Make a compact workspace your happy place with tips from design professionals.
Table of Contents
1. Choose a Statement Desk for your Home Office
When your desk and office chair are your only furniture, pick a home office desk with personality.
2. Integrate Your Workspace
In tight spaces, consider hiring a local carpenter to custom-build a desk and shelves that blend seamlessly into the available wall space.
Painted woodwork and wallpaper can match an adjacent room to create the illusion of a larger area.
3. Make the Most of Carpentry
Create multi-purpose areas; for example, a vanity that can double as a desk, or custom carpentry with a desk-height counter and a cutout underneath for a stool or chair.
Incorporate task lighting, like a small lamp, to create a focused and well-lit workspace.
4. Choose the Right Office Chair
I tend to prefer wheeled chairs for practicality. Wheels make an office chair easy to maneuver and often distinguish it from a dining chair.
Be mindful of the armrest height of your chair.
5. Create a Laptop-Friendly Space
If all you need is space for a laptop, a simple desk nook may suffice.
This personal library, created by BHDM Design in New York, also serves as a desk and includes a carved-out corner with custom shelves and a small built-in desk.
6. Consider Your Chair’s Fabric
Just like the desk can have a touch of personality, so can your chair.
A fun fabric, whether floral, striped, or abstract, adds visual interest to your home office.
7. Create a Calming Space
When designing for the average home worker, try to make use of a quiet area with good lighting, whether it’s a dedicated office space or a small desk in a bedroom.
You need to be able to concentrate, be comfortable, and have at least three to four feet of space to spread out.
8. Choose Space-Saving Seating
Your chair can also go beyond simple functionality and be used as another canvas to express your creativity, complementing the overall design of your space.
9. Opt for Multi-Functional Furniture
Select furniture that can serve multiple purposes, like a desk that can also function as a vanity or dining table. Add a tabletop mirror, and this bedroom desk could easily serve as a makeup table.
10. Use Vertical Space
When floor space is limited, design is the way to go. Instead of adding a freestanding bookshelf, install floating shelves to hold books, plants, and decorative items.
11. Make Your Desk Dual-Function
Sometimes, a desk is just a desk, but other times it serves as both a workstation and a nightstand.
12. Use Art to Center a Workspace
Working with a small space doesn’t mean skimping on office decor.
Hanging a piece of art creates a dedicated workstation in a larger space like a living or dining room.
13. Go for Bold Wallpaper
You can always choose wallpaper with a big personality in small spaces.
14. Create a Secret Desk
PJCArchitecture in New York designed this clever closet desk in an Upper West Side Manhattan home.
The space, just off the kitchen, is easily hidden by two retractable doors that slide completely into the walls when open and read as panels when closed.
15. Add Storage Under the Desk
Use every square inch, even under the desk, which is the perfect spot for a small filing cabinet.
Get inspiration from this piece designed by Maestri Studio in Dallas and opt for a cabinet that adds a pop of color. Poppin makes three-drawer filing cabinets in colors like orange, aqua, and pool blue.
16. Opt for a Space-Saving Furniture Combo
For more efficient use of space, choose furniture that functions as both a bookshelf and a desk.
17. Choose a Nesting Desk
This custom solution was designed to create flexible carpentry that can transform to serve various functions: fireplace, art display, TV, sliding desk, and storage, explains Philip Consalvo of PJCArchitecture.
Instead of creating multiple distinct solutions, we combined them into one elegant object, a custom piece in bird’s-eye maple with metal accents, complementing the modern aesthetic of the design.
18. Hide Your Cords
Invest in custom outlets to discreetly hide cords and cables, maintaining a clutter-free environment. These small details contribute to an overall feeling of refined elegance.
19. Create “His and Hers” Office Spaces
Home office design often needs to accommodate two workers. This was the case for Melissa Lewis’s clients from Melissa Lewis Interiors in Chicago.
The couple wanted to turn the top floor of their home, previously a small playroom and smaller guest room, into offices suited to both their needs and work styles.
For his office, we needed space for multiple monitors, a dedicated server for privacy, and a place he’d enjoy sitting and relaxing at the end of the day. Clean, hidden storage was key, as well as warm, masculine finishes.
20. Reflect Your Personal Style in the Office
We created a beautiful custom freestanding desk to ensure all her needs were properly stored while also incorporating fun and poppy wallpaper and accessories.
Weaving in your favorite patterns, colors, and accessories personalizes your office and makes you feel (rightly) at home, even in the smallest spaces.
21. Maximize Natural Light
Even if your “office” is a desk placed on a landing or at the end of a hallway, the space can still inspire productivity, especially if the lighting is adequate.
The right desk lamp can make all the difference. Maximize natural light and lamp lighting to make the office an inviting place to work.
22. Trick the Eye with High Curtains
Hang the curtains high, just below the molding, to draw the eye up and create the illusion of a larger space.
I also recommend choosing a desk with drawers for built-in storage and using a desk organizer to keep clutter at bay.
23. Go for Built-Ins
Not only are there built-in shelves, but even the desk has its compartments built into the top and mounted on the side wall to keep office supplies organized.
24. Lean on Clean Lines
If a neat and minimalist space helps you do your best work, avoid patterned office chairs and bold wallpaper.
Instead, take inspiration from this Manhattan loft by RAAD Studio in New York, which is an exercise in soft lighting, simple shapes, clean lines, and meticulous details.
25. Set Up a Guest Room with Convertible Furniture
For this home office guest room, the Brooklyn-based Brownstone Boys used a custom Swing Chaise Murphy bed with a custom fold-down desk.
Murphy beds and fold-out desks can provide comfortable sleeping arrangements and a secondary function when the bed isn’t in use, like a built-in couch, dining table, or home office desk.
26. Leave Room to Lounge
If your work style involves more lounging with a laptop, there are no rules against using most of your space for a seating area, as RAAD Studio does here.
Choose a compact desk or skip it entirely in favor of smaller side tables.
27. Turn the Playroom into a Homework Zone
You’re never too young to learn that design can inspire productivity.
In this child-friendly space by Living with Lolo, a simple table and stools in the middle of the room ensure the little ones have a perfect setup for working hard and playing hard.
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