Make the Most of Your Spare Room  

All opinions are mine and mine alone.

Make the Most of Your Spare Room  

Whether you live in a flat, a small terrace or a large semi-detached house, chances are most people nowadays have a spare room that’s not getting put to much use except to keep an old bed and some clothes you don’t wear anymore! But you’re thinking what if someone stays over? If you’re one of the people who keep a bed in your spare room for guests, consider how many times people actually stay over and work out whether you’d get more value from transforming it into something to benefit you and your family! Chances are, you’d much prefer to have a room that you can put to good use and keep a sofa bed handy for rare guests. If you’re one of these people who are frustrated with how you’re using your extra room, read on for some inspiration on how to take it from drab to fab.

Re-Decorate
Start by clearing out the space and throwing away any old furniture or items you don’t use anymore. This will instantly make you feel lighter and more free from the old space, and will open up your imagination for the decoration. If it’s a small space, consider a lighter colour to keep everything light and airy –  this will also keep the room quite neutral and will enable you to repurpose the room in the future quite easily. You can also try a feature wall if you want to inject a bright colour or a bold pattern into the space. This gives you the opportunity to get crafty or creative like you might not in another room of the house – don’t be afraid to be bold if that’s your style! You can decorate the ceiling, re-do the windows, or even paint the cornice. If you’re going to be doing a lot of fiddly decorating, invest in a handy telescopic ladder to reach all the tricky parts of the room. These can be easily stored away too, so they’re perfect if you’re trying to keep clutter to a minimum or keep storage to a minimum. 

Walk in Wardrobe
Transform this spare room into a beautiful walk in wardrobe for you and your family to enjoy. This means you’ll free up much-needed space in your bedroom that you’re probably using for your clothes storage, and you can sleep happier with so much less clutter near your resting space. Get creative with how to store clothes and shoes – consider a grid layout of shelving on the wall to compactly store clothes and accessories. You can label each cubby hole for each person, and invest in some wicker baskets and buckets that will slot in the spaces to tidy away messy bits and bobs. You can have wardrobes the length of the whole wall, maybe even go the extra mile and get an accessory cabinet for your little bits and bobs! 

Personal Library
If you’re a bookworm, the idea of your personal library will sound like heaven! Build bookcases against all the walls possible to match your colour scheme. Again, if you have a smaller space, keep the bookcases bright and white to brighten the room up and keep as much light in as possible. Libraries have the tendency to be quite dark and depressing due to all the wood and books taking over and making the room smaller. Purchase a huge, soft sofa to complement the space that will make the perfect reading space. You can even purchase some bean bags or an ottoman to get extra cosy. Then fill your library with all your books (leaving space for new ones) and make sure you include the finishing touches such as lamps, cushions and rugs for the perfect look!

Gym
If you’re serious about fitness (and let’s face it – we all should be) and you have the budget to spare, you can transform this room into a gym for all the family to use. You can even start small and include one machine and a couple of weights, and do most of your training as resistance training on a yoga mat. As you save up throughout the year you can purchase more machines to exercise on and start to build your collection. Putting some large mirrors on one wall, keeping the décor light and bright, and investing in a sound system will make you feel like you’ve got the real deal in your home in no time!