It would be nice to have a separate guest bedroom to use only when family and friends stay over.  But the reality for many of us is that we don’t have the luxury of extra space in our home, so the goal is to make a room multi-functional.

Of course, there’s a right way to do it and a wrong way. I’ve seen many rooms where the homeowner crams a huge mattress, a desk, and so many other pieces of furniture that the space doesn’t work as either a guest bedroom or an office.

This is the right way: instead of having a mattress that isn’t going to be used the majority of the time, the best solution is to incorporate a daybed in the room! It can be used as a sofa during the day by placing toss pillows up against the wall, and I especially love that it makes the room appear more spacious because it isn’t taking up valuable space. Now, I know what you’re thinking, the same can be accomplished with a sleeper sofa, right? But for maximum comfort, a daybed is best because of the thickness of the mattress. It can even be purchased with an optional trundle bed on the bottom that flips up to convert a twin size daybed into a full size bed. If you’ve ever slept on a sleeper sofa’s thin mattress, you can definitely appreciate the difference.

Daybeds now come in a great selection of styles, so it’s no longer primarily used in little girls’ bedrooms either. Keep this in mind when decorating a room that needs to be multi-purpose, especially now during the summer when we tend to get an influx of out-of-town guests visiting!