Multitasking Dream Room Tour

For hardworking rooms like this, every inch has to count. This room shows how to maximize square footage by creating zones for different purposes. Here, a dining room buffet is recast as a multifunctional desk. Originally black, the buffet was treated to fresh green paint, customized wallpaper, and glass hardware to give it a whole new look.

Make customized wallpaper, lampshades, fabric, and pillowcases with the custom design tool at alluminaire.com that lets you resize and recolor patterns. The pattern for these drawers is affordable and helps pull the room together.

Make a magnetic memo board from a flea market frame, basic supplies from the hardware store, and paper scraps. This is an old vanity mirror, but any frame would do. Cut galvanized metal to fit the frame. Then cover it in pretty wallpaper or art paper. Add magnets and favorite photos and quotes for a quick-change inspiration board.

Old chicken feeders have wiry inserts perfect for holding sorted items. Find them at flea markets and auctions. Stick labels to adhesive magnetic paper and use them to categorize greeting cards or other crafts items.

Get creative with your tools. Instead of using your typical boring pincushion, a stuffed green turtle that matches the room's bright color scheme helps bring the room to life.

Make organizing fun by looking for unique ways to corral items. Here, kitchen canisters and candy jars are stylish storage.

Fit a boring desk chair with a sassy slipcover that complements the room¿s color scheme.

A closet is converted into an ultimate storage zone. A crisp white finish showcases the pretty fabrics, books, and all the fabulous supplies serious crafting addicts need to have. Ditch boring cabinet doors and replace them with tie-top panels of bright, patterned fabric. The panels visually soften the cabinetry and can be drawn to keep closet contents out of visitors' view.

Contain rolls of felt or fabric using this quick and thrifty idea: Cut a fabric measuring tape to size and add a colorful snap.

Trick out the closet with lots of smart fabric and crafts storage, and take advantage of open shelving elsewhere in the room to display pretty supplies. These spools of bright yarn hang on hooks attached to the back of the closet, making them easy to grab when crafting.

A delightful sitting space, this area of the room is the perfect place to relax. White cabinets hide a convenient Murphy bed, great for guests. The vintage drop-leaf table was cut down to coffee-table height and then stenciled. Casters make it easy to move the table around when the bed comes down.

Maximize your floor space by building a Murphy bed from a kit. Fold it up, and there's ample floor space for projects. Pop it down and it's a landing spot for guests. Cabinets adjacent to the bed offer plenty of storage for bed linens, a coffeemaker, and other guest-room essentials. Outfit a raised panel in the top drawers so they serve as bedside tables when pulled out.

When not in use, the bed's pop-out feet are camouflaged as art plaques with pretty stenciled birds.

Be the ultimate hostess by stocking a cabinet or dresser top with goodies to pamper your guests. Include fragrant soaps, gourmet treats, and a few good reads. Add a small coffeepot and mugs, a sewing kit, and extra toiletries. Provide local maps and guides to area attractions.

A red pattern embellishes the red table in the lounging area of the room. Here, the same print is found on the art plaques that hide the bed¿s feet and on the coffee table.

This compact gate-leg table is low-profile when not in use, yet it's a workhorse wrapping or project center when extended. Drawers hold bows, tags, tapes, and scissors. Remove the bottom two drawers to make room for wrapping paper, then repurpose the drawers as a wall-mounted ribbon dispenser -- a dowel inside holds spools.