Most people welcome a spare room because it represents an opportunity for a little extra breathing space in a crowded life, just as someone caught in an avalanche might create an air pocket with their cupped hands.
But if you’re someone with a spare room, be warned: unless you assign a specific purpose to it, your breathing space will soon become a dumping ground. Before you know it you’ll have a ‘pig’s room’ filled with mops without heads, buckets missing handles, mismatched crockery and stuff you can’t bear to throw away but can’t bear to look at every day, either.
So if you have a spare room, act now. Think back to the time when you first saw it, and reconnect with your earliest ideas about how to use that precious extra space. The six suggestions coming up should pique your imagination and fire your enthusiasm for reclaiming your spare room from junk and clutter.
Art or Craft Studio
Are you an arty or crafty type of person?
If you answered yes to this question, I bet you’ve often thought about having a room dedicated to your favourite pursuit, whether that’s sewing, painting, scrapbooking, printing or something else entirely.
If you’ve always rejected the idea out of hand, think again: arts and handicrafts have widespread benefits for your cognition and mood, so in making space for them you’re also turning yourself into a healthier, happier person to live with.
Library and Quiet Study Room
This is a suggestion to delight all bibliophiles with an extensive collection of books and mounting difficulties about where to put them.
If you declare your spare room a library and reading room, there’s nothing to stop you lining every wall with bookshelves and placing a table and chairs in the middle.
Your children won’t have to rush their homework and clear their books from the dining table before eating, and everyone will be able to enjoy their favourite read without distractions.
Guest Bedroom
The usual fate of a spare room is to become a guest bedroom, but this doesn’t have to mean your house is full of far-flung family members for months at a time. Especially if you live in London – or indeed any location attractive to tourists – your guest room can earn you a handy extra income as an AirBnB host.
This doesn’t mean providing a full bed and breakfast service: most of your guests will be experienced independent travellers happy to fend for themselves.
Playroom for Cats
Sound crazy to you?
Then you probably don’t have indoor cats and furniture covered with claw marks (not to mention a floor dotted with catnip mice and other cat toys). A cat playroom is an excellent way to keep your favourite felines occupied while you’re out at work or asleep.
If you have kittens or young cats, equip the room with a climbing tree: for older moggies a series of ‘cat shelves’ will be enough to provide them with hours of acrobatic fun.
Alternative Home Gym
The home gym is yet another classic fate of the spare room, but here we’re not talking about the kind of gym filled with step machines and Olympic barbells.
If you’ve enough floor area to do the plank, then you should clear the room of clutter, rip up any carpeting, put down a yoga mat and cancel your gym subscription.
Because a combined yoga studio and gym for body weight exercises will keep you trim, strong and even ripped without having to leave the house.
Music Room
Whether you play an instrument or just love listening to your pet sounds, a soundproof music room is the perfect way to immerse yourself without tormenting other members of the household. If you play it’s a place to keep your kit, sheet music and recording equipment.
For the benefit of the enthusiastic listener, you can install shelves for that precious vinyl and a nice comfy sofa.
Your spare room can be whatever you want it to be: a quiet room, a loud room, a room to get fit or a space to relax. You can even design it expressly for use by guests or pets. But the really important thing is to do something special with your spare room now, before chaos claims it.
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Multifold Doors supply stunning bi-fold doors and aluminium windows for homes across the UK.
For more information on how to add value to your home, get in touch with us today.
