One room, two jobs: the guest room that is also an office

Most guest rooms are empty fifty weeks a year. Jun Tanaka turned his into a room that works every day: a home office during the week and a comfortable bedroom when friends stay. Here is how he made one room do two jobs well.

Decide which job comes first

The first decision was which job was the main one. Jun works from home three days a week; guests come perhaps six times a year. So the room is an office that can become a bedroom, not a bedroom with a desk squeezed in. Every choice followed from that.

The bed

A good sofa bed is the key. Jun tested several before buying one with a real mattress, not a thin pad on metal bars. "If your guests sleep badly, they will not tell you, but they will not come back," he says. During the day, it is a sofa for reading or phone calls.

The desk

The desk is a wall-mounted board, 120 centimetres wide, with one drawer. It faces the wall, not the window, to avoid glare on the screen, and has a lamp on an arm that swings out of the way. When guests arrive, the laptop goes into the drawer and the desk becomes a dressing table.

A room that is used every day stays fresh. A guest room that is only used at Christmas always smells a little of dust.

Jun Tanaka

Storage

A tall cupboard holds work files on the top shelves and spare bedding at the bottom. One shelf is always kept empty, for guests' things. A row of hooks on the back of the door takes coats and bags.

Making the switch

Turning the office into a bedroom takes about ten minutes:

1. Clear the desk into the drawer.
2. Open the sofa bed and make it with the bedding from the cupboard.
3. Put a small vase and a reading lamp on the desk.
4. Empty the guest shelf, if it is not already empty.

The details

The room has blackout blinds for guests and a daylight bulb in the desk lamp for work. A small rug softens the floor under the bed. A good extension cable runs behind the sofa, so guests can charge their phones without unplugging anything.