DIY Home Office and Guest Room Makeover Reveal!

We are DONE!  The DIY home office and guest room is finally finished and I’m excited to share the reveal with you today!

I have written many blog posts about this room along the way, so I will link to them throughout this post.  You can also find more posts in the drop-down menu “Projects by Room” under “office”.  

Table of Contents

• The DIY Home Office and Guest Room Before
• DIY Home Office and Guest Room – The Desk/ Office Area
• About the Room Layout
• DIY Home Office and Guest Room – The Murphy Bed Wall
• ​The Design and the Finishing Touches
• The Finished Room and some Before and Afters
• Sources
• You might also like:

This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you purchase anything from these links I earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you! This helps support my blog, so thank you!

I worked with Rejuvenation on this project, but this post is not sponsored and all opinions are my own.

The DIY Home Office and Guest Room Before

A lot of people ask us about the Murphy bed and if we built it, and the truth is, it was in this room when we bought the house.  It was already an existing guest room and office combo.  

The Murphy bed was built in with an L-shaped office desk that extended around the corner.  When we moved in, I thought I wanted a floating desk in here (I had an antique one that I loved and wanted to keep.) I knew I didn’t like the laminate L-shaped counter situation.  So I removed the counter and put my desk in here, floating in the middle of the room.  

There was a bank of drawers at the end of the counter that we saved and I temporarily moved them next to the Murphy bed.  They were deeper than the Murphy bed cabinets so they weren’t going to stay there.  I cut a piece of the old countertop to slap on top of those drawers to hold my printer, and that is how it sat for a couple of years while we tackled other projects in the house!

After living with it like this for a while, we did not like having to move that desk every time we wanted to drop the Murphy bed and use it.  It wasn’t the most functional space with a desk in the middle.  

The closet in here just had a rod and one upper shelf, and it was stuffed with random things and also housed my filing cabinet.  The closet also had too much space above it that was just being wasted.

We decided that the closet area was the perfect spot for a built-in DIY desk.  It offered the ideal solution for keeping a desk space available without having to move the desk every time we wanted to open the bed.  We also don’t have a ton of guests so we don’t need a dedicated guest room.

The Murphy Bed side of the room was looking a little random once the corner desk was removed, and we really wanted to make the most of the extra room high up on the wall (the ceilings in here are 10′!)  So we decided to build in the space around the bed with cabinets, wall to wall, using IKEA.

Having a home office combo with a spare bedroom is a great way to use this space daily, while still having a guest bedroom, occasionally.  It was a great option for this room and we are so pleased with the increased function!

DIY Home Office and Guest Room – The Desk/ Office Area

We started the renovation here before Christmas.  I knew this was going to be a doozy, so we split the room up into phases.  We completed phase one, which is to remove the existing closet and add in a desk, before Christmas and then took a little break!

You can read all about phase one of the renovation in a separate post here.  We took that little bank of drawers and re-purposed them as the base of the desk, and then added additional cabinets above to make use of the tall ceilings.

I built a DIY ladder and ladder rail to reach those high cabinets.  

​When we were finished with the desk, I made some cushions for a Facebook Marketplace chair.  It’s nice to have a comfy chair to relocate to on occasion when I’m working away in here, and it’s very light and easy to move out of here when we want to use the bed.

About the Room Layout

Having the desk in the spot where the closet was really opened up the floor space here, especially since this room was on the smaller side.  I no longer had to move a big heavy desk and all the computer stuff out of the room when we wanted to drop down the bed for overnight guests.

I did have a few people mention that by removing a closet, I was also removing a bedroom, technically, for resale.  Where we live, a closet is not necessary to consider a room a bedroom, so this home office guest room would still be considered one.  Also, if someone wanted the closet back, it’s not that hard to put it back.  

We also are renovating this house for how we want to use it, and not some future buyer.  But if you are considering removing a closet to put in a desk, check with a realtor in your area if you are concerned about resale. 

DIY Home Office and Guest Room – The Murphy Bed Wall

​The Murphy bed is pretty comfortable and since it uses a real mattress in there, I feel like it’s more comfortable than a sleeper sofa might be.  We wanted to keep it, but once we removed the L-shaped counter, it looked like it was missing something.

I decided to install cabinets to the wall and to the ceiling to make a full wall of cabinetry.  That would give us a bunch of additional storage that we needed.  Enough space to store all the things that were previously stored in my mess of a closet, and then some!

My go-to for cabinets is usually Ikea.  They had most of what I needed in stock for a good price.  I ended up cutting down a couple of the cabinets to make them work.  You can read about how to cut down an ikea cabinet in this post.  I then added fillers everywhere.

Once the cabinets were all filled in, we decided to call a local cabinet supplier to get a price to make doors for our cabinets.  After making our own doors on the desk wall, we realized that it was harder than we thought and pretty time-consuming.  After getting a price for unfinished doors and having them made, I can say with certainty that having them made was 100% worth it!   

I did my best to make the cabinets symmetrical and line up with the cabinets above and below, and make the doors the same size as the doors on the Murphy bed.  This meant that I had to get a little creative with the doors themselves.

The bottom doors on the left, although they look like drawers, are actually doors.  I added two doors on the single tall cabinet so that I could use IKEA cabinets, but the doors would still be the same size as those on the Murphy bed.

​The Design and the Finishing Touches

The cabinets were all painted using Benjamin Moore Silver Marlin, which is a beautiful light blue-grey.  I also painted all the trim in the room that same colour, and the walls and ceiling are Benjmain Moore Dove Wing.

I added a mural above the bed from Rebel Walls for a little added punch and interest when you open up the bed.

Then it was time for hardware!  I patterned with Rejuvenation and they supplied me with the most beautiful brass hardware and lighting.  I always think that in order for a space to look elevated, you do need to mix in a few splurge items.  For this room, that is the solid brass hardware and lighting.  They just help elevate all the things around them and those small details make the biggest difference.  

​I have forever-loved the Hood Pendant from Rejuvenation and it did not disappoint!  It’s such a statement in here.  I also added a little plug-in sconce at the desk for a little additional task lighting.

I added a little fan for guests for air movement (and also acts as a white noise machine!).  I placed it on my DIY filing cabinet that I made to look like a vintage map cabinet.

This is a small room and when the bed is opened up, there is very little room to put anything, so I added some bentwood hooks for a little spot for guests to hang things.  

 Finally, the bedding!  Nothing says luxury like a comfy bed with layers of bedding. I used a textured duvet paired with a hand-stiched quilt.  (I might steal this for my own bedroom!)  

​I accented the pale blue and white colour palette with some pops of red and a bit of black and wood here and there to add contrast.  The red rug was the perfect accent!  

We added a solid wood dowel above the bed so the ladder works over here too.  I really feel like having all those cabinets made the best use of all the available space in here.  You can read all about how we made the ladder and rail in this post.

The open shelving that was in here before I decided to keep for a few display items.  The bottom shelf is on a drawer slide, so you can pull it out and it acts as a bedside table, so that is pretty handy!

The Finished Room and some Before and Afters

At the end of the day, I think we made the best of this small space and it is functioning so well for us.  It is a lovely work space to be in, I have enough room to store anything I need to store.  When we do have guests, we have a comfortable guest bed available.  

This room is unrecognizable from where it started!  I’m so pleased with the entire room and what a huge impact the changes made in here.  I hope you found this post inspiring and gave you your own office guest room ideas to use in your own home! 

Sources

• Mural
• Beige Duvet Cover
• Red Floral Quilt and Shams
• Blue Throw Pillow
• White Vintage Style Fan
• Pendant
• Plug in Sconce
• Bentwood Hooks
• Rug
• Knobs
• Pulls
• Brass plate covers
• Red Striped Chair Fabric
• Wicker Chair – Vintage (This is similar)
• Ladder Sources

You might also like:

• How To Build a Custom DIY Built-In Computer Desk 
• DIY Under Desk Keyboard Tray (in a Drawer!)
• How to Build a Simple DIY Wood Ladder
• 12 ways to Make an Ikea Kitchen Look Custom