Working from home can be a productive way to earn a living, but
Paula and Wayne’s mishmash of a home office was definitely
detracting from their bottom line.
This workspace was a wasteland of castoff furniture, low
lighting and boxes of papers.
Working from home can be a productive way to earn a living, but Paula and Wayne’s mishmash of a home office was definitely detracting from their bottom line.
This workspace was a wasteland of castoff furniture, low lighting and boxes of papers. Paula was feeling uninspired amid all that clutter, while Wayne was developing a serious case of eyestrain in this dark, dim space. They wanted a bright, cheerful room that promoted creativity and increased productivity.
The first item on the agenda was to clear out and clean up. Once we had the room down to its bare bones, we applied a fresh coat of white paint to the ceiling and trim and a sunny yellow color on the walls.
The closet doors, covered in a faux wood-grain paneling, were suffering from a terminal case of the blahs, so we applied a couple of coats of high-adhesion primer and then painted them the same yellow color as the walls. Now the doors blended into the room.
To organize productive spaces for both Paula and Wayne, I decided to divide this room into two L-shaped workstations. One long counter was installed down the entire length of two walls. This surface doubles as desk space while holding bulky office equipment like the fax machine and printer.
The counter also flows into an island worktop in the center of the room, which gives plenty of space to spread out files and paperwork.
The custom cabinetry I designed boasts lots of storage space on open shelves and behind closed doors. To keep costs down, the cabinetry was made from medium-density fiberboard, which is a lot cheaper to work with than wood. The white cabinetry also brightens up the space and contrasts nicely with the dark wood floor.
A couple of other tips for keeping home office renovation costs down: Try integrating store bought filing cabinets under counters, and use doors instead of drawers wherever possible. In this room, we installed drawers beside the main work areas to hold pencils, paper and other office supplies. The rest of the storage space is concealed behind cupboard doors.
There was just one lonely ceiling fixture, and it definitely wasn’t enough. So I installed three kinds of lighting to brighten up this space. Recessed lights provide overall illumination, task lighting mounted under the cabinetry brightens up the work surfaces and a new pendant fixture shines down on the island worktop.
The palette of colors used in this design project really creates a fresh and clean look. I chose creams, soft greens and sunny yellows that combine to make this home office a cheerful, contemporary room.
The fresh cream-colored cabinetry is set against cheerful yellow walls, which in turn are complimented by a pale green countertop.
Fabrics that pick up all of these colors were used in a simple but stunning window valance and Roman blind. The same fabric used in the valance was also stretched and stapled over some thick cardboard, then encased in a white wood frame to become innovative message boards. The message boards were mounted on the closet doors.
To finish off, I brought in a tall wooden bookshelf to provide even more storage space. A cozy armchair and ottoman were placed in the corner to make a comfortable reading nook, and some wicker baskets bring a bit of nature into this high-tech space.
By lightening and brightening this space, we made it into an efficient and highly functional executive retreat.
