One of our dilemmas is what to do with bedrooms. Sure, if you have kids at home, then bedrooms are bedrooms – no dilemma here. However, as the young ones get older and move out (yes that does happen, at least the getting older part), then the question becomes what to do with the spare bedrooms.
Launi and I like to have one bedroom always set up for guests or when one of children come home for a visit. Beyond that, having multiple bedrooms set up seems a less than optimal use of space.
Considering we work out our home and do our hobbies here as well, space becomes a premium. Sure, we could use a bedroom as an office or a craft room, which we have done. However, and here is the dilemma – what if more than one child comes home for a visit or when we have guests or any combinations of the aforementioned. Hence our “where do we put everyone!” dilemma!
So, here is our (we think very clever) way to have the best of both!
In the bedroom that doubled as the craft room, we created a unique work space that quickly converts between the two. Yes, the craft room could go to bedroom in less than 15 minutes – we actually timed it. Here is what we did:
Step one – we took a slab door (lots of those left over after a renovation) and set it on two small nightstands. Remember your college days……set a board across a couple of milk crates……same concept. This makes for a very usable and inexpensive desk/workspace.
Step two – here is where the magic starts. We mounted the slab door to the wall using some small hinges we had left over. You could use a piano hinge too. Mounting the door did two things for us. It added stability to workspace and more importantly allowed us rotate the slab door up. Doing so converted the door from a work space to a headboard! See the magic.
Step three – we needed a way to hold the door up in its dual role. Solution: We mounted a shelf at a height above the workspace so the door would fit just under it. Added a couple of drop pins that went through the shelf which held the door in place. Not only do we have way hold up the door, we also have extra shelf space. We went with a floating shelf because it didn’t have brackets to get in the way.
Step four – adding an armoire (check your local thrift stores, you can find them very inexpensive) gave the additional storage space for the portable bed frame and inflatable queen mattress. This worked well because the closet was full of craft materials. Moving that would not be practical. Once the bed frame, extra bedding and the mattress came out, there was plenty of room for our guest to use the armoire as their closet!
Step final – Spread out the nightstands, set up the two twin mattress frames (they connected to form the frame for the queen mattress), set the bed, inflate it, make the bed and welcome guests.
Anyway, we enjoy coming up with clever idea to use space. If you have one we would love to hear about it.