7 Magic Furniture Items for Maximizing Every Square Inch of Your Home

The best dual-purpose (even triple-purpose) furnishings to transform your space.

When city real estate is at a premium, every square inch counts. No matter what size of space you have, you want to live well in a functional and well-designed environment that suits your needs (and looks refined and inviting, too!). An office that also doubles as a bedroom and triples as a comfortable lounge for you and your friends can be a reality, if you choose pieces that balance high design with ingenuity. Here are seven smart furnishings and accessories that are up for the challenge.

The ‘Have It Your Way’ Sofa

The aptly named Flex sofa is plush, comes in customizable fabrics and has moveable backrests that can change positions as fast as you can change channels. The backrests can be placed anywhere on the sofa and won’t budge because of a special fabric that keeps it from moving— even if you take a run at it! The sofa itself is modular too, which means you can push it apart and rearrange for sectional movie theatre-seating, to create conversation areas or fashion a stand-alone bed. This is the sofa for people who like to have options.

The Transforming Coffee Table

This version of the Passo coffee table is all luxury with its thick-cut, minimalist block of rich walnut that just floats above black powder-coated steel legs (it also comes in concrete, different woods and melamine with different base metal options). And those legs are pure magic. Seamless hydraulics mean that you can lift the table with one finger to sit locked at any height up to waist height (which is a plus for meals in front of the TV), but it also has secret leaves that bounce out horizontally, making it an instant table for eight.

The Secret Bookcase Bed

On the face of it, with its light oak back panelling and white floating shelves, the LGM wall system is a dream home office space. A master library is at your fingertips, and the pull-out long-table desk can even fold away when not in use. And yet, dual-purpose isn’t where this wall system stops, because, in what looks like a feature straight out of the Batcave, half of the bookshelf flips completely around to reveal a full-sized queen bed. The bed even has a customizable headboard, shown here in sumptuous tufted velvet. (Options, options, options: the LGM is also available in a variety of wood, lacquer, and melamine finishes.)

Your New Favourite Two-Piece

There isn’t a nesting table around that’s going to solve your space problems as expertly as Colombo. This unassuming, Danish-inspired coffee table is actually made up of two light, freestanding pieces. So together, it’s your perfect oval coffee table, but it can split apart to easily move a side-table-sized piece to where you need it most.

The Mirror That Makes All Other Mirrors Look Lazy

The Betty mirror is proof that even for timeless pieces, there’s always room for improvement. Betty is really a wall-mounted organizer masquerading as a mirror, and comes stocked with slide-out drawers for storing jewelry, makeup and other treasures. At the top, it even has pull-out hooks for hanging scarves and jackets at moment’s notice—while still offering full-length outfit views for those last checks before you leave the house.

The Ultimate Solution to ‘the Sofa Bed’

The sofa bed is a dilemma facing urban dwellers everywhere. You want a sofa that’s soft and beautiful, so you can enjoy your space as a living area the majority of the time. But you also want to be able to host guests—visiting in-laws from out of town, friends who need a place to sleep for the night—and have their stay be comfortable, even enjoyable. Typically, you have to compromise; you either get a bad sofa that’s a better fold-out bed, or a chic sofa that turns into a torture futon. After trying many an in-store sofa bed, the modern and customizable Tango Sectional is surely the answer. It floats down with an easy one-handed pull, and there’s no mattress folding or thick metal bars to ruin your guest’s sleep. Roomy modern sectional by day, hotel-calibre bed by night.

The Trick Console Table

This is the furniture piece that put Resource Furniture’s space-saving designs on the map. Measuring 17-inches wide, the Goliath Glass is an art-deco console table whose slim profile makes it easy to fit in small spaces, like hallways, alcoves or entryways. But the Goliath Glass is also any dinner party-lover’s secret weapon, as it extends in the middle and stretches like some sort of Go-Go Gadget longtable. Add the leaves and you’ve got yourself a grand table for 10.

These are just a few of the pieces from Resource Furniture that can transform your space, be it a studio, a guest room, a flex space, living room or bedroom. Most of the upmarket finishes, textiles and materials are customizable, and all wall systems and multi-purpose furnishings are designed and made in Italy. For more ideas, check out their article on how to design the perfect guest room, or visit their website at resourcefurniture.com.