Small room decoration tips for office and guest bedroom with MADE

Imagine my delight, then, when I stumbled upon the free MADE consultation service on my umpteenth stint fantasy shopping their new-in section.

Scroll down to the bottom of the MADE website and you’ll find a link to its digital showroom appointments. Now, you can have in-person appointments with its expert showroom teams, but I opted for a virtual consultation so I could better show the consultant the frustrating little room that was currently being used as an office, storage space, laundry room and where my best friend slept on the floor after a heavy night out.  

In truth, it was a surprisingly straightforward process. I booked an appointment (they tend to allocate one-hour slots), filled out a questionnaire about my aesthetic preferences and what type of room I needed help with, and a few days later I was on a video call with Sarah Sole, one of MADE Soho’s in-house interiors experts. 

After brief introductions and some mutual obsessing over rattan furniture, Sarah took me through the MADE website to show me the products she recommended. All I had to do was say, “Yes, love that colour,” or “No, that doesn’t feel very me,” for Sarah to get an idea of what to suggest I do with my spare room.

We spoke at length about exploiting the height of the room for storage rather than trying to pack too many things in at mid-level. Too many things on the floor aren’t helpful in smaller places. Neither are too many dark colours, Sarah explained. But contrary to my previous hesitation about bold colours making a room feel smaller, I learned that having one bright hero product that connects more subtle hues from the same colour palette is a clever way to bring a lot of interest to a room that you’re trying to keep bright and breezy. 

It was only a couple of days later that I received the most beautifully curated moodboard full of suggestions to help me create my dream multi-purpose room. One of the best things about the moodboards is that all of the images are hyperlinked and allow you to browse other styling options by customers who have purchased the same product.

My hero product ended up being the Haru ‘click-clack’ sofa bed, recommended for my mission to build a functional space for work and hosting guests. We opted for a smaller desk and chair set-up so that the office function of the room didn’t dominate should my partner and I want to use it as a space to relax at the end of the day. 

The light wood tones and brass accents managed to keep a sense of warmth in what would have otherwise been quite a blank canvas of a room, despite having been repainted in shade White 05 from the new MADE x Lick paint collaboration.

My once awkward space is now my favourite room to use (and show off!) after my mini MADE-over. The statement round mirror, decluttering of our bookshelves and careful consideration for what really did and didn’t need to be in that room transformed my mindset as I came to realise that multi-function doesn’t have to mean overcrowded. 

Inspired? Shop the products from my MADE revamp below. 

Images and products are provided by MADE. Book an appointment either in-store or virtually on their website for your own consultation, whether you’re updating one room or renovating your entire house.