Go minimal

When trying to give a spare room dual purpose, minimalistic designs are your best friend! You don’t want to overcrowd the spare room and make the office look non-existent or you wouldn’t be able to concentrate on work, however, if a guest feels like they are sleeping in an office and not a spare room, they may feel unwelcome.

Bedroom: Work a day bed in there, and have bedside tables and a wardrobe, but guests don’t need much more furniture than that in their bedroom. It’s very easy to pick neutral tones for an understated bedroom, white and light grey with flicks of one bright colour, such as yellow, work perfectly to keep the bedroom minimalist, but cosy.

Office: The office is also easy to minimalize, try to keep the colour palette the same. Working on the palette mentioned before – white, light silver and yellow – You could have a white desk, silver handles, with white chairs, and yellow pillows. If you get a desk with a lot of storage or get above head storage so you have the option to easily put everything except the computer and phone away when not needed, leaving a clear desk which will welcome guests instead of scaring them off.

Have good organisational skills

Home offices can easily become cluttered, even when you’re trying your hardest to keep them clean, this is mainly because of the overflow of office supplies. A good way to conquer this would be to buy a bookshelf which goes with your furniture, keep all your work stuff on there – files, paper, pens, even printers if they’ll fit. When this bookshelf is full, cover it with a curtain which can be open during office hours and shut when you have guests. This can also be beneficial for holidays when you don’t have anyone staying in your spare room, as you can close the curtain and keep your workspace tucked away outside of working hours.

Small furniture can work just as well as chunky furniture

Trying to fit two rooms into one can often leave you with very little space, however, if you opt for a narrower desk and a chair which is also a footrest or can easily hide away under the desk then that is a brilliant way of saving space in the office. In the bedroom, you can give the guests a small wardrobe, they won’t need a large one if they’re only staying for a few weeks and they may not even use it.

By 

Bethanie Woods