Hooray! After months of sneak peeks on Instagram Stories (mostly lamenting the de-cluttering process – ha!) I am so excited to share my home office/guest bedroom with you!

A huge thank you to Furniture Village for partnering on this post, and for creating my sofa bed of dreams. 

A BIT OF BACKGROUND

When Oli and I moved into our flat last February, we concentrated on updating the areas we knew we’d use every day. Namely the kitchen, living room and master bedroom.

It made sense that the high traffic rooms got priority, and over the course of a year we worked hard to make them look and feel how we wanted them to.

Side note: I’ll be shooting updated photos of these rooms soon since they’ve changed so much already!

On the flip-side there were rooms that were studiously ignored. Like our second bedroom!

For a year-plus this room has been a dumping ground. 

^ ^ ^ In use! Dumping ground no more! ^ ^ ^ 

I strategically placed a large mirror in front of the door so that I could play a game of “what second bedroom?” anytime I walked by. Ha!

Out of sight out of mind, right?!

Eventually the time came for me to tackle the de-cluttering of this room head on, and so I spent a good week or so (it always takes longer than you think!) to meticulously go through everything we’d amassed in this room.

Ugh, decluttering is draining! But then . . . SO good!

As soon as the space was clear it was such a big relief! It was SO nice to see the floor again!

And it suddenly felt like the room was ready to be put to use . . . !

DOUBLING THE ROOM USAGE: HOME OFFICE/GUEST BEDROOM

Oli and I toyed with the idea of dedicating this room to one use – home office OR guest bedroom – but realised that it made a lot more sense to double up its usage.

Day to day I wanted a space to work from, and to call my own. 

But when we have guests to stay we wanted them to be able to get cosy and have their own privacy.

A huge part of this room’s double usage is our gorgeous blush pink sofa bed from Furniture Village.

When it came down to choosing a sofa bed, I had two key requirements: 

1. it had to fit our small space perfectly.
2. I wanted a fun colour!

Fortunately I landed on the perfect combination – the Sigrid Two Seater Sofa Bed in ‘Lottie Rose’.

The dimensions worked a charm, and I fell head over heels for the beautiful dusty rose hue.

I was so happy with how easy and well thought-through the ordering process was with Furniture Village. I received a note in the post a couple of weeks before my delivery saying that my sofa bed was on its way, and the team who delivered it couldn’t have been nicer. 

The quality of the sofa is fantastic and the fabric is gorgeous.

My blush pink sofa gets compliments ALL the time – it’s the focal point of this whole room. I am so glad we went with such a pretty colour!

Speaking of which . . . 

THE DECOR SCHEME

I knew that I wanted a soft pink sofa bed for this room, but I didn’t want the overall space to feel too girly. 

To counteract any hint of bubble-gum-overload I opted for lots of natural textures, including tasselled cushions and throws.

I love how rugs can define a space within a space, and I looked to one of my favourite interior designers – Amber Lewis – for inspiration on this front. The soft blue rug and striped one overlap slightly to help further define the home/work space. 

I consciously added in touches of light wood wherever I could (the mirror, desk, frames etc), which again added to the softness of this room and the Mediterranean vibe.

I’ll do a separate blog post about my desk, and the storage in this room since it took me SO long to find the right pieces, but I’ve linked them at the bottom of this post if you’re curious.

OVERALL

This room feels like such a haven now! I am typing this blog post looking out of the window in this room, and I feel so grateful and happy to finally have this space sorted.

One of my best friends Charlotte visited last weekend and she was officially our first overnight guest since we got the sofa bed! 

Charlotte reported a VERY good night’s sleep, so I can now confirm that this sofa bed works a charm for all of its uses. Yay!

WHAT’S YOUR TAKE?

Do you have a work space at home? 

Do any of your rooms double up for different uses?

I’d love to hear from you!

Love, Monica x

Photography by Charlotte Bryer-Ash

A huge thank you to Furniture Village for sponsoring this post | You can check out Furniture Village’s own Home Inspiration Guides here, and their Bedroom Style Guides here

ROOM CREDITS

Sofa Bed: Furniture Village c/o 

Neutral Tasselled Cushions: La Redoute c/o | Tribal Geometric Cushion: La Redoute c/o

‘Evie’ Grey Cushion: Anthropologie c/o | Marble Side Table: French Connection Home

Side Lamp: Dunelm | Seaside Artwork: Pampelone Clothing x Claire Menary ‘Beach Days’ c/o

Heart Artwork: Oliver Bonas (Past season)

Sideboard: ‘Brusali’ Style by IKEA | Capri Mini Candle: Anthropologie c/o

Tall Vase: IKEA | Small Vase: IKEA

Desk: ‘Hemnes’ Style by IKEA | Desk Knobs: Zara Home

Striped Rug: ‘Törslev’ Style by IKEA | Patterned Rug: Next Home c/o (Past season)

Mini Journals, Pencil Pouch, Batik Pens: Anthropologie c/o 

Leather Pouf: India May Home c/o | Hanging Pin Board: The White Company c/o

Desk Chair: Cult Furniture c/o | Gold Floor Lamp: Cult Furniture c/o (Current sold out, but this style is similar)

Pink Throw: River Island | Black and White Throw: Anthropologie c/o

Circle Mirror: IKEA | Pink Mug: Anthropologie c/o

Art on Floor: all Desenio c/o