The Multifunctional Box Room

When we moved in three years ago, the fourth bedroom or the ‘box room’ (because it’s teeny) immediately turned into a dumping ground. We put a desk in there to use it as an office, we sometimes put the maiden up in there – it was just awful, so cramped and just stuff everywhere. It needed a sort out and a re-think, I wanted this room to be a few things: a guest bedroom, an office, a place for hobbies and a place for storage – how would we do that in this tiny room?

So here’s what we did…

LET’S GET ORGANISED

In the old office, stuff was everywhere. I had a corner with all my Neal’s Yard products in and there was a bookcase with every single book, CD, DVD we owned! It was time to de-clutter. Things went to charity, things went up in the loft, and everything out on display was put in some sort of order or basket. I sold furniture on eBay to help towards what we were planning to spend on the room (which wasn’t a lot – we’ve done this on a budget). We bought the IKEA Kallax Shelving Unit to organise all my Neal’s Yard gear in, which I thought went well in the corner and it all fit in perfectly. We already had the IKEA Liatorp Bookcase in grey in the room but it needed to be organised – what’s so good about this bookcase is you can move the shelving around to all different heights so we decided to put the office printer on there, an old TV, books and baskets. I also had a few shelves at the top that I organised things into tubs or baskets such as cards, gift wrap and stationary. I was determined to not have a ‘random rubbish drawer’ which we’ve achieved in this room (now for the rest of the house)!

FURNITURE TO SAVE SPACE

I did a lot of research into furniture that will save space but was also multi-functional. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of choice out there. Key pieces we decided on included:

• The Haru Sofa Bed by Made.Com – I haven’t personally slept on this bed yet so I can’t comment on the comfiness. However I can certainly recommend this sofa bed if you’re looking to save space, you want something that is well made, luxury looking and just SO EASY to move. It is absolutely perfect for a small room like this one and I’m so glad we found it. At £299, I think that’s a good price in comparison to what’s out there. It has some room underneath too so we’ve managed to store my yoga mats under there.
• The IKEA Norberg Wall-Mounted Drop Leaf Table – Space was very limited for a desk in the room, we literally had just under the window but thankfully I’d always had my eye on this wall-mounted table so I knew it was going to go there. At £35, you can’t beat it. IKEA offer two other wall-mounted tables that are actually better quality materials (one’s an oak and one black wood), but they were a bit larger than this one so we had to go with the budget option for the space. Even though this is so, what we had chosen has been great. We’ve obviously been working from home more this year so it couldn’t have come at a better time. We pop it up to use it when we like, and then put it back down when we’re not using it and when it’s there, it’s literally taking up no space.
• The Dunelm Gisella Storage Footstool – I was really surprised by how much storage this footstool offered, and I would say it’s bigger than a footstool – it’s basically a seat! I wanted a place to store all the hair appliances such as the hair dryer and straighteners that used to hang around our bedroom. It’s fit all my appliances in plus there’s room for more! Another great purchase and a great price, as always at Dunelm.

PLAN TO USE EVERY INCH OF SPACE

I didn’t want to overcrowd the room because it is so small, I literally tried to think of useful things that could go in every space and every wall area. One of them being an old IKEA coat hook that used to belong in the hall – I decided to put that behind the door and above the radiator to store ‘coat reserves’. I didn’t want too many coats on the hooks downstairs, nor in our wardrobes either so that was their place because unfortunately, this house doesn’t have a very useful under the stairs cupboard! Hooks are always useful when guests stay over too, so I would remove the coats if a guest decided to stay. They’re also hidden behind the door too, so I wouldn’t say they spoil the room aesthetically. There was also a small part of wall next to the window and above the IKEA Kallax Shelves, thankfully, it fit our IKEA Skadis noticeboard perfectly so it was very useful to put that back up!

As our family grows and our interests develop we may need more and more space for storage, so I wanted some ideas in mind for what we may need to do in the future. More shelving is an obvious one – I’ve seen some great ideas for using shelving as storage. One being where you put the shelf a precise distance away from the ceiling to fit your baskets or books, so you have neat storage high up and away from eye level.

HOW WE’LL USE THE ROOM

Naturally, we’ve started to enjoy this room and already, we use it for SO MUCH more than an office. Our multifunctional box room is now:

• The Office Room
• The Admin Room
• The Guest Room
• The Movie Room
• The Reading Room
• The Relaxation Room
• The Yoga Room
• The Guitar Practice Room
• The Knitting Room
• The Dressing Room
• The Video Call Room
• The Meditation Room
• And so much more…

And some before images for you…

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog on our box room update as much as I’ve had updating the room and if you have any questions at all, please let me know on the comments below (you don’t need to register to comment).

Thanks 🙂

Sarah xoxox