Prices for downtown Vancouver residential real estate are costly (about $750 per square foot). Many people can’t afford a spare bedroom and an office and a dining room with those prices. Multi-functional furniture can help you maximize your space and stay organized.
Hide-a-Bed
Long gone are the heavy chesterfields with hard-to-open hidden beds and lumpy mattresses. Today’s sofa-beds, like this sectional from Urban Décor, are lighter weight and include built-in storage for guest linens and pillows. You can transform your living room into a guest bedroom quickly and easily.
Expand Furniture’s Dormire looks like something out of the Transformers comic books. It converts from a sofa to bunk beds for two adults in less than 30 seconds (video here). There is also a design that houses three single beds (video here). It’s a terrific option for hosting visiting grandchildren.
Wall-beds are becoming more popular. With better (and safer) mechanics, you can open and close them effortlessly. You can buy compact wall beds, which is just the bed hidden in a cabinet. But other options include integrated tables, sofas, and shelving units for truly multi-functional furniture.
Another option for occasional visitors is this fold-away wall bunk bed set. You can leave the beds folded up in a small room during the day to create more floor space (play area) in the room.
Resource Furniture offers a rotating wall bed with a library and table. You could transform your office or dining room into a spare bedroom in minutes. The bed even has little shelves that pull out of the side for night tables. Expand Furniture offers something similar – its Compatto revolving queen-size wall bed bookcase with an integrated table. The Compatto line also has a single bed version with a bookshelf and a bunk-bed version.
Storage Furniture
We briefly touched on storage beds in our previous post about bedroom organizing. You can store a surprising amount of linens, suitcases, and off-season clothing out of sight, yet it will still be easily accessible.
We all need to store paperwork, but traditional metal filing cabinets are not very stylish. This 3-drawer cabinet can double as an end table in a living room or nightstand in a bedroom.
You can rest your feet on this ottoman or use it as extra seating, and it is a small filing cabinet. With a lid that flips upside down for a tray, this ottoman can be used as a side table as well. Or, you could put two of them together for a coffee table.
Space Saving Tables
Maybe you love to host dinner parties but don’t have room to store a large table and chairs. Or, perhaps you need an extra work surface from time to time. If either (or both) of these situations apply to you, these space-saving tables and desks might be what you need.
IKEA has a few multi-functional furniture options. The Bjursta wall-mounted drop-leaf table is handy for a breakfast nook or a laptop work surface in a small bedroom. Raise it to use it and fold it down to allow for more space in the room. The NORDEN gateleg table seats up to for people when fully extended. When closed, it is a narrow console that you can store in a hallway or alcove. There are a few drawers in the centre to store cutlery or table linens.
Transforming Dining Sets
The Trojan table from Expand Furniture is similar to NORDEN, but it can seat up to six people, and the chairs are stored in the centre part of the table. Use it for a nice dinner party or host a board meeting in your home office.
This marvellous Transformer Dining Set caught my eye. It is made in Canada from locally sourced materials (FSC-certified forests). The table can extend from a 45cm (18″) deep console to a 3m (9’10”) long dining table that seats 12 people! This well-designed system comes with matching extendable bench seating. The benches double as end tables in a living room, and the extension panels are stored within the benches. The table panels are stored in the matching coffee table. So, with a coffee table, console, and two end tables in your living room, you can host a dinner party for 12 people. It’s pretty incredible.
As you can see, small spaces don’t have to be cramped and cluttered. Out of Chaos can help you find the right multi-functional furniture to help you have a stylish, organized home. Contact us today!
Featured Image by DarthZuzanka on Pixabay.
