Home Office Ideas
This photo shows my bench seat, which is in the space where the closet previously stood. The cabinets contain my business items and give me easy access to daily supplies. Eliminating the closet and its doors gave the room a more spacious feel and helped it feel more like an office than a converted bedroom. My desk slides on a rail and wheels so I can easily access the cabinet bay beneath the bench.
Cool and Collected This lower-level London home office by Sims Hilditch gets its natural light from above. Sconces above the desk and recessed lighting over the table provide additional illumination. The framed black-and-white photos open up the transitional-style office more with their sky-high perspectives. A floating desktop is built into an alcove on the left and offers a roomy work area and leg space underneath. On the right, a round table with comfy upholstered chairs can handle a meeting, a big project or a lunchtime break. The round shape of the table is repeated in the round area rug and curved chair backs. Built-in cabinetry contains an abundance of storage and display space.
Mediterranean Home Office by John Kraemer & Sons John Kraemer & Sons 8. Elegant Impression This Minnesota home office by John Kraemer & Sons shows how a key piece — in this case, a striking chandelier — can set the tone in a room. The decorative fixture draws the eye up to the embossed ceiling. Down below, chinoiserie upholstery takes the office chair beyond the ordinary and works with the wall color and the textured surface behind the desk. As pretty as the blue, white and wood office is, it also has a functional built-in desk with drawers, cabinets and cubbies. Woven baskets help keep things neat on the shelves.
Neat Window Seat A gray, blue and white palette with touches of yellow and red add up to a workspace that’s both calming and uplifting. Custom white cabinetry with Shaker-style detailing lines two long walls of the San Francisco home office by Gast Architects. The built-ins provide abundant workspace and storage, as well as a roomy window seat. Undercabinet lighting illuminates the desk, and a statement pendant gives the room a warm glow.
raditional Comfort Beautifully detailed millwork and cabinetry pair well with classic furnishings and accessories in this traditional East Coast home office designed by John Douglas Eason Interiors. The L-shaped desk configuration creates two convenient work surfaces. When it’s time to read or relax, a cozy chaise with pillow and throw awaits. Neatly trimmed draperies frame the tall multipane windows and reach almost to the ceiling in line with the scale of the space. The office’s warm neutrals, wood flooring and patterned rug are timeless elements, while the geometric pendants give the room a contemporary touch.
Glass-Front Cabinets While glass-front cabinets are most commonly found in kitchens and bathrooms, this handsome Moscow space shows that they can work just as well in a home office. Adding glass fronts to a bookcase helps reduce dust and can help preserve rare books, especially if the glass is coated with UV protection.
After. I brought down two swivel chairs I had had in my attic since my mother cleared out her house and moved five years ago (the chairs used to be in my parents’ den). Now I have a spot to sit and read, or to watch movies on my desktop computer. I left the wall above the chair blank on purpose, as motivation to create and frame more art.
The Kilim rugs, rustic wood frames on the art to the left of the desk, vintage lamp and bold-colored arm chairs, to me, recall the Adirondacks. The pale, neutral color scheme and the gray, taupe desk color are very Scandinavian. The two framed landscapes on the wall behind the easel are both of Scandinavia — one of Sweden and one of Iceland. And I feel like the simple wood shades (instead of fussy curtains) also come off as Scandinavian. Practically speaking, I painted the walls a soft cream color and the trim a pale gray, with a clean white ceiling. I ditched the large rug for two smaller rugs I had been using in other rooms. That way, I can easily roll up the rug under the easel when I want to paint (and put an old sheet over the hardwood floors). I moved my desk to take advantage of the view out the window of the trees and bushes and grasses and ferns that fill my small backyard. I moved the bookcases to frame the window on the adjoining wall. I hung paintings I’d done on the walls to either side of the window above my desk.
. Create a closet craft station. For most homeowners, it’s hard to imagine having an entire room dedicated to just crafts. But a craft closet is much more attainable. In her Nashville, Tennessee, home, Holly Maher converted a living room closet into a super-functional craft closet for her stationery goods business. An adjustable shelving system puts the door to work storing wrapping paper and other items, while a standup counter creates room to spread out and work.
How to organize gift wrap: Check what you have before shopping to avoid doubling up unnecessarily — although it’s hard to have too much tape. Keep spools of ribbon on a paper towel holder. Store rolls of gift wrap upright in a bucket or an umbrella stand. Instead of buying seasonal gift wrap, consider stocking up on a big roll of brown or white paper (as shown here) and embellish with ribbons and tags. Keep small items like scissors, tape, gift tags and pens together in a small basket or sewing box.
The homeowner pulls one of the two custom vinyl stools to her Portuguese desk and keeps the second on hand for when she and a friend or one of her kids are browsing online together. “It’s nice to have seats you can move around easily,” Hunt says. Shades keep the room dark when a visitor sleeps in the daybed or when the client herself curls up and reads by the light of her new reading lamps.
The husband’s office is just off the library. Since he often works from home, it was important to give him a space that felt comfortable and conducive to work. Westbrook achieved this by paneling the walls in cypress and placing his desk with a view of the side garden. Since the room gets a lot of sun, she chose a sheer drapery fabric that would filter the sunlight without blocking the view. Leather chairs: Robuck
Lavrentieva used her tablecloth move again to decorate the studio windows. This time she found her perfect textile at Zara Home. Also in the studio is a black table that is one of designer’s inherited pieces. “When I was a child, it was a dining table; the whole family used to gather at it,” Lavrentieva recalls. “The table seemed huge to me, so I was planning to use it in the kitchen in my house as well. But when I brought it here from the Ulyanovsk region, I realized it was actually very small, so I decided to use it in the studio. I still wonder how we all managed to fit there.”
Lavka-Design Save Email The work studio has an Ikea bed for guests. Lavrentieva painted it blue and added a patina to make it more individual and have a spot of bright color in the room. She hung a gorgeous carpet from Zara Home above the bed, giving the room a contemporary feel.
To add storage on the opposing office wall, the Benedicts placed floating shelves alongside the window.
To save space, you can also replace the desk lamp with a floor lamp or even a wall-mounted light like a swing-arm plug-in sconce. This frees up 10 to 16 inches of space and lets the light diffuse a little before reaching the desk, to light a wider area more evenly.
note type of shelving to store collections
Another way to boost light is to install internal windows. This is especially appropriate for a home office, such as the one in this modern home, since it provides quietness without cutting you off entirely from what’s going on in the rest of the living area.
end of hallway, closet space
like kitchen cabinets on desk
picture arrangement
shelves under the desk
\bookcase
table legs
drawers under desktop
keyboard drawer
shelving under table
table and shelf
table
old sewing machine legs
sewing
sewing
sewing cabinet
sewing
sewing
table
bookshelves
clip boards for inspirations
linen covered cork board
chunky frame for inspiration board
table with pictures on it and underneath storage
dedsk on angle and photo wall
chandiler in office
colour of shelving
put plant pictures all the way up the wall
shelving
There’s also a TV den and home office space upstairs. Built-in window seats offer a comfortable spot for reading and enjoying the views, as well as storage. The live-edge coffee table continues the use of wood. The walls are painted a deep blue-green.
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