Whether you've recently bought your dream home or, like many people, are holding on until the housing market calms down, it's a smart move to make the most of the space you have.
Is it obvious where to start? Your bedroom.
Of course, it is used for sleeping at night, but what about the rest of the time? With a little planning, you can use it as a home office, or even a library or playroom. It might also be a place to make cappuccinos.
“That's something we're being asked to do more and more of,” says Memphis-based interior designer Sean Anderson. “A lot of that is due to the shift to remote work over the past few years. The bedroom needs to be a place of solitude, but it also needs to be multifunctional. People want a place to relax, a place to work. , and of course I want a place to sleep.”
Los Angeles interior designer William Hefner said he gets similar requests from weary parents who want their bedrooms to function as retreats. “They can close that door and go to work or exercise,” he said. “Or make yourself a cup of coffee or open a bottle of champagne.”
So what's the best way to transform your bedroom into a multifunctional space? He and other designers shared their secrets.
set up a desk
The most obvious addition to the bedroom is where you work.
When designer Nicole Hirsch of Wellesley, Massachusetts, was tasked with designing a new primary suite for a couple, a desk where they could exchange emails and write letters was high on their wish list.
Hirsch fulfilled that obligation by opening up a bedroom alcove with a window overlooking the garden and adding a custom desk with built-in cabinetry, or “space for light work.”
To maintain a calm mood in the bedroom, she made sure that no file cabinets, printers, whiteboards, or computer monitors were left outside. “It’s more of a casual desk space,” she said.
Anderson, a Memphis designer, often uses smaller desks in the bedrooms he designs to create similar spaces for occasional work. “With so many people now working on laptops, iPads and cell phones, they need space to accommodate all of these devices,” he said.
In a compact bedroom, place a small desk next to the bed and use it as a nightstand. “If you don't have real estate for a separate area, it becomes this multifunctional piece,” he said.
Use a murphy bed
If you need more space to work, or if the room in question is used for guests, consider installing a murphy bed for storage during the day.
Once considered impractical, Murphy beds have become more popular in recent years as new mechanisms make them easier to operate, said Mike Cassidy, director of California Closets.
“Multi-use seems to be more important than before COVID-19,” Cassidy said. “While we are settling into this new normal, the need for multifunctional spaces has not diminished.”
For example, designer Annie Selk had California Closets install a murphy bed in the home office of her vacation home in Palm Springs, California, so the space could also be used as a guest room. Jewelry designer Ariel Gordon installed a murphy bed in her backyard work-from-home studio for the same reason.
create a lounge
Why not go back to your bedroom and relax by the fireplace?
For one lucky couple, Ms. Hirsch designed a master bedroom with a chair and footstool next to a wood-burning fireplace and a seating area with a sofa and coffee table that made the room feel like a private haven. did.
In a small bedroom, a spacious armchair combined with a small end table and a floor lamp can also create a comfortable reading spot.
A bedroom can easily double as a media room, but most designers prefer to hide the TV when it's not being watched. Hirsch once hid a television behind a wooden wall panel above the fireplace. Other designers have adopted simple and elaborate solutions, such as installing a TV inside a cupboard or installing a retractable under-bed lift.
make it a library
If you're thinking of having a reading chair in your bedroom, where should you put your books?
You can turn your bedroom into a library by adding some bookshelves. In his bedroom in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, Mr. Hefner created a mini-library with built-in shelves and cabinets in a sunny nook.
His best-looking books line the shelves, adding to the atmosphere of the room. Less-attractive items, such as dog-eared paperbacks, are kept in cabinets.
“It’s really nice to have everything fall into place,” he said. “You don't have to go downstairs to buy books.”
or playroom
Hefner also often designs multifunctional bedrooms for children.
They prepared a room for their son, Kouji, with a sofa-like bed. The seat cushion is a twin-sized mattress, giving you a place to sleep and relax. He installed a shelving unit with a folding top on the other side of the room to create a small space for doing homework.
In one client's home, we worked with interior designer Jeremiah Brent, and we went a step further by placing the bed in the center of the room, covering the back of the headboard with a Lego baseplate, and adding a Lego-building desk behind it. He and Brent installed climbing grips and climbing ropes on the wall next to the bed, leading to a small loft.
“This kid loved climbing,” Hefner said. “So we thought, 'Okay, we can put this climbing equipment inside the room without taking up a lot of floor space.'”
Don't forget a snack
A new trend in bedroom design is to include built-in coffee stations and minibars, similar to those found in hotel rooms.
“It's becoming very common,” says designer Katie Fugate of Maeve Design Collective in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the details in these snack nooks are often as high-end as a high-end kitchen. he pointed out.
When her company was recently working on the interior of a Phoenix home, the designers added a coffee station to the master bedroom. It features olive-painted cabinetry, marble countertops, a Wolf coffee maker, a hidden under-counter refrigerator, and a bar. -Size sink. Now the owner can enjoy his first cup of coffee without having to go far from his bed.
“The kitchen was quite far from the master bedroom,” Fugate said. “So we wanted to give our customers easy access to a delicious little coffee bar.”
Install a deep bathtub
Another idea borrowed from a hotel is to install a bathtub in the bedroom.
“It's really nice to have a freestanding pedestal bathtub in a beautiful room,” said Jason Holter, president of Toronto-based design firm Wonder Incorporated.
Since seeing the concept of installing a bathtub in a bedroom in a hotel in Venice, Holter has designed several bedrooms with bathtubs, including one where the bathtub is located directly below a skylight a few steps from the bed. is also included. Greenery is planted on the flat roof at the top, and during the day you can see the plants around the edge of the skylight.
But taking a bath at night is even better, Holter says. “I thought it would be wonderful to be able to take a bath while looking up at the stars.”
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