There’s no reason why you can’t use your home for multiple purposes, even if it is small. Many of us live in apartments or houses without spare rooms and therefore use our living rooms for a myriad of activities.
If you use your lounging space for studying, as a playroom for the kids, as a social room for gatherings, and for eating, this article will show you how to make the most of your space.
With these six tips, you’ll be able to enjoy your space without feeling like you’re always getting in the way of other activities!
1. Designate areas of the room for different activities
Even if you have a small room, it’s crucial to designate different activities to different areas. For example, have just one area for the kids’ toys and tell them that that is their area to play.
Similarly, if you need to use your living room to study, put your desk in one corner of the room. Don’t study anywhere else in that room, or you will find it difficult to switch off from ‘work mode’. If you also use your living room to do workouts, keep your equipment in another corner and try, where possible, to work out from this area only.
2. Make use of storage space
Storage space is essential with a multi-purpose lounge. Even if you use the same space for working, playing, entertaining, exercising, lounging, and eating, it’s doubtful that you’ll use it for all of those activities at the same time!
To help your space feel less cluttered, only have the things you need out at any time. For example, if you are watching TV and the kids are in bed, make sure that all of their toys, your studying equipment, workout gear, and plates and cutlery are all stored away.
You can use clever storage hacks to maximise your storage space and make sure that you do have a space for everything. For example, purchase a coffee table that has large drawers to store items in. Or, buy a sofa with storage space. Make sure that everything has a home, and don’t leave things lying around.
3. Be as minimal as possible
In a similar vein, try not to have too much stuff for any of your activities. If you are using your living room for multiple purposes, you will typically have more items in your room than most! However, if you limit what you own as much as possible, it shouldn’t get too overwhelming.
For example, if you use your living room as a gym, try to limit yourself to just one set of weights (unless you really need another). Or, try to be strict with how many toys your children keep in the lounge – you could keep any extras in storage elsewhere in your house.
4. Be prepared to change your room completely for parties and gatherings
If you often hold parties, gatherings, or other events in your house, you may need to adapt your living space to accommodate these as well. Using the tips above, such as storage and minimalism will help you do this.
For example, you could turn your living room into a party room by clearing the furniture to the sides and adding a bar full of your favourite drinks. To completely transform the space, you could even decorate in a particular theme – for example, you could have an 80s disco, with bright decor hanging from the walls and retro snacks. Or how about an elegant Casino Royale theme, where you could set up a blackjack table and try your luck!
Decorating your living area in this way will completely transform it from your day to day lounge and make you feel like you’re in an entirely different place!
5. Invest in the right furniture
Your sofa will undoubtedly be the centrepiece of your room, so investing in the right type of sofa will help create a versatile space. If you need to use your living room as a guest bedroom, invest in a sofa bed.
Alternatively, you could try a sofa that separates into two or more parts. These sofas could be used for different things on either side of the room, or put together to create a big space for family movie night. You may also want to prioritise sofas with lots of storage space.
Other versatile furniture examples are large coffee tables that you could also use for arts and crafts activities or smaller tables that can double up as seating.
6. Consider a room divider
If different people use the living room for different things, consider trying a room divider to give people privacy. This could come in the form of a curtain or even a large transportable board; you could temporarily use this to section off the study area or curtain off the workout zone. This will help you feel like you have ‘rooms within rooms’ and be able to separate different parts of your daily activities.
However, you probably won’t want to permanently separate your living room, especially if it is only a small space. Make sure that you have room to store away your boards, or that your curtains don’t look obvious when they are not drawn.
When using your living room for multiple purposes, it’s important to make sure that you try to avoid clutter and still manage to separate each activity.
You’ll find that doing so helps your mentality and enables you to get into different mindsets more easily. These tips should have helped you to separate your space a little more – and, in turn, separate each activity in your mind.