Sharing Your Home Office As a Guest Room

By: Jessica Ackerman

Space is at a premium in many homes, but that doesn't mean that you cannot benefit from a fully functional home office that doubles as a guest bedroom. Finding more than one purpose for a room is becoming more and more necessary as families grow but are forced to remain in their smaller homes due to the economic downturn. However, you can make just some minor alterations and with the implementation of a few ideal pieces of furniture into the room, you can turn your home office into a guest room that you will be proud to offer up to visiting relatives and friends.

Assessing Your Needs

Before you begin your transformation from mere office space into living quarters for your guest, determine the needs that you will have for the guest bedroom version of your home office. How many guests usually stay with you at one time, and how long do they stay with you? How much sleeping space do you need? Do you have office equipment that can be concealed or stored during the visit? Will you need to use the office space during the day when the guest is there? By determining upfront the needs that you will have for your guests, you will better understand the modifications that will need to be made, and the purchases you may need to make.

Outfitting the Room

To properly lay out your new home office/guest room, you need to be aware of the room size and then scale the pieces of furniture that you place in the room accordingly. A combination closed and open shelving system will allow you to display photographs or other decor while providing room for some bulky office equipment that you don't use all the time. If you do much of your work on a laptop or notebook computer, consider purchasing a small desk that is deep enough just for that type of computer, or choose a flat screen monitor for your desktop PC that will not take up as much room or be as noticeable. The placement of a few floating shelves above your work station can help with organization of your paperwork. Choose a comfortable computer chair that could double as seating when the office is not in use. Your goal in outfitting this room is to make the room as appealing as possible to would-be guests while being as functional as possible for your home office needs.

Sleeping

The most obvious choice for a home office/guest bedroom is a hideaway sofa bed or futon style bed. Choose a high quality sofa bed that is easy to fold and unfold, and that provides comfortable seating for the home office when not serving double duty as a guest bed. If possible, the addition of a closet in this room will provide the perfect place for storing linens for the bed. End tables near the sofa table can double as night stands, so be sure to place a lamp on each one.

Working with a minimal space is difficult, but if you're like most folks, you don't have guests but a few times each year. Having this extra space to house them without sending them off to a hotel is a great gesture that will be even more appreciated with just a little legwork on your part - and you still have a great sofa bed for lounging while you should be working in your home office!