3-in-1 Flex Room: Guest Suite, Play Room, and Room for Two
I think we all have spaces in our home that have to work double-duty. Most often, these rooms are guest rooms that are needed for another use during the times when there are no guests. Our guest today created a flex room that works as both an everyday play room and a guest room — with two different guest configurations!
When guests do come to stay, one thing that they will need every time is a bed. To fit a bed and the other necessary furniture in the room, it often requires creativity, such as…
using a daybed that can also function as seating (a fold-out couch bed would work, too)
installing a murphy bed that folds right into the wall or looks like another piece of furniture
or tucking a desk into a closet
And now, here’s Jen to share the details of her flex room:
3-in-1 Flex Room
Guest Suite, Play Room, and Room for Two
Hi! I’m Jen from de Jong Dream House. I live with my Dutch husband, Niels, and our four-year-old aspiring rocket scientist in Ohio. When I’m not reading about space shuttles or the solar system, you can probably find me testing out a new culinary creation, organizing whichever area of our house is most in need, or trying to figure out where to put another photo gallery. I’m super excited to be here at Remodelaholic to tell you about one of the most-used rooms in our house, our flex room.
Shortly after my husband and I married six years ago, we started dreaming about the house we would build someday for our unique family. Someday came two years ago when we broke ground on the de Jong Dream House. I live with a brain injury, so we are keenly aware of how quickly life can change and our abilities and mobility can be hindered. We like having our bedroom on the second floor near our young son, but we knew we wanted a second master bedroom on the first floor when our aging bodies no longer cared for the stairs. Since our immediate family is spread around the world, we knew we needed to have a in-law suite that was comfortable for longer stays. We designed the first floor master with a walk-in closet, wheelchair-accessible bathroom, separate heating/cooling zone, and private door to the back porch. We also have a main level laundry in the mudroom right outside the door which is used for kitchen linens. While this room was great for guests, we didn’t want to waste space having a room that was only used a few times a year. It needed to have an everyday purpose as well.
With these three purposes in mind, our flex room was born!
For quite awhile after we moved in, the room looked like this. Pretty basic. And a little festive.
I took a shopping spree and found these cool lamps at TJ Maxx. They replaced the much too small and dark little lamp we had before, and inspired us to bring our coffee table (which pulls into two pieces) from the great room into this room.
When we were all healthy again, we were able to pick up our headboard and play dress up with our new flex room.
Option #1: Guest Suite
Option #2: Room for Two
Option # 3: Play Room
Time:
The total time elapses from the moment I realized the king bed was two twins to the “after” photos was about a week. Most of that time was spent checking out my favorite thifty home shops: TJ Maxx, Home Goods, Tuesday Morning, Big Lots, Value City Furniture, and a few local secondhand shops. A good couple of days was spent waiting for the headboard to come in.
Cost:
The only purchases we made were the bedding (two sets), lamps, and headboard, all for about $400. Everything else we already had on hand.
A big thank you to Justin and Cassity for letting me share our flex room.
I love this room! Such a smart way to make your furniture and space work for you on a day-to-day basis and also when visitors come. Thanks for sharing, Jen!
Be sure to head over to The de Jong Dream House to see what else Jen and Niels have done with their home.
Lorene has been behind the scenes here at Remodelaholic for more than a decade! She believes that planning projects and actually completing them are two different hobbies, but that doesn't stop her from planning at least a dozen projects at any given time. She spends her free time creating memories with her husband and 5 kids, traveling as far as she can afford, and partaking of books in any form available.
Incredibly inventive and functional! Definitely pinning this.
That is definitely a creative use of space and furniture but I think I would prefer a murphy bed that would be up and out of the way instead of having to move all that furniture when people came over. You could also be guaranteed that there would be no popcorn crumbs that crept into the top sheets while you were watching a movie on your “couch” before the guests came.
What an absolute great idea! I actually have two twin beds for my daughters room, but have had a the hardest time deciding on configuration based on wall space and window placement. Love your multipurpose room!
Now why didn’t I think of that? Brilliant!
I LOVE this! We have a guest slash playroom that I would love to do this in. Such a great idea!
This is a great idea! I have a room upstairs used as a playroom and doubles as a guest room. Needed an idea on how to make it work as both. This is it. Thanks for sharing!!
What are the dimensions of the room ypundidnthis too? I love it, but I’m not sure my room is big enough.