Ever since I started working from home late last year I’ve been desperate to turn my spare bedroom into a home office (I currently work from a teeny two person dining table in my living room). An ongoing leak situation that’s baffled two roofers meant that I had to put my plans on hold. Everything crossed Kenny, roofer number two, got to the bottom of the source of the leak past weekend (his third visit!) but I’m going to have to wait until we get some heavy rain to know for sure. As Kenny said when he was leaving on Sunday, “No offence Miranda but hopefully I don’t see you again.” Ditto, Kenny, ditto.
The room is approximately 9′ x 7′, with the door at one end of one of the longer walls, a window in the middle of the other long wall and a Victorian fireplace cutting off the corner of the window wall and the short wall closest to the door. There’s really only one spot for a desk – along the short wall behind the door (it’s the only wall without a door, window or fireplace taking up space). The hatch into the loft is above where the desk will be, which means the desk must be moveable in the event I need to get into the loft. With the bed gone I’ll be losing the under-bed storage space (currently home to a suitcase full of summer clothes, a vacuum cleaner and some other random stuff that doesn’t have a home anywhere else) so some shelves or a cupboard wouldn’t go amiss and I’ll need to store my bike in there too, as there’s nowhere else for it to go.
While I hope for heavy rain (a most unusual situation) I’ve been gathering images of how I’d like my home office to look. When I took a look at all the images I’ve collected so far I spotted a few common themes. The desks in the images were mostly trestle tables and were either white, natural wood, or a combination of the two, for example get collaborative classroom desks when the kids are in the school as well as for the home. The chairs were either benches, stools or colourful Eames side chairs. The walls were covered with inspiring images, either framed and hung on the wall, or propped on shelves, or stuck to one wall with washi tape. Storage was frequently metal, such as wire letter trays and boxes and old school lockers.
Always one to get ahead of myself I’ve started looking for furniture, starting with the desk. At £70 the Linnman/Finnvard table from Ikea is the cheapest option and I like that I would be able to use the slatted shelves between the legs for extra storage. It’s a lot more than I was planning to spend but I love the look of the Groovster from Loaf, which is made from reclaimed timber. French Connection have two options I like, the trestle desk which is a fairly standard size in an unusual grey finish and the console trestle which is only 40cms deep making it a great small space solution, even better it’s in the sale (£203, reduced from £290). The Highbury trestle desk from the the House range at John Lewis is a classic design and has a similar shelf storage situation at the Ikea one.
Right, I’m off to look at pretty things for my future office on Bodie And Fou, erm, I mean finish my Christmas shopping, of course. What interiors plans do you have for 2015? Do you have a home office, or do you work from the living room, a bedroom, or a nook under the stairs? Have you spotted any other trestle tables I could add to my list of possibilities? Do share!
Lovely choices Miranda! – But make sure you get a good supportive chair – your back and neck will thank you for it!
Thank you Sheila! Definitely need something supportive to sit on, my current situation (a wooden dining chair) is not doing my back any favours…
I work from home and for too long I made do with a chair at my desk from the dining table. Investing in a good chair has really helped my neck and back. I also have a screen, rather than just my laptop, as I find that helps too.
When we moved into our flat, I insisted we had a space for me to work that wasn’t the kitchen table because at least you can leave your work behind at the end of the day and it doesn’t sit looking at you!
Love the trestle tables….the Bodie and Fou looks are great.
The search on for a supportive, but good looking chair Rach. Oh my goodness, I’m SO looking forward to not having my desk in the living room, totally agree, it’s so hard to stop thinking about work when you have a visual reminder there at all times!
Yes – I struggled with a good looking but sensible chair….I opted for sensible for now, it’s not the best looking!!
I often dream of a lovely space like that…however I have no need for it as I don’t work from home!!! It would end up being a reading nook/accidental storage room :s
My step-dad owns 9 bikes (yes 9, much to the shagrin of my Mum) but he stores them in the garage…but on the walls therefore not taking up any floor space – genius! Have found this website :- http://www.brit.co/bike-racks/ – loving some of the storage solutions!
Good luck with the lush office, and the leak situation!
A reading nook would be amazing Annie, it’s going on the list of requirements for my dream house! Wow, that is a lot of bikes, loving the storage solutions, thank you so much for sharing the link!
I love those tables! Some of them are so pricey *gulp*. I work from home a lot, as does my husband, and we are in the process of trying to buy a small victorian house in East London, where one of the rooms will hopefully be dedicated as an office for the two of us. This means two desks to buy, so we will definitely look into the Ikea one. If I were buying just the one, and didn’t have the expense of buying a house, I would go for the one that feels most solid though, as you’ll have it for years and it will make a nice focal point for the room. Thanks for the recommendations! x
I know, I love the Loaf one, but the Ikea one is much more realistic budget wise for me Ali. And they are pretty solid, we have them at RMS HQ! A friend suggested I could buy some trestle table legs and then get a piece of reclaimed wood to get the look of the Loaf desk, although I’m not sure whereabouts in East London I would find reclaimed wood! Lots of luck with the house purchase.
Oh, and ditto about getting a proper chair, I have been working from the dining table for ages and have back problems because the chair is too low for the desk ….
Also, check these out on Made.com
I’m in love with all of those desks! If I had a slightly bigger space (or just less stuff) I’d have totally gone with the Ikea desk. I have a dressing room/office set up for when I work from home, which is about once or twice a week. Its not quite finished yet (waiting on the wife to finish making my shelves) but its all white and gold with a small desk for work and a separate dressing table. Unfortunately I’m not able to make much use of it yet, as it seems to be the only room which the wifi doesn’t reach! Argh!
Ooh, I like the sound a dressing room/office Gracie. Perhaps I need to think of a secondary use for my home office too?! Most annoying about your wifi situation.
Gracie you need this http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/networking/other-wireless-solutions/netgear-ex6100-100uks-wifi-range-extender-ac-750-dual-band-21904556-pdt.html. In a house with solid brick walls this has saved us! x
Oooo thank you Clare!! That is exactly the problem we have, with solid brick walls. I’ll see if I can sneak this in as a Christmas pressie. Thing is, I may never leave my dressing room/office once I have wifi sorted x
I work from the spare room and have the Micke desk from IKEA in white: http://m.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/spr/09903014/
It has a magnetic back board which is ace and the most fantastic cable tidy tray underneath. You could style the shelf at the top beautifully but mine is empty as my cat sleeps on it while I work and would push things off if I tried!
I spent about £100 on a swivel chair with an adjustable back (so you can tilt as well as raise/lower) and arm rests and it’s been well worth it.