Kirsty McLuckie on space-age home solutions

As a child, I was fascinated by the sort of space-age inventions I imagined furnished the homes of the wealthy, particularly the features that appeared to be one thing but could transform into something else in the blink of an eye.

The films of my childhood were full of ornate bookcases that would flip down into a ready-made double bed, usually when a louche man in a smoking jacket was making eyes at his leading lady.

I’m kitschy enough to covet an ornamental globe that glides open to access a cocktail set, the height of sophistication in the 1950s.

And, at the other end of the scale, I’d love a dance floor that rolls back to reveal a swimming pool, even if it is inevitable that the switch would be knocked at an inconvenient moment – with hilarity ensuing.

Illustration: Adobe Stock

I still lust after such inventions, like the more recent innovation of a classic antique mirror to hang in a period drawing room. Press a button and it becomes a huge TV screen, perfect for the aesthete who likes a spot of telly.

Or the type of glass used in bathroom windows that is clear until you turn on the light at which point it becomes opaque – although the possibility of a malfunction at a crucial moment must be somewhat inhibiting.

Most of these features still seem impossibly glamorous, found only in a James Bond house where nothing is as first appears. But actually dual-purpose items – useful in more ways than one – are a necessity for smaller homes.

After all, it isn’t space-aged stylishness that makes us mount a flip-up table in a tiny kitchen, but the best use of space. Ditto a sofa bed.

Square footage is expensive and as prices rise many homeowners are looking to make the most of the home they already have, with multi-functionality a major plus.

More of us are now having to find room for working, and while it was easy to set up a desk in a spare corner when we couldn’t have guests, now that we can invite people to stay again, a cantilevered bed or a desk concealed in a wardrobe could be the solution.

Coffee tables that raise up into dining tables are useful for those with occasional dinner guests, and items with hidden storage are a positive boon.

Matthew Currington, technical director of The Lighting Superstore, says illumination can go a long way to ease a transformation from one function to another.

He advises layering different types of lighting to help create zones for comfort or utility. “If your kitchen is also going to act as a dining room, or your office as a bedroom, it’s easy to use lighting to transform the feel of the space. Pick LED lighting or spotlights for bright overhead lighting in a kitchen. Under-counter lighting or a pendant light with a dimmer switch can help change the atmosphere of your room and create a cosier setting.

He adds: “If you’re using a bedroom as an office space too, you can use lamps to help signify you’ve switched off for the day.”

Such considerations might not have Tomorrowland glamour. But illuminating a desk and a bed in different ways in a room that has both will certainly change the mood.

Louche smoking jacket optional.

– Kirsty McLuckie is property editor at The Scotsman