When Sophie was born and our spare room was transformed into her nursery, we lost our 'dumping spot' - somewhere to pop things to be 'dealt with' and where I could hide things. I remember when I was planning Sophie's nursery, I thought a lot about how we could somehow fit a spare bed into one of our rooms but there just didn't seem to be the space and so instead, we made do with a folder bed borrowed from my Mum for a few months. Paul spent many a night on that folder bed in order to get a decent sleep in the early days when Sophie was a newborn and I was feeding three hourly through the night. That folder bed served its purpose but has since been returned and we've now decided we need a spare bed. Not so much for sleeping on, more so that I can have that 'spot' again where I can dump things out of sight.
So, we've thought long and hard about the only remaining room that could possibly accommodate such a piece... our study. We've decided that slowly over time, we'll transform this room into a combined home office and guest room. Much of this room is currently wasted. A chair in the corner of the room has never been sat in. Our filing cabinet is too big for what we need. Our cupboard holds endless books and other items we no longer want or need. The built in robe in this room with its single hanging rail and overhead shelf is 'dead space'. We've decided we need to make better use of what we have available.
For years, I've kept inspiration folders, including ones for home offices and guest rooms, often wondering why I did so when our study was already furnished and a guest room was something we would probably not see in our household for some time to come. But now? Now I can plan. I can allow myself to imagine a new space with new furniture and a new colour scheme. I can picture new handy with neatly organised craft supplies (I'm taking inspiration from Jane for this one). I can dream of the inspiration board I will create with pretty pictures and quotes.
Here are a few images that are inspiring me so far...
To start with, we're decluttering this room. We're selling furniture. We're donating old books to charity. We're freeing up space. It's going to take time though... there's a lot of 'stuff' in this room.
Do you have a home office? A guest room? Are you happy with your space or if you had the chance, is there something you'd change?
Original image sources:
#1 House To Home (photography by Rachael Smith)
#2 almostbunnies via unclutterer
Ooo I love your inspiration pictures. How nice it will be to have a space just for a study/guest room. I would love a guest room but sadly our home is too small for that but I do love our little office/my craft room which started it's days as a little unused verandah. If I could change it maybe it would be nice to be a little bigger so I could have a bed in there too. I hope you've had a lovely weekend with your beautiful family. xx
ReplyDeleteAt our last house {a 3 bedroom}, before Ryder was born {or conceived} we had our main bedroom, Ella's room and a spare room. For a while it was Ebony's room {Chris's daughter....she lived with us for a while}, and then it became the dumping/hiding/storage room :) When I started my business in early 2010, we transformed it into a home office/spare room. It was a mammoth job. But I loved it once it was done! I hid the draw unit in the cupboard, and that was my storage for paper, envelopes, craft supplies etc. We had a King Single bed in there for when Ebony or Jayden came to stay, and we bought an Ikea desk {the long white one} and created a lovely workspace for me :) It worked really well....until I fell pregnant with Ryder....and it became his room!!! Hence why we moved to a bigger house :)
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see what you do with your home office / spare room. ENJOY :)
xx
Amanda! I loved reading this post! It was so gorgeosly lyrical. LOVE a good project. We are currently in the process of trying to decide whether or not to split the twinadoes up. A big part of it makes my heart sad, but not the part that needs sleep! We have been sleeping them separately for the past few days and wow, they sleep. It's amazing. I think it's probably better for all of us. Anyhow, if we go down that track, we have some serious room switcharoo and decorating to do, so that's exciting! Jenx
ReplyDeleteHello Gorgeous This is the post I've been waiting for - I'm excited that the scheming has begun! I love all 3 photos but the last looks too styled to actually represent life with littlies, don't you think?! Thanks for the sweet mention. Keep an eye on Officeworks for the cloth covered boxes. They told me they bring in a new colour about every 3 months so to make space, they clear out the old colour at fabulous prices. Instead of paying $28 for my A3 boxes, I only paid $15. Good luck! J x
ReplyDeleteWe did have an office/guest room with fold out sofa until the twins came along and now it seems to have become my room for dumping everything that i don't want them to touch!!!
ReplyDeleteI love your ideas and inspiration...good luck with it Amanda!
Hi.. I love the top pic, the colours are so pretty!
ReplyDeleteWe have a combined study/spare room too.. we did it up a little while ago (you can see it here - http://heybubbles.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/study-spare-room.html) and we are pretty happy with the space although we between the two of us we have so much stuff that we could always use more storage!
The other thing about the open shelves above the desks is that for us they've ended up being full of stuff - they are very practical for storage, but not as 'pretty' as I'd hoped. I guess in a space like an office pretty has to make way for practical some times.
Also - we are planning on getting a sofa bed at some point and replacing the double bed with that... the extra room/sitting space would be welcome.
And finally, our study/spare room is down on the bottom floor of our house and it's the only room down there so we've got the dolls house and some colouring in stuff down there to entertain the kids if we're working down there while they're awake.
I noticed your inspiration images the other day on Pinterest - they're very nice. I love my work space and yes, organisation is the key, something I'm not good at. Every so often I need to put all my mess back in place and start again.
ReplyDeleteOur spare room is not a nice space, but maybe one day I will get to it - there are just other priorities :)
xx
We don't have a spare room downstairs but we do have an attic. It started off with a spare bed and my sewing stuff and quickly became the place to put anything we didn't know where else to put. Now days I do my sewing downstairs because I can't stand looking at the mess. We don't have an office, we have the main computer at a desk in the family room. All the kids have laptops for school and our rule is that you use them in the family room. This is just so we can keep a bit on an eye on what is going on and so they don't become computer recluses. Your inspiration pics are very pretty. Good luck with the project.
ReplyDeleteAll our bedrooms have a 'no vacancy' sign on their doors at the moment so I inhabit corners...a computer corner in the side hall...a sewing corner next to the dining room window...an 'office space' in the corner of the master bedroom. It works well and I have a different view for each activity..hehe!
ReplyDeleteI did have my own space for the computer/study area at the old house then that was turned intoan activity room when Chris' girls moved in so they had somewhere to play and the computer went to the main lounge area.....since we've moved I still don't have my own room for computer etc but I have created a little nook for myself in the lounge room for my desk with laptop on it and it works well....except I was thinking of ways to re-arrange the lounge the other day and while the computer is in here I really can't....we just don't have the room here but maybe one day in the future...xo
ReplyDelete