Home offices tend to become one of two things; a space where all unwanted furniture goes to live, or a sterile work environment that is no homier than your typical office cubical. Neither are good options in my opinion. I think it’s important that your home office reflect the style and feel of the rest of your home. It should be a place where you can go to focus and take care of business. The beauty of having an office space at home, is that you can make it as comfortable as you like. No restrictions, no rules!
The first decision we needed to make regarding the office was choosing a paint color. We chose Restoration Hardware’s Silver Sage. I fell in love with this color ages ago, and was waiting to find a space where I would finally get a chance to use it. Not only does the color look great regardless of lighting, the paint also has a really beautiful suede finish.
With the backdrop set it was time to bring in furniture. When choosing a desk think about the space it is going into. In our case having a bulky desk with lots of drawers would not have looked right.
You may not think a sofa is needed in an office but now that we have one, I can say it is essential!! Sitting at a desk to get things done is great, but sometimes you just need to kick your feet up! I would recommend making it a sofa bed if possible. This way your office can double as a guest room when necessary.
Storage was something that was missing in our office space. My husband had a filing cabinet that was pretty under utilized. It was also missing a top! We found a cutting board at Crate & Barrel that was a perfect fit. It now makes a great end table and a perfect place for us to file away our bills.
The desk has two slim drawers that work well for pens and stationary essentials, but the entire surface area is taken up by the monitor and laptop station (two screens are necessary for when my husband works from home). I still wanted another surface area for the space. I decided to capitalize on the space left between the sofa and bay windows. I placed the widest console I could behind the sofa. The drawers are used to give us storage for things we rarely need access to, and the top gave me a chance to place decorative items and photos.
Decorative Touches
All offices need bulletin boards. I found this fun global pin board at Michael's for $15. Given the color of the walls, I thought it would be perfect!
We framed a few pieces. My husband also had a keyboard he wanted to make a home for. For our one year anniversary (the Paper anniversary) I framed the sheet music of our first dance. This seemed like the perfect place to hang it.
He also had this amazing blue print of the UC Berkeley Bell Tower (his alma mater) that we had matted and framed. We are planning on framing our diplomas as well to add to the wall. Keeping all the framing in slim black frames will help give everything a cohesive look and avoid turning the small space into a cluttered room.
Make your home office a space that you would be happy to work in and not a space that makes you want to call in sick!