7 Tips to Combine a Playroom and Guest Room

For most families, guest rooms only get used a couple times each year. Out-of-towners come to visit for holidays, birthdays, and special occasions, and the room goes dormant for the remainder of the time. As such, it’s foolish to have one dedicated room for guests. If you have kids, the perfect solution is to combine a designated room as both a guest and a playroom.

Follow these easy steps for making it happen.

Keep It Neutral

As tempting as it may be to paint rainbows and unicorns all over the walls of this room, such decor may be hard to stomach for guests who stay in this room while visiting you. Avoid traditional boy/girl colors like pink and baby blue, and go for something a bit more neutral that can easily work for a grown-up guest room. Small accents to make the room fun for your kiddos can be added and easily stored when your guests are in town.

Storage, Storage, Storage

Even though this room will usually be filled with toys, games, and other fun activities, few guests want to cohabitate with such clutter. Maximize storage solutions in this room such as bins, seating cubes, and closet space to hide playthings while guests are in town. Toys can overwhelm a room, so storage is key to decluttering when guests visit.

Just Say No to Carpet

Carpet and playrooms don’t mix. Kids are notoriously messy creatures who spill food, drinks, paint, etc. on the floor. Carpet doesn’t bode well in kid-populated environments, so floor this multi-purpose room with a lower-maintenance material such as engineered wood, tile, or linoleum. You can create a cozy spot with an inexpensive area rug that can easily be rolled up or replaced by another for guests when they visit.

Gloss it Up

Just as floors can get messy in the presence of young ones, so can walls. Coat them in high-gloss paint that can easily be wiped down after being assaulted with sticky fingers, markers, and other foreign matter.

Turn on the Bright Lights

Overhead lighting, while not optimal for most common areas, is perfect for a combo room like this one. Lamps can be dangerous for kids to be around and also usually require a side table as a resting place which can take up otherwise valuable real estate within this room.

Deodorize

Give the room a week to air out before guests come to visit. Playrooms are usually notoriously full of clutter and messes and can become dusty and musty. Open the windows and burn a clean candle daily before guest arrival.

Fold It Up

The number one best way to turn a playroom into a multi-purpose room is to outfit it with a Murphy Bed. When guests come to visit, simply fold out the Murphy Bed and the room automatically becomes a comfy guest room. As an added bonus, you can use the bed for quick naps for your little ones when they tire out from playing. In the picture above, 2 Twin Murphy beds flank the windows and are built in to match the wall storage.

No need to isolate an entire room in your house specifically for one purpose. With these handy tips, you can easily transform almost any room into a play/guest room for all to enjoy!

Photo courtesy of OhSoLovelyBlog.com's Instagram page.