Creating Organized Multi-Purpose Rooms

Our homes are not just a place to sleep and eat – many of us are living in them 24/7. We are working from home, schooling our kids, eating, sleeping and even creating summer camps and movie theaters inside the four walls we call home!

Can one room really serve three or four purposes?

In order to accommodate full-time living, eating, sleeping and breathing, most of the rooms within our home need to be flexible enough to accommodate multiple functions. If you design each room with thoughtful consideration and a little creativity, you will be able to squeeze in the utility areas you need.

You might be a bit frightened to think about redesigning a room for 3-4 different functions but if you think about it, you have probably already done that with several rooms within your home. For instance your kitchen might already serve as a deli, a kids work station and a storage space for bags and backpacks. (Here is how one small room became a laundry, crafts and home business space.)

If you are already multi-tasking inside a room and it feels a bit cluttered it could be that you have not taken the time to use properly sized furniture or furniture that can be used for multiple purposes. You can squeeze in a lot of extra space by simply using furniture that is on scale with the room.

There is an incredible amount of space hiding in your home, no matter how tiny it may be — you just need to know where to look for it!

How can corners add storage to a room?

Corners are an often-overlooked and under-utilized storage area. The addition of a simple L-shaped corner desk or a corner shelving unit can instantly multiply a room’s storage space, freeing up your floors and closets for other functional uses.

As a professional organizer, I love corner desks because they keep all of your tools at arms reach and also take up much less room than a traditional desk. For more ideas, see 5 tips for creating more space in your home office.

Corner shelves take up very little space and if you get one that is super tall – you have also capitalized on your empty wall space. But I will get to that in a bit…

The uses for corners are truly endless. You can steal a corner to create a cozy reading nook which might double as your girl cave when you need to get away! You can also tuck away your kids toys into a corner bin to keep the center of the room free from clutter.

Why should you look up when organizing a room?

Walls and other areas within your home above your eye level are seldom used to their full potential. Ask any small-space designer, and they will tell you: vertical expansion is key to organizing any multi-functional room.

Walls are extremely valuable real estate in your home, not merely places to hang pictures. Use your walls for practical purposes — hang a bicycle, hang your folding chairs, even hang a fold-down table or desk.

The less floor space these items occupy, the more square-footage you have available for other purposes, whether that’s exercising, playing games or working from home.

Wall space also includes the back of your doors, so don’t stop until you consider every vertical space within your home.

How do you use the space behind your doors?

There are so many ways to use your behind-the-door space that I could write an entire blog just about this.

For starters, think about what you need to store that does not fit inside the room you are working on. Once you know what you need to store, you will almost certainly find the ideal solution: from a gift wrapping station, to an extra book shelf to a supply closet to a battery station you will find an easy way to capitalize on these often overlooked storage areas.

How do you keep a multi-purpose room from getting cluttered?

There is so much to store when a room is used for multiple purposes and you need to eliminate everything inside that room that does not serve one of its many functions.

This is the time to get really creative when it comes to storing whatever you need that remains. There are storage solutions to handle anything you want to store, from walk-in closet storage ideas to shallow cabinets, shelving systems and wall hooks. If you’re not ready to install new cabinets or closets, there are plenty of low-tech storage options, too.

Whatever storage options you choose, the key point is to have a place for everything to live inside the room and with room around it, because you will get more as time passes. It’s just the way of our world! When every item has its home with a yard around it, it’s much easier to keep your space clean and find what you need in a pinch.