If you’re searching high and low for the floorspace to create a home office, we recommend taking a look at your guest bedroom.
While many empty nesters balk at revamping their kids’ rooms, adding a desk to their room wouldn’t feel like a huge change. This small addition would be an easy way to use your square footage while still keeping the nest feathered for your children.
Remember that while you want to welcome family and friends into your home, they only come occasionally whereas you have to live there the rest of the year; you should enjoy it!
If you’re struggling to find a spot to situate a home office, consider that the space need only be wide enough to accommodate the depth of the desk as well as the chair, when in use. This mindset shift makes it possible to reimagine closets, old laundry rooms, basement areas, unused hallways, pantries, empty nooks and more as freshly-minted home offices.
Have a built-in that’s just storing your favorite dust collectors? Simply removing the bottom shelf can often create a perfect home office space. Likewise, the unused end of a kitchen island could easily be revamped into a desk in many homes.
Making room for a home office takes a creative vision. Consulting with an interior designer or architect could undoubtedly turn up lots of possibilities you hadn’t ever considered. Don’t let your vision be too narrow!
Gen Z has declared that normal office chairs are offically “out.”
Task chairs that allow you to cross your legs have taken over TikTok. They’re armless and wider, allowing a number of options for sitting or kneeling while working. These can be more comfortable for many people and encourage more movement and stretching than typical office chairs. They also don’t look like office chairs, so they work in any space.
Ergonomics proponents want you to choose a chair that supports your spine, helps keep your knees and hips in alignment and allows you to keep your wrists straight and level (or below) your elbows. They suggest having your feet parallel to the floor, but circulation is what’s most important. So these chairs often pass the workplace comfort test! Just keep your posture upright and remember to take breaks throughout the day.
Not all of us use our office spaces every single day. If you don’t need desk space very often, consider how your “office” might be utilized the rest of the time.
Of course, the space doesn’t have to be purely decorative in its “off” time. Many people utilize their pantries or laundry rooms as home offices, and your work table could easily serve as a prep or folding station when you don’t have your laptop out. You wear “many hats” in your job, so why not make your office do the same?
If you know your office will have to be dual-purpose but don’t have a room to devote to it, consider a desk that can easily be disassembled (and reassembled) at a moment’s notice. A work surface on top of two sawhorses in your garage, toolshed, basement or utility closet can quickly be tucked away when not needed.
Desks that offer open storage areas offer beautiful opportunities for both style and substance in your home office.
Using this space to stack coffee table books is a favorite trick of interior designers; using titles related to your industry will help provide you tons of inspiration in your downtime. You could also stash a small collection here, which shows off your personality and brings fun to the space. Putting well-organized office supplies here can be both beautiful and incredibly functional.
Other desks with open storage utilize this look with an acrylic or glass desktop, making it easy to display a desk calendar or artwork. Some designers add interesting fabrics here to provide tons of style – without interfering with your work.
Open shelving on desks can also be chic. Just avoid clutter; the pitfall of having everything exposed is that there’s no room for mess.
Designers are becoming much more aware that some of us don’t have a lot of extra, unused space in our homes that’s just waiting for a purpose. Small-space solutions make it possible to have a workspace just about anywhere.
This ingenious wall-mounted desk from Urban Outfitters offers a low-profile way to add a workspace wherever you need one. Like a Murphy bed, this style of desk folds up when not in use and looks like just another cabinet.
If you’re in the market for a desk like this, look for something that offers additional storage rather than just the pull-down desktop. This allows you to tuck away a wireless mouse, headphones, notepads, pens and other items you’ll want to keep handy.
The downsides of this design? They must be mounted very carefully to ensure that you don’t accidentally pull it down while you’re working. You also have to keep a chair within easy reach and, most likely, you can forget about ergonomics of any sort.
That said, if you’re in need of a spot to do short bursts of work on a laptop, fold-down desks may just be the ticket. It certainly beats having to move everything off of your cluttered kitchen counter every time you need to check your email! •
