Hey friends! Click play on my latest video below to see what became of our former playroom. Then read on to learn my top 3 MUST-DO tips if you want to repurpose a space or two in your home.

What do you think!? Before you tell me in the comments, here are my MUST design tips for repurposing any room including the thought process I went through for our multi-room reshuffle. Each tip focuses on making a room functional so it works for what you need it to be. The style and character, or what I like to call, “the fancy”, will come once you've settled in.

Ready? Let’s do this.

tip #1. imagine the space

You've chosen a room to repurpose and you know what its new purpose will be. Now it's time to do a little visualization. If you aren’t physically in the room, go on and put yourself in it, and bring a pen and notebook with you. Then close your eyes and picture yourself using the room. See what furniture is in it and where it’s located. Write down or sketch what you see, then ask yourself: Does what I’m imagining make sense for me? Will this space support what I need it to be? Do I have the furniture I need? What (if any) specific necessary items are missing?

What can I make of this empty room? Let's. Dream. BIG.

Really focus on the purpose of the room and whether it can support how you want to use the space. When we first contemplated a multi-room swap, I reimagined each room as something new. I then took it a step further and asked, “Will reshuffling multiple rooms serve us better than the way things are?”. It was an obvious Yes, so from there it was only a matter of when. If you’re only dealing with one room and you’ve got your vision in mind, grab a tape measurer and roll of painter’s tape to tackle tip #2!

tip #2. measure your furniture

Whether you're buying new or simply rearranging what you've got, knowing the dimensions of each furniture piece is key. If purchasing, tape out the overall dimensions of each piece on the floor roughly where you plan to place it. Then ask yourself: Does it fit? Is it obstructing the path of travel? Does it flow well with how I would naturally walk through the space and/or how I intend to use the room?

If using the furniture you have, measure the width and depth (height, if applicable), then repeat the taping exercise wherever you want to relocate the furniture. Ask yourself the same questions above and see how you feel.

*Side note: In the design world, we use drafting programs like Revit, Autocad, and SketchUp to space plan furniture in a room. Each piece is sized to its actual width, depth, and height, so we can see what fits inside a room with fixed parameters (i.e. walls, windows, doors, ceilings, etc.) while leaving space for accessibility and safe circulation.

Using drafting software is definitely a design luxury. You move, add, delete, and swap furniture around like it's a game. Some software makes it simple to duplicate floor plans so you can compare the look, flow, and cost of different furniture layouts. Sounds awesome, right? Yup. But awesome comes at a price. It’s definitely worth the investment if you’re taking on a serious renovation project or building from the ground up. If you simply want to reconfigure a space or swap rooms like me, continue on to tip #3.

tip #3. be open to opportunity

Alright. You have a vision for your room. You’ve measured the foundational pieces going into it. It’s time to lay out your space for REAL. First, empty the room as best you can. Return anything that doesn’t belong, and remove any potential tripping hazards or fragile items completely from the space. Second, position the furniture where you envisioned it to live, all the while, keeping a very OPEN mind. It’s exciting to see your vision come to life, but it can be incredibly disheartening when it doesn’t turn out exactly as you expect. And from both my personal and professional experiences,

simply being aware that an idea may not translate into reality as planned, can be the difference between staying stuck or moving forward to another, potentially better, opportunity.

Case and point, all three rooms in our reshuffle turned out differently from what I imagined:

1. O’s new bedroom. We swapped the orientation of my daughter’s bed so the closet doors could clear her rug, which in turn made the area around her desk more open (win!).

2. New multi-purpose space. While the futon fit on the room’s short wall, placing it along the long wall gave us a greater floor area for play and a more open feel walking into the room (win!).

3. My home office. I was totally set on having my desk face the window. But when I stood in the empty room and imagined my future office, I saw how placing the desk there would put me in a corner (with no real view of outside!). How else could I set up my office space? The wall shelves made locating the lateral file beneath them a natural choice. By positioning my desk perpendicular to the lateral, I have direct access to what’s inside it, PLUS a line of sight to the outdoors, the entry, and our kitchen! The path of travel in front of my desk is also more direct between the adjacent spaces, so this re-envisioned office plan was a huge win overall.

Once your furniture is where you want it, step back and take in your new space! Make tweaks you think you need before adding back any items contributing to the room’s new purpose. Afterward, CELEBRATE. You just made your vision real and you’ve got a brand new space to show for it.

Loving every angle and view from my new home office.

One final bonus tip: let yourself live in your new room as is for a good week. Resist the temptation to buy decor or hang art on the wall. Unless you truly need something, let the room be so you can appreciate how it’s working for you and determine what’s missing (if anything) by experience. Remember, "function over fancy". The style and character will come. Our multi-purpose room was in use for almost a month before I mounted photos on the wall, which gave me time to figure out where they would look best. Waiting also let me ponder whether or not to leave the remaining walls blank (hint: my design mind got going and dreaming up a fresh design for the long wall! I’m super excited to start this DIY and can’t wait to share the process with you!).

are you ready to reimagine your room? or is there still something blocking you from taking action?

Let me know what's making you hesitate in the Comments below and please share what you think of this multi-room reshuffle vlog series. I hope these posts and must-design tips above help you take on a little room refresh in your home or at least start imagining how a space in your home can work better for you.

Always,