Inspiration For Another Multi-Purpose Space

Taps, radiators, wardrobes, lighting, you name it. I’ve been researching it all recently. The blackboard in my kitchen which used to have a cocktail menu scribed on it is now home to an endlessly long list of things to do and buy.

I’d say pretty much every room in my house is unfinished apart from the snug. Apologies for blowing my own trumpet here but I really felt I cracked it in here. I wanted a multi-purpose room to rest and work in and I’m really proud of what was achieved in this space as it fulfils all the requirements. The full tour is here if you haven’t seen it before.
I think I’ve almost sorted the nursery design but as the little one will be in with us to start with there are much more pressing matters and that’s where our family will sleep when they come to stay. This means stepping up the multi-purpose credentials a notch or two. I’m not sure there are that many guest bedroom/ playroom/ mud-rooms with an en-suite (Pinterest seems to have a fit when you put that in a search) but that’s what I’m aiming for.

Let’s remind ourselves of the slightly dodgy before shall we?

The Bed

I’ve been looking for a sofa bed for ages but found that most of them fold out to little larger than a single bed. Then I remembered my friend Laura has the Ikea Hemnes Day Bed which is one of the comfiest occasional beds I’ve ever slept on and folds out to a king size. Yes a king! Then after pinning a few images which you can see below, I had a bit of a lightbulb moment.

The Plan

As you know we’re planning on adding tongue and groove panelling to one of the walls in this room and with the bed having a panelled appearance I got to work on a sketch (let’s use that term loosely) to present to James. He didn’t laugh or roll his eyes so it looks like I’m in business. There’s a link here to the scrawl if you want to take a look. Just remember drawing has never been my strong point.
The plan is to centre the bed in the middle of the wall and build slimline cupboards either side and then panel the whole shebang; walls, cupboards and all. I’m hoping it will potentially look like a mud room with a bed rather than the usual bench. We’ll use MDF for the cupboard and are yet to decide on whether we’ll have open shelving or if we’ll go for a full height door.
On the other side of the room to the right of the new double french doors we’ll build a small, slimline cupboard to house coats, toys and bedding in a similar style so the two areas echo one another.

On The Wishlist

Flooring

I want oak herringbone. But as my mum always told me ‘I want, never gets.’ I’d like this room to be warm and easy to clean and I don’t think I can get precious over inevitable knocks and scrapes. Plus with the new doors this room will be accessed from the garden so I’m expecting there to be a lot of mud and grass brought in too. I’ve actually ordered some vinyl and lino samples but so far they all look far too plasticy.

Lighting

If anyone follows Marie Nichols on Insta you’ll know she has the most delightful enamel pendants hanging over her dining table. I’d love a similar look for the bedroom/ playroom and although I’d love something truly vintage my budget won’t stretch. I love these eBay light fittings for £24.99 but need to locate the rose and flex too.

Middleton Lodge is one of the gorgeous venues on the Rock My Wedding Supplier Directory and you can see it in the header above. The dining room is epic and cemented my love for panelling and started off my search for a scissor concertina lights. I have my eye on these ones from MADE which plug into the wall rather than needing a lot of electrical faffery and plan to put them either side of the new built in bed unit.

I’m itching to get started but we’re still waiting for a date from the builder to install the patio doors.

If you’re planning your own multi-purpose space then feel free to check out a feature I pulled together when I was planning the snug.

Anyone else planning a multi-purpose space? What’s your criteria and how are you plans coming along?