone visits.
14. Leave Some Space in the Drawers
You can’t fill up your drawers just because you have left some space in your closet. Most people prefer using a mix of storage spaces for storing things. As such, it isn’t a good idea to let them use certain kinds of storage spaces while denying them the use of others. If you have drawers, you should also leave some drawer space for your guest.
15. Install Hooks and Racks
It is also a good idea to create more storage space. In particular, installing hooks and racks is a popular way for people to do so. This Old House and other resources can provide interested individuals with detailed, step-by-step guides for the process. Alternatively, you should be able to find stick-on versions from hardware stores and other retailers.
16. Maintain a Clear Line of Separation Between Storage Spaces
If you are planning on using your multipurpose guest room for storage, you should maintain a clear line of separation between storage spaces meant for you and your guest. This way, no one can get confused about who owns what. Something that can make for a fair amount of messiness under the wrong conditions.
Think about where you would prefer to put your possessions if you were a guest staying in your guest room. Leave those storage spaces for your guest while making good use of the rest.
17. Have a Clock Radio
Nowadays, people don’t have much use for alarm clocks. Their phones should more than suffice for that purpose. Despite this, clock radios remain surprisingly beneficial for multipurpose guest rooms. If nothing else, you can always use it to listen to the radio when you are using the space for whatever you have in mind.
Music makes people happy. Moreover, The Guardian states it makes people more productive, thus empowering them to get things done more effectively and efficiently.
18. Set Up a TV
TVs are also a bit outdated but not entirely obsolete. Sometimes, people don’t want to watch whatever they can access using their devices. Instead, they would prefer to see what is available on the local channels.
Besides that, TVs are a wonderful source of entertainment, thus making them critical components of multipurpose guest rooms that are also meant to serve as recreation rooms.
19. Keep the Room Clean
No matter what you have in mind for your multipurpose guest room, you should always do your best to keep it as clean as possible. That means wiping things, scrubbing things, and otherwise cleaning things regularly.
After all, you don’t want to let any messes build and build because that encourages procrastination. Instead, spreading the chore of cleaning over time is the best way to maintain high motivation rather than pushing things further and further into the future.
Besides this, you should also be decluttering your multipurpose guest room regularly. Too much clutter makes a space uncomfortable to live in for most people. The easiest way to prevent this is to exercise a certain degree of ruthlessness in getting rid of things.
If you haven’t used something in a year or more, you should consider getting rid of it because you aren’t using it. Donating and selling are the best solutions because they let these things be used by someone else. Throwing things out should be a secondary option.
20. Use Neutral Colors
Your multipurpose guest room should have a color scheme that makes sense for every intended purpose. Neutral colors are a simple but effective choice for such circumstances.
They have a low chance of alienating people because they tend not to inspire strong opinions. Instead, they tend to have a low level of appeal for a broad swathe of society.
Of course, different neutral colors can have different effects. Lighter neutral colors are better for inspiring a more energetic mood. In contrast, darker neutral colors encourage people to settle down and settle in.
Please note that a color scheme doesn’t just come from a room’s paint job. Its contents are just as important. You shouldn’t overlook this when decorating your multipurpose guest room.
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