A custom-designed home office, combined with the unique beauty and functionality of a Murphy bed, can result in both a productive office space and an elegant, comfortable area for your guests. 

In 2006, then-Governor Tim Kaine had an idea for the state of Virginia. He wanted it to be one of the leading states for telecommuting by 2010. It was a series of small steps, starting with getting 20% of eligible state employees telecommuting by 2008 (they made it to 22% that year). He was then hoping to provide incentives to other private businesses to do the same, and since Northern Virginia is one of the leaders in forward-thinking tech companies, telecommuting took off in the state like in few other places. Currently, Virginia is 6th in the nation for people working from home, with a full 4.5% of the total workplace doing so full-time.

But… not everyone works from home full-time. Those that do have great options for custom-designed home offices that are dedicated spaces for working, but what about the rest of the state? For many people who occasionally work from home, or who have a side business after hours, they might not be able to dedicate an entire room to the home office. There just isn’t enough space in the house.

Since they won’t be using the office full-time, it makes sense to have an office that’s also a guest room, or a media room, or serves any other purpose, to get the most use out of each square foot. The problem, then, comes from not having a space that is free from distractions when you do need to work. When the office space is doubled up and cluttered up with a bedroom or a TV room, you won’t be able to work as efficiently or professionally, and working from home might not be worthwhile. You need to establish a comfortable work space that easily coexists with the other purpose of the room. And one of the best spaces to do this in is a guest bedroom. It is there that a custom-designed home office, combined with the unique beauty and functionality of a Murphy bed, can give you the best of both worlds: a productive office space and an elegant, comfortable area for your guests.  

Home Office in a Guest Bedroom: A Smart and Sensible Solution

The guest bedroom is a room that, by definition, is one of the least-used rooms in the house. Unless you have frequent visitors, or are an often-booked AirBnB host, it’s a room that generally remains vacant. You may already have set up your office there, but have you really made it yours? A lot of people don’t, because it seems like a temporary arrangement (here’s a hint: it’s almost never temporary).

That’s where a custom-designed home office can come in. You can transform the space from something haphazard to a more permanent, deliberate solution, and make it into a dedicated workspace. It starts, interestingly enough, with putting the bed in a different location: the wall.

We’re all used to the idea of the Murphy bed as a kind of flophouse specialty, a string that is pulled as a tiny mattress pops from a dingy wall (sometimes swallowing up one of the 3 Stooges). But that was then: today, Murphy beds are a much sought-after luxury piece of furniture, for a few good reasons:

• They save an enormous amount of space. Think about when you moved into your home, and proudly surveyed the bedroom, and saw a vast floor of open space. It was exciting. Then, when the bed came in, all that space was gone, swallowed up by a piece of furniture that is rarely used. The Murphy bed clears this up by being out of the way when you aren’t using it. (This is space that can come in handy in a home office.)

• It is stylish. A proper modern Murphy bed isn’t just smooshed against the wall, held by a couple of straining bungee cords. It folds up into its own elegant, custom-designed furniture, looking for all the world like a bookcase or cabinet. Indeed, guests might wonder if there is a bed at all.

• Its style creates an aesthetic for the room. You can start with the Murphy bed, and build from there. In our pictured example below, the dark, rich color of the cabinets evokes the feel of a library, whether the bed is up or down. Suddenly, you have a look to design and decorate around—and the space to do it.

So now you have your guest room situated: a beautiful stylish look for your visitors.You can next design your office around it. The best part is that the Murphy bed doesn’t just provide space and style, it provides flexibility. If you have a home office, and need to hold a meeting for any reason, you can set up a small table and chairs where the bed would normally be. You won’t be brainstorming over the kitchen counter—your work can stay in the office, and stay on-task.

How Closet America Makes The Most Of Your Rooms

This is the point of custom-designed space management: it allows for the best use of space for whatever purpose you need. At Closet America, we don’t just come in with some furniture and throw it down and hope you make it work. We talk to you. We find out that you want a great place for guests, but also a place to work without distractions, and certainly without the ever-staring comfort of a bed, just begging to be napped in during office hours.

We measure the room, creating a 3D-rendering of the space (like the images above), and design the furniture around that. We recreate your room, placing the solutions within it, so that we can ensure our designs fit perfectly. The renderings also show you what the final product will look like, so that you can be confident in your decision long before installation. We make sure it’s done just right, just for you, the first time. We then precision-craft each piece in our local Landover shop, and then deliver it to your house, where we efficiently and neatly install it. The bed, the office, everything: we make your solution according to your specifications and needs.

We know that there is only so much space in any house, but as I say, you shouldn’t have to compromise. Making a room serve dual purposes without giving short shrift to either isn’t easy, and it works best when it is done as part of a whole, so that all solutions come from the same place, with the same holistic design, and form a seamless whole. We feel that there is an elegant solution to multi-purpose rooms, one that comes from our custom design team. Virginia is a great place for telecommuters, but only if they have the space they need for work—and for life.

Closet America is the D.C. area’s leading creator of custom-made home offices, designer closets, garages, pantries, mudrooms, and laundry storage spaces. Our experienced team of designers and engineers help create unique solutions that are customized with your needs in mind. With Closest America, you can have everything in its place, perfectly. Schedule a free design consultation today!