How to Design a Multipurpose Room: Flooring Ideas, Tips and More

If your home is feeling cramped these days, it’s time to make better use of your space. And the easiest way to do that is by designing a multipurpose room. Multipurpose rooms or flex rooms make the most of a space, allowing you to tackle various activities. Whether it’s to create a retreat intended to entertain the family or to provide a quiet escape to focus or take time for yourself, here is how to design a multipurpose room to become a more versatile space in your home.  

Multipurpose Room Flooring Ideas

Flooring plays an essential role in your home. As a foundation of each room, it’s important to choose the best flooring options for your family’s lifestyle and the particular space. However, as you design a multipurpose room, keep in mind that you will need highly versatile flooring. Let’s look at some of the more versatile and durable flooring options that can offer comfort and beauty and withstand a practical space such as a home fitness center, laundry room and mudroom. 

Below, we’re going to break down flooring types and list common areas of the home that are often chosen to become multipurpose rooms.

Vinyl

Vinyl plank and tile floors are quite versatile flooring options that can work well in many multipurpose rooms. Vinyl flooring is exceptionally durable and water-resistant. Some vinyl products, such as Palmetto Road Impact, are even entirely waterproof. Many collections also offer attached padding that offers sound insulation, which can help sound-insulation qualities, which can help with larger rooms and spaces that tend to echo. Plus, vinyl plank and tile flooring is not only practical but attractive as well. With visuals such as textured woodgrain and high-end marble, you can install it in practically any type of multipurpose room you wish.  

However, when it comes to multipurpose rooms, consider vinyl in moisture-prone areas like basements, laundry rooms and mudrooms. Vinyl is easy to install over an unfinished basement’s concrete subfloors and adds a comfortable, noise-reducing material that transforms a basement into an extension of the home. 

Rigid core vinyl plank is also a wonderful option for sunrooms. Since vinyl has the benefits of being waterproof, it’s perfect if you choose to use your sunroom for a greenhouse. Should you accidentally overwater plants, the rigid core vinyl plank flooring can withstand a topical water spill until you find it. No harm done! The stability of a rigid core vinyl product also helps fight a sunroom’s fluctuating humidity levels throughout the day and seasons. For sunrooms, make sure to choose vinyl flooring with UV inhibitors that can protect against so much exposure to natural sunlight. 

Rubber/Fitness Flooring

Rubber fitness flooring is an extremely durable flooring option for multipurpose rooms. While a home gym setup immediately comes to mind, rubber flooring is highly versatile and can be installed in many types of multipurpose rooms. With a shock-absorbing ability and an easy to clean surface material, rubber flooring is ideal for home gyms with heavy equipment and garages and man sheds where heavy tools and gear are kept.

To create a multipurpose room with the ultimate home gym setup, Twenty & Oak highly recommends installing a commercial gym flooring option such as Centaur Momentum Tile Rubber Flooring. The Momentum Tile rubber floors are made of a resilient, vulcanized rubber composite ideal for offering shock absorption for weight training as well as light-impact exercises such as Yoga or Pilates.

Laminate

Laminate flooring is both water-resistant and easy to maintain, making it a perfect option for busy households. But it’s these features that also make laminate ideal for multipurpose rooms that experience lots of topical spills. Laminate flooring also offers a warm underfooting and some collections offer acoustic sound-dampening properties. 

What types of multipurpose rooms are best suited for laminate? Think kids’ craft rooms and activity areas, or a kitchen with an extended laundry room or mudroom. High-quality laminate is durable enough to withstand mishaps caused by the home chef, artsy kiddos and even dirty dogs. Check out Beauflor’s Hydrana, a water-resistant laminate that makes a wonderful multipurpose room flooring. It comes with extra details, such as an attached pad for warmth, making it perfect for covering cold concrete floors of a basement suite with a bathroom or mudroom extension. 

Hardwood

Hardwood flooring is a popular flooring choice among many homeowners. As a whole, hardwood floors are a fantastic choice for multipurpose rooms that act as communal spaces with an integrated open floor plan and living rooms with a home office combination. Hardwood typically comes with premium-quality, UV-cured urethane finishes that can hold up to busy households. Overall, hardwood floors are designed to impress guests, but also offer durability and timelessness that ages quite nicely.    

The only choice you may need to make is whether to install engineered or solid hardwood, which is generally decided by your home’s environment and region. Due to their structural ability, engineered hardwood floors can withstand higher humidities and are less susceptible to shrinkage and swelling due to seasonal changes, making them a wonderful addition to multipurpose rooms created in basements. 

You can also find waterproof hardwood floors, such as Raintree, that give you the natural beauty of hardwood and provide an SPC-based rigid core flooring for a multipurpose room. While you may not want to install high-end waterproof flooring specifically in a laundry room or mudroom, waterproof floors make a smart choice for common areas with a room extension, such as a laundry room off the kitchen. 

Feeling undecided on what type of floor you need? Complete our Floor Genius Quiz to find the perfect floor type. After, explore our virtual flooring showroom. 

Multipurpose Room Ideas

If you have a room that goes mostly unused and want to make the most of it, we’ve got a collection of ideas right here! Plus, we have some extra design tips to help you get it right. 

Guest Room and Home Office

Guest rooms typically go unused throughout most of the year, so why not transform this space into a multipurpose room and utilize it as a home office? Transforming a guest bedroom into a home office also allows parents a quiet place to hold important business meetings and conference calls and to work late at night while other family members sleep. If you’re a crafts maker, you can turn your guest bedroom into a craft room or sewing room instead. 

If you could use a spare office space to tackle projects, but still want it to be hospitable for guests, here are a few tips for a guest room and home office multipurpose room:

• Swap the large bed for a more compact sleeper sofa to make room for desk space and shelves while allowing a comfortable place to sit to get away from the screen.

• Make the most of the space, hanging shelves, and use closet organizers to keep the room tidy when guests do unexpectedly arrive. With built-in shelves, you can even make a multipurpose room that also combines a home library reading nook. 

• Use versatile furniture pieces that can do double-duty, such as file cabinets disguised as a side table or an armoire that can hide a computer workstation.  

Home Office and Gym

In the new work-from-home age, many homeowners have transitioned guest rooms into home offices. But why not create a truly multipurpose room with a home office and gym combo? Away from the hustle and bustle of communal spaces like the living room, it offers a quiet place to focus on work and studies while simultaneously allowing you to get in an early morning workout without disturbing the rest of the family.

Need a place to work your brain and muscles? Here are some tips for a home office and home gym setup:

• Divide the room into two zones. If you use the space more for work and have relatively few pieces of workout equipment, center the room around your desk and shelves.

• Use a small L-shaped or corner desk, freeing up floor space to roll out a yoga mat or do some Pilates.

• Organize and store away items like kettlebells, yoga mats and resistance bands in baskets, keeping them organized and tidy. The same goes for files and paperwork, too! 

• While any dedicated home gym deserves rubber flooring, you may not appreciate the aesthetic in a home office. The multipurpose room combination works more ideally when you do light exercises like yoga or Pilates or have a treadmill off in the corner, using vinyl flooring instead. 

• Center your room with a rug to make it feel less sterile and more welcoming. 

Basement Entertainment Room/Kitchenette

Basements should be so much more than a laundry room space. Instead, they should be treated as a hideaway and a place to escape, like an entertainment room, kids’ playroom or guest suite. But whatever you choose to do with your basement space, a small kitchenette offers a convenient way to expand your common entertaining areas. It doesn’t have to be a full kitchenette either. Simply add a wet bar with a small sink and mini fridge or wine storage to elevate your basement space. 

Like the idea of utilizing your basement and transforming it into a multipurpose room? Here are some extra tips: 

• Keep attached laundry rooms out of sight by concealing the washer and dryer behind cupboard doors or tucked entirely behind a door.

• Basements tend to be dark, so aim for a more airy look with bright and neutral colors.

• Since basements lack windows, make the most of your wall space and hang shelves and cabinets to organize toys, games, barware, a home library or whatever you intend to use the area for.

Dining Room and Library or Activity Space

If your home is spacious enough to have a formal dining room as well as a breakfast nook, there’s a good chance your family gravitates towards eating in one space more than the other. If so, make the most of the less frequently used space and transform it into a multipurpose room like a home library or classroom (especially since the increase in homeschooling). By adding shelving and creating a more work-friendly space, your formal dining room can become a playful kids’ activity room or even a cozy home library that beckons you to escape. 

Here are a few ideas on how to transform a spare dining space into a multipurpose room:

• If the area is intended for work, keep the casual dining table so you have a place to study or tackle work.

• Create a home library with rich, dark wood tones and add built-in bookcases and artwork to the walls. A library ladder makes an excellent addition, too! Roll out a comfy rug to keep the area warm and inviting.

• To make a kids’ classroom, add some drop-down tables and hideaway cabinets that can be put away when the dining room is in use. 

Equal Form and Function Tips for Multipurpose Rooms

Now that you have a few ideas for multipurpose rooms and have considered a space or two that might work in your own home, it’s time to get to work. Discover how to design a multipurpose room with these tips and tricks, balancing form with function effortlessly. 

• Transition any space with tall, vertical cabinetry and/or built-in shelves, allowing you to store anything from toys and games to sports equipment to an entire book collection. Using vertical storage makes the most of wall space while keeping the floor space open and inviting. 

• Use spare closets and turn them into a more functional space like a laundry room or a makeshift crafts storage or hideaway home office. If the closet is deep enough, remove the door and transform it into a cozy reading nook.

• Make your multipurpose space comfortable, not just utilitarian. Arrange comfortable seating and update the lighting fixtures to offer warmth and enough illumination to perform tasks. Decorate with personal items and knick knacks to personalize the space and make it your own. 

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