This space-saving sideboard transforms into a dining table complete with chairs

Although work and schools have more or less returned to normal face-to-face arrangements, our homes have forever been changed by the events of the past three years. We’ve come to realize how precious space is and how little we might have of it, forcing many to reorganize and redesign their homes to accommodate changing needs and circumstances. Multi-functional and transforming furniture have become popular because of this, especially those that can serve as a work desk from time to time. There are many variations available, stretching the creativity and imagination of designers, but this rather intriguing sideboard cabinet gets extra points for having a design that not only incorporates different use cases but even includes four chairs in its shape-shifting transformation.

Designer: Jason Han (SPS Furniture)

This piece of furniture immediately attracts attention even in its folded-up state, thanks to its almost anthropomorphic design that gives the sideboard a cute face and tiny arms on its sides. The wooden piece wouldn’t look out of place as a part of the cast in Beauty and the Beast, especially considering how lively it can be once you start unfolding parts here and there. But even in this form, it already serves a functional purpose, with drawers and internal shelves that can hide almost anything you need, from containers to tools.

Fold that face down and you get a square desk on two legs that you can use for an ad hoc workspace. In fact, the sideboard can serve a purely office-oriented purpose, holding office supplies, stationery, books, and whatnot, all within easy reach but out of sight once the day’s work is done. That said, that might be limiting its use too much since you can extend the front edge of that desk and unfold the top to reveal a longer, rectangular table that can comfortably sit three to four people around its three open sides.

Sitting won’t be a problem either, which is where this sideboard’s ingenuity comes into play. Open its sides, the one with bent arms, and you’ll have access to storage that can fit four foldable wooden chairs. It’s practically a complete and self-sufficient package for any kind of home use, including storage space, desk space, and chairs. A dining table is the most immediate function that comes to mind, but it can also be used for work, playing, and any other activity that doesn’t need a lot of horizontal space.

The wooden sideboard is a good example of how furniture designs have become a bit more clever in light of the changing situations at home. Its multifunctional transforming form remains useful even long after work-from-home arrangements have stopped for some. It is also a great way to add some character to a space just by standing there, thanks to its rather whimsical face that almost invites you to play with it and discover its hidden treasures.

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Standing table for collaboration unfolds into a picnic table for fun

Different tables have different uses depending on their design. A dining table needs to be low enough to accommodate comfortable seating, while a standing table encourages more dynamic conversations with the lack of chairs. In most cases, you have to choose the right type of table for the right purpose, but there might be instances where you wish a single one could fulfill multiple functions instead. There might be a constraint on spaces, or you might prefer a more agile and adaptable environment. Whatever the reason might be, this ingenious transforming table offers those two functions in one, providing a high table for standing meetings and a picnic table for four for more informal gatherings.

Designer: Bert Masselus

Designing a foldable table with built-in seats isn’t exactly a walk in the park. Compared to a regular table with separate chairs, such a piece of furniture would need to tackle different areas of concern all at once. Not only does it need to actually fold and unfold properly, it also needs to be stable and comfortable. There’s also the matter of visual appeal, which is even harder to pull off when considering a table that changes forms depending on the situation.

That’s the kind of feat that the JoinTable accomplishes with aplomb. Sporting an industrial aesthetic with its powder-coated stainless steel and aluminum construction, the transforming table offers an environment that can quickly adapt to the owners’ needs. On the one hand, it functions as a standing table that creates an atmosphere conducive to quick discussions and meetings. On the other hand, it can also be a place for more relaxed conversations, with friends or families lounging over meals. You could, of course, also have only one side of the table opened with the two seats, leaving the other side free for wood, work, or other things.

JoinTable is deceptively simple, belying its nontrivial mechanism and difficult manufacturing. The top of the standing table opens up in the middle and folds backward to reveal benches that can seat two people on each side. Even in this opened form, the table retains a stable center of gravity. The folding mechanism is also rigid enough to hold the seats in place and keep them from completely folding backward after a certain point.

This transforming table design is meant to be used both indoors and outdoors, creating areas for collaboration and enjoyment without taking up too much space. There is, however, also a design that is practically limited for indoor use, or at least in places with plenty of walls. This “two-seater” configuration consists of only half the JoinTable attached to a wall, offering a temporary space for working or enjoying a sip of coffee or both, whether by your lonesome self or with a partner.

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This iron attached to a table doubles up so you’ll never have to hide your ironing board again!

The Ensemble is a multifunctional ironing board that transforms into a mirror when not in use so you’ll never have to hide your ironing board again.

The days of shoving ironing boards into our coat closets and sliding them between laundry room shelves are finally past us. So are the days of bending over backward just to use them. Well, almost. Ensemble, an ironing board design concept from a team of designers with Off Garage design studio, aims to transform the ironing board into a multifunctional standing mirror that can spin over its two-legged base to become a horizontal ironing board.

The designers at Off Garage merged the ironing board with the mirror because they naturally go hand in hand. We iron our clothes, we wear them, and we use the mirror to tune up the finished look. It makes sense for both items to be in the same room, better yet, to be the same piece of furniture.

From one side, Ensemble is your traditional floor mirror with a two-legged base that’s connected to the mirror’s center, allowing it to tilt and spin over the floor base. When users spin Ensemble over, the ironing board function is revealed. Turning 90° in one direction, the mirror becomes a fully functional, horizontal ironing board.

Along the backside of the mirror and the ironing board’s front side, Off Garage incorporated a storage compartment where the iron, water, and perfume canisters, and brush plates are kept. With Ensemble, when users want to iron their clothes, instead of pulling from the far reaches of the coat closet, all you have to do is flip the mirror over and choose a brush plate for the iron before tending to the wrinkles of your clothes. In addition to the storage compartment, users will find a perfume steamer below a hanger to apply different scents to their clothes while steaming their wrinkles out.

Designer: Off Garage

The Ensemble has a two-legged base that hinges the mirror at its center to transform it into a horizontal ironing board. 

The Ensemble features a storage compartment at its bottom that contains the iron, brush plates, as well as perfume, and water cannisters. 

When the Ensemble is positioned for ironing, the heat-resistant plastic covering allows for safe steaming and ironing. 

Users can hang their clothes from the built-in hanger and then steam them with perfume scent to get the wrinkles out.

Users can easily pop off brush plates to swap them out for new ones. 

The water canisters are easily removable and can be refilled. 

The Ensemble in ocean blue. 

The Ensemble comes in dark brown. 

The Ensemble comes in cream beige. 

This transforming furniture goes from office setup to home chair by easily unzipping the sides!

Remember the hours we spent commuting every day – to the office, to a favorite restaurant or just to see our much-loved sunset spot? Living in Bombay, my memory of trains is a sensory assault – the people standing next to you, the waft of that balmy air as it wedges it was through the bodies, the cacophony of friends greeting each other, railway public service announcements, and the hawkers selling an assortment of objects. Given the year and a half of living in the isolation and quiet of my home furniture, I don’t think I can step into a train without getting shivers. To give you the feeling of working from the office while working from home, designer Andrew Mangelsdorf created the Commute chair.

The name commute chair might give you the idea that it helps you recreate the journey (maybe it’s a variation of floo powder that transports you while sitting in place), it literally helps create a barrier between your home and workspace. Designing a home office is a luxury not everyone can afford – we often convert our bedroom into the workroom and the dining table into a desk for the day. Commute lets you mentally transform yourself by pulling up the partitions of this ingenious chair. The chair also comes with multiple accessories like a swiveling tabletop and a table light – all integrated to create the perfect desk setup in the form of one simple chair. The chair also has USB ports and holds deep pockets to hold all your knick-knacks that you need during work. The chair’s aesthetics are minimal – fitting into your home, while the beige inner fabric acts as a professional backdrop to those endless Zoom calls.

The transforming nature of the chair comes from the metal zipper that holds the chair’s privacy barriers up. Open up the zip – either from one side only or from both sides and fold the excess over the metal arm, creating an impromptu armrest. The commute chair makes commuting from work to home that simple.

Be it your work time or time to relax, we all need a barrier from distractions that surround us. Keeping this in mind, the commute chair becomes essential for your homes even when the pandemic is over – and life, as we know it, returns to the normal we were used to. Personally, I would love to have the commute chair as a reading nook, use the sides to take away any distractions, and lose myself in the wonderful world of books!

Designer: Andrew Mangelsdorf for DAAPworks 2021

This transforming furniture goes from a standing peg tree to a wall-mount, adapting to your child’s needs!

I know there are some items from my childhood bedroom I wish I kept around to repurpose for my current bedroom as an ode to not only the long-lasting relevancy but also the potential longevity of the design. While I loved my Winnie-the-Pooh wallpaper, night lamps, and bedspread as a kid, I’m talking about those timeless designs like toddler-sized hardwood stools and miniature treasure chests that could be repurposed as nightstands and jewelry armoires. Pupupula, a self-described lifestyle brand for kids aged 1-100 based in Beijing, designs household products with that intent in mind, their aim being to produce simple and innovative designs that will adapt to the changing needs that come with aging.

Pupupula recently debuted their Tree Clothes Rack Series that transforms through the years from a simple wooden clothing rack to either wall-mountable or upright coat racks. While the construction process is fairly involved, including lots of heavy-duty machine operation and precision detail sanding, assembling Tree Clothes Rack’s initial form is simplified as a result. Requiring few, if any tools for assembly, the Tree Clothes Rack Series utilizes wooden pegs and corresponding holes in order to transform into different structures that adapt to the user’s varying and evolving needs. Once Tree Clothes Rack’s preliminary product reaches the end of its life cycle, it can later be transformed into either a single-beam, pegged coat rack or one that’s wall-mountable.

When users first set up their Tree Clothes Rack, two vertical beams support the main, horizontal wooden beam to form a standard clothing rack. To achieve this frame, the vertical beam’s protruding pegs easily slide into the horizontal beam’s holes that were accurately sized and bored during construction. Then, once the user feels ready for a new form to take shape, the clothing rack can be changed into a stand-alone coat rack that follows the same peg-hole assembly pattern exhibited by the product’s original structure. Moving from a standing coat rack, suitable for an apartment entryway or storage room, users can once more morph the Tree Clothes Rack into a wall-mountable coat rack that requires some tools and minimal screws for mounting.

Designer: Pupupula

Tree Clothes Rack’s original form connects two vertical wooden beams with a single horizontal wooden beam via pegs that slip into previously bored holes.

From a clothing rack suitable for hangers to an upright coat or tote rack – the Tree Clothes Rack Series can grow or shrink to match your needs.

With help from additional hardware, screws, and tools the Tree Clothes Rack Series can be mounted onto walls to function as additional coat racks or even as a fixture where you can hang your houseplants.

This work-desk can turn into a double bed when you’re sharing a space

Kerstin Pfleger’s multifunctional furniture shape-shifts to accommodate a work-from-home lifestyle. By day, it’s a desk-space for work, and by night, it transforms into a bed for two. How does it do it? By using a clever set of mechanisms that compress the bed right into the desk’s storage units!

Titled the Work/Sleep Balance, this morphing piece of home decor is ideal for tiny apartments, serving two purposes within a small footprint. The desk top is large enough to accommodate most of your work accouterments, while the cabinet on the side features a collapsible tri-axial bed frame that opens up to become a base for the mattress, which rolls right up and slides into a compartment in the desk’s back. The transformation takes around 2-3 minutes, allowing you to efficiently use your space to work during the day, and catch some shut-eye during the night!

Designer: Kerstin Pfleger