It is always better to derive more than one use out of things. And if these things happen to be fixtures or furniture, you are also presented with several space-saving solutions.

For instance, there is that water-saving toilet that has a small sink mounted over the flush tank. The water passing through its drain is stored in the flush tank to be used for flushing the toilet.

Then the oldest in dual-use or multi-tasking furniture has got to be the sofa bed. Besides saving space when folded up in the form of a sofa, it can be used by you in a small studio apartment to be opened up as a bed at night or it can serve as an extra bed in the house for when you have visitors.

Speaking of sofa also brings to mind another seating arrangement that doubles as a bookcase. It’s more like a bench that has room to store books and magazines underneath and all around. Great idea, don’t you think?

What about the chairs? You can also ask your carpenter to build you a similar rack chair to put books and magazines in.

Books, if you have plenty can also be stored under the staircase. Well, not pushed into some dark dungeon under the stairs but in a properly built bookcase there for you always have room under a staircase which can be ultilised very well this way.

But that is for under the stairs. What about the steps themselves? Yes, these can also be used for dual purposes. Like each step in your staircase can be turned into a drawer for extra storage such as shoes and slippers, emergency supplied such as torches, power cords or even household tools such as hammers, spanners and screwdrivers.

What other furniture do you have in your home? Tables? What kind of tables are they? Well, just one is enough if you can use it for different things. Like your dining table’s top can open like a flap to turn it into a computer table. Or if you feel it is taking up too much space, your table can also fulfill the function of a painting or photo frame. All you have to do is make its legs foldable and the underside a photo frame. If nothing else just turn it over to a side against the wall and use it for pull-ups.

If you need a tall stool around the house to get to those curtain rails or any other high point, you can have one multipurpose built. Your tall stool can be built in a way that it can also double as an iron stand or even a small step ladder. And small stools can also be used for storage if you can make them hollow with the seat as a lid that may have a foam cover on one side but can be turned over to bring up a hard top that can be used as a coffee table, too.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, July 20th, 2014