25 Ideas for Creating Smart Multifunctional Rooms

In the era of open-plan homes and mobile electronic devices, home designs are incorporating more multifunctional rooms into their floor plans. Kitchens with islands become both dining room and workstation. Offices double as guest bedrooms. Due to constrained space, some smaller homes require you to combine room functionality.

Looking for a little inspiration in creating your own multifunctional room? Below are some of our favorite examples.

Bedroom/tub areas

Fitting a tub into a small space can be a challenge, but sometimes you just have to unwind with a bubble bath, which is why some enterprising home designers brazenly put the tub right in the bedroom. You might wonder if doing so disrupts the look of the bedroom, making it feel like you’re sleeping in a

bathroom, but it’s quite easy to pull off with some smart design choices. There are several ways to visually distance the bed from the tub, making the space look logical and well laid out.

Visually distance the tub from the bed by surrounding it with tall tiles. Image: Carsten Arnold Photography

Separate the tub from the bed with a short wall. This works well in small spaces. Image: SHED

Minimalist design creates a bathroom space by grouping bathroom elements together. Image: ecologiamontreal.com

You can also separate the tub from the bedroom with a partial wall and support beam. Image: LXA

A stark, minimalist tub fits in anywhere. Image: Gerstner Din

Indoor play area multifunctional rooms

Combining playrooms with other areas of the home is a huge trend in home design. The most common, of course, is the child’s bedroom. But other areas can be used as well.

Having an indoor place for a child to play is a good option for areas in cities where it is less safe for a child to be outside, where the weather is bad for much of the year, or instances in which a child’s outdoor play options are limited due to conditions, such as allergies.

Below are several creative ideas for bringing the playground inside.

This creative design combines a play area with a study desk. Image: raad

This is more of a designated playroom, but it shows how a basketball hoop placed in the home can turn any space into a play space. Image: Minchew and Company

Here’s a design that makes clever use of some previously unused under-stair space for a play area. Image: elena del bucchia DESIGN

A child’s loft bed adds storage and play space. Image: White Room

This creative homeowner built a child’s play house into a wall. Image: Copper Hills Custom Homes

Kitchen and dining room combination

One of the easiest ways to create multifunctional rooms is to put together a kitchen with a dining room area. As open-floor plans become more popular, people aren’t wanting a dining room separated into its own room. They want to be able to cook and socialize.

The spaces below make great use of combining the kitchen space and eating area into one room. It’s an especially good idea for small spaces or smaller home floorplans, since it cuts out the need for another whole separate room. It also means no one is cut off from the crowd while cooking.

This design combines sitting space at an island and a dining table right off the kitchen for an area with plenty of seating. Image: Markay Johnson Construction

Creative furniture options like this one combine a seating area with an island. Image: Basis Builders

An extended island adds eating space right in the kitchen. Image: R.Z. Owens Constructions

A breakfast nook is a good way to combine kitchen and eating areas. Image: Robin Muto Interiors

Combining an eating area with the sink is a good use of a multifunctional room. Image: Design First Interiors

Convertible bedrooms

If you’re working with a truly small space, you’ll need to get creative with your sleeping arrangements. Beds take up a lot of precious floor space in a small living area. Luckily, fold-down beds mean you can put a makeshift bedroom just about anywhere, creating a truly multifunctional room.

Rather than feeling like you’re in a cramped space, however, the ideas below are a classy addition to a space. The beds fold up into seamless-looking cabinets. They also combine some spaces you wouldn’t think of combining, like a home office and guest bedroom.

This bed folds up into a classy-looking orange and wood-texture design. Image: Rodriguez Studio Architecture

If you can’t decide between a home office and a guest bedroom, this design means you don’t have to choose. Image: Eye 4 Detail

This bed folds down right over the sofa. Image: Black & Milk

A sleek, modern wall space is a great place to hide a bed. Image: Justin Loe Architects

This photo shows how well a loft bed and small sofa go together. Image: Geraldine Laferte

Integrated home offices

Home offices are the trickiest beasts to wrangle into a small space. There’s something that feels distinctly luxurious about them, possibly due to the belief that home offices are reserved for people with a bedroom (or bedrooms) to spare.

These multifunctional rooms prove that you don’t need to live in a mansion to have a home office. With some creative organization, just about any space can be a home office. Here’s some open-plan office inspiration.