How to Create Modern Multifunctional Rooms

No one likes being pigeon-holed. Sure, you’re a great whitewater rafter, but that doesn’t mean you can’t also be a skilled cricket player or a mime — don’t box yourself into one definition of you. 

*Frowny face as your gloved hands press against the air around you, trapped by boundaries self-imposed*

Same goes for the rooms in your home and the furniture inside of them. A contemporary living room, with the right pieces, can double as a bedroom (hello sofa bed). Your bedroom can be an office-away-from-the-office with a desk that complements the space and its needs. The bathroom can… well, the bathroom should just stay a bathroom. 

Then there are the furnishings that aren’t realizing their full potential. Certain stools can be just as, if not more, stylish as an end table. Pieces with a storage component can open a room, and some items are so easily storable that they allow for not just easy clean-up, but a reimagining of your space.

These are multipurpose pieces. Hybrid spaces. Friendly centaurs you can sit on. Come for a ride with us as we explore the best ways to make the most of both.

Modern Sofa Beds

The classic hybrid-room solution. Oh, you have family coming to visit and they need a place to sleep? A modern sofa bed. Your friend is crashing at yours after a party? Sofa bed. There’s a big ol’ spider in your room and you desperately need to sleep somewhere else until you’re able to muster the courage to confront and/or move into a new apartment in the morning? Sofa bed.

Consider the sleek velvet Oneira for your sofa-cum-bed needs, or if you need a little extra space, The Soma sectional even has storage in the chaise for sheets, pillows, or rolled-up newspapers.

Mid-Century Modular Sofas

Need more room in the living room? Want to turn your home office into an unreasonably comfy boardroom? Modern modular sofas are key to making that happen. 

Split the Solae up to go around the coffee table during a heated game of Scrabble. Extend the Quadra lengthwise to make the perfect station for afternoon naps. Hey, you can even create a maze out of Mellos if you’re feeling creative (and have enough pieces). 

Modern Table Talk

Sometimes it can be confusing. You look at an object and think, “Should I put my espresso here, or should I put my butt here?” Fair question. Pieces like stools, end tables, and modern ottomans can (and should be) open for interpretation. 

Take the Burrard Ottoman. It’s spacious and comfy as all get-out, but it also makes a great coffee table. The sophisticated Level Bench does that double-duty effortlessly, too. Put your feet up, put your drink down. The Tana Stool is an ever-so-elegant seat that works just as well as a landing pad for your plants.

Sneaky-Good Contemporary Storage

The key to making any multifunctional room work is space, either by creating more of it or working within its limitations. A desk with raised shelves (hi there, Fantol) will give your home office/bedroom more room to breathe, in turn making it more comfortable. A mid-century dining room with stackable Meno Chairs around the table makes for easy clean-up and transmogrification into the holiday-time puzzle station.

Nesting tables, like the Taiga, are simple to stack, store, and move to the side to make your living room into the kid’s wrestling ring (we do not condone using the Sven as the “top rope” from which to land your signature move, but we can’t say we’re not impressed).

With a little help and a dash of creativity, you can make your space (and the furniture in it) multifunctional. 

*Smiley face as gloved hands swim freely through the air — invisible boundaries no more*