What have you done with your spare room?

staffie1

I have a spare room. For years it's been a dumping ground for all sorts of stuff, which has encouraged me to hoard rubbish! Now I want to put the room to good use.

I've cleared everything out (another trip to the council tip in the morning!), I'm then going to decorate it, put a new carpet down, then I will have a completely empty, fresh space. But I need some ideas.

I don't want to rent it out btw.

So if you have a spare room, what have you done with it?

Moomum

Very boring here but ours is just a guest room for when people come to stay, has a king size bed bookcase and vanity unit.

tanith

After my son moved out permanently (he came back twice, more fool me haha) I repainted bought a small wardrobe , bookcase, trundle bed (single with a single underneath) and its used by anyone who wants to visit including sleepovers for my grandchildren , I also have a small desk with my computer and printer so I can work in peace or with music on my computer. Our house is a small 2bed but having this room at my disposal with multiple uses allows living room for just relaxing or watching tv and I use this room a lot now..

maninthestreet

Use it as a study/office?

staffie1

natmid wrote: »

Very boring here but ours is just a guest room for when people come to stay, has a king size bed bookcase and vanity unit.

Thanks natmid, sounds like you have quite a big room to have a kingsize bed. My room is relatively small at 10'4" x 6'4".

I did think about a guest room initially, but hardly ever have people staying the night so I don't think it would be used very much.

staffie1

tanith wrote: »

After my son moved out permanently (he came back twice, more fool me haha) I repainted bought a small wardrobe , bookcase, trundle bed (single with a single underneath) and its used by anyone who wants to visit including sleepovers for my grandchildren , I also have a small desk with my computer and printer so I can work in peace or with music on my computer. Our house is a small 2bed but having this room at my disposal with multiple uses allows living room for just relaxing or watching tv and I use this room a lot now..

I like your idea tanith. I like the idea of a reading / study room. I've got loads of books and would be nice to have a big bookcase and comfy sofa (maybe sofabed which could be used if someone did stay). More relaxing than an actual home office...

staffie1

maninthestreet wrote: »

Use it as a study/office?

Yes I think something along those lines, but more of a relaxing space such as sofa and bookcase, laptop rather than a more formal office space.

tanith

staffie1 wrote: »

I like your idea tanith. I like the idea of a reading / study room. I've got loads of books and would be nice to have a big bookcase and comfy sofa (maybe sofabed which could be used if someone did stay). More relaxing than an actual home office...

I actually have lots of cushions on the single bed making it more like a sofa and I do sometimes use the computer to watch the iplayer for something I've missed or if OH is watching footie downstairs, I also have a World map on the wall with the timezones so I can easily keep up with rellies who are travelling the World so I know when its likely I'll catch them online... its my haven and I love it..

McKneff

We have 2 spare bedrooms, one is for guests/family visiting (the adults)
The smaller spare bedroom is my indulgence for my lovely grandauhters,
I had a tomboy daughter, shes 37 now, then I had 2 grand sons, ached to have a girly grandaughter.

Wow, 16 years later, when I least expected it, 2 grandaughters come along and who couldnt be more girly, Its cream, pink and fluffy, and Im in absolute heaven indulging them, (they are 4 and 18 months by the way) One blissfull nana here.

pinkteapot

We have three spare bedrooms.

Bedroom 2 is the main guest room. It used to have our old double bed in it but we changed that to a sofa-bed when we got our new TV, and put our old TV up there with a cheapy DVD player. Gives me somewhere to go and watch a film if I fancy it when Mr Teapot is watching football/F1. Sofa-bed came from Harveys and is surprisingly comfy as both a sofa and a bed. It looks like a regular sofa (some sofa-beds look a bit naff).

Bedroom 3 is the study and Mr Teapot's camera gear storage room (amateur wildlife photographer). Has a big desk with our main PC and a wardrobe and chest of drawers.

Bedroom 4 is my library. I love books too and when we looked at houses I was looking for somewhere to put shelves. We came from a flat where my books were boxed up in the loft. This house had a whole wall of built in bookcases along one wall of bedroom 4.

There's a single bed in there too so we have a second guest room if we need it. Was tempted to replace it with a reading chair, but there are nicer spots in the house to actually read and the extra bed is handy when people stay.

Obviously the plan is for mini Teapots (hence the size of house) but it'll be tough now to give up our rooms for them. :rotfl:

EDIT: Just noticed you mentioned possibly getting a sofa-bed. I really do recommend our one:
http://www.harveysfurniture.co.uk/products/living-room/collections/paloma/paloma-2-seater-sofabed-other-colours.aspx
(we have it in what they call grey but it's not grey, it's a light cream!) If you look at sofa-beds I do think it's worth popping into Harveys and trying this one.

LandyAndy

Ours was a study/library (and still is) but when MrsLA started her own business it became her office as well.

I use the dining room as my office .