Really small home office - tips please!

[Gubu]

I'm starting a new job where I'll be exclusively working from home, in our tiny spare room, 8ft x 8ft. It's a square with wardrobe on one wall and widow opposite the door. Dh has gifted dumped a useful but ugly office cupboard in there. It's got glass fronted doors on top and plain on the bottom. And I've a set of narrow shelves that I acquired at some point in various house moves. The window is south west facing so I can't have my desk under it. Annoyingly the only socket in the room is where my desk is currently but I could get an extension reel to move the desk to the other wall.

As happens so often, it has become a junk room over the years so I have to unearth it at the weekend then figure out how to make it properly usable. It's bright and a gorgeous turquoise colour. The desk and ugly cupboard are oak and built in wardrobe is white. I've attached a pic of where the furniture is currently but it can be moved except the wardrobe. I will need some sort of filing cabinet for paperwork for work and for some volunteer work I do. I'm also starting some study in Sept so i need to keep that organised too while having everything as clear and calm as possible.

I'm clueless about design so if anyone has any suggestions for how to make the most of the limited space, I would appreciate any ideas!

You're lucky, my office is 7.5 ft x 6.5 😂 May not be an option for you at the moment but I had a very clever joinery firm fit mine out so across the short wall on one side is desk height surface with a cupboard underneath at the left end for PC. The monitor is fixed to the wall so no PC clutter on the desk and above is a wall mounted unit the length of the alcove with open shelves and closed cupboard space above. To my left is a small cupboard and the printer sits on top. Behind me is a unit with three deep drawers (2 for filing), open shelving above and a close cupboard above that. It's genius and I love my bijou office.

What's in the wardrobe currently? Could you move the cabinet inside it, or if not, could you repaint it? If not I'd consider hiding it under a throw blanket. Definitely use the walls for storage - a pinboard above your desk and a small shelf will keep the clutter off your desk. Get a decent chair if you can, for the sake of your back, and some good task lighting - I got a little clip-on ring light from Amazon which is great for online meetings. I actually really like having a tiny office, it's easier to keep it tidy because there's nowhere for clutter to hide!

Wardrobe is full of overflow from other rooms and long out grown baby clothes that I can't bring myself to get rid of (I am excessively sentimental and definitely not a hoarder). I will banish them to the loft at the weekend. Some shelves inside that would take some of the work stuff I need to house but won't need regularly. I could probably paint the ugly cupboard white so it's less ignorant looking. When I was looking at my diagram I think I could swap the desk and big cabinet. It might seem less invasive if it was tucked away a bit.

I'd love a bijou built in set up but we just spent a lot on renovations so I have to make more use of what we have.

Also, pinboard over the desk. It's recommended on all the posts/inspo pages I'm looking at. What do you use it for? All my scraps of paper that are on the desk now?

Lose the wardrobe. 👍 Then sell its contents to buy matching office furniture.

I know the wardrobe contents won't sell but I can definitely free up some useful space by clearing it.

A keepsake blanket made from the outgrown baby clothes may be a nice way to re-purpose them and you could use it to cover up the ugly cupboard.

Your 'tiny spare bedroom ' is about the same size as my actual bedroom 😂

OP if it makes you feel any better I WFH fulltime in the corner of my very small bedroom on a tiny desk (just big enough for my laptop, an A4 pad and some pens) with a printer/scanner and paper shredder under the desk cos there's nowhere else for them 😆.

It's not really what you asked but I have found that I have changed my work habits quite a bit since starting to WFH right at the start of COVID. I don't have a desk phone - I use Teams for calls and meetings. I used to print out contracts and sit and mark them up in red pen and highlight them at my desk (I'm a lawyer) but now I do it all in Word. I still have an A4 pad to make notes during calls etc., but I now transfer the notes into Word docs or email summaries pretty much straight away, and shred the notepaper, whereas previously I'd have pages and pages of loose notes all over my desk and post-its everywhere. As I barely work with actual documents now I've also been able to ditch various stationery items like a stapler, hole punch, highlighters, post-its etc.

It took a bit of discipline at first but is definitely more efficient overall and keeps the space you need to a minimum!

@Whichwhatnow I work from home in exactly the same set up - tiny desk in corner of my bedroom!

I can’t believe you’re bad at design when you’ve knocked that drawing up! Just being nosy but do you work in a related industry.

As you’re clearly really good with design software, I’d create some mood boards online and really have fun with it.

Start with the colour as you like it and then look for complimentary and contrasting accessories. Make sure to think about lighting and add multiple textures. Finally, make use of wall space - shelves for books, plants, organised stationary etc.

The layout looks fine to me; not sure what else you could do with it, really.

Echoing what @Whichwhatnow said - go paperless and have a clean desk policy. Avoid paper as much as possible but, if you can't, get a shredder and at the end every day make sure every bit of paper down to the last post-it is converted to some sort of digital format, backed up, and shredded so your desk is completely clear for the next day.

Also if people keep dumping stuff in your office as a legacy of its 'dumping ground' days, dump it straight back out.

Maybe the amount of crap in here is influencing how small it feels. Hopefully I'll be able to see a bit more space in it when I've cleared it out at the weekend. And yes, what goes out needs to stay out. The memory blanket is a good idea, I'll investigate that.

The thought of going paperless terrifies me but is really a good idea for day to day anyway. I will be the keeper of important documents, the company recently moved to docusign but some legacy papers are still circulating, and other essential governance paperwork will have to be kept safe. My volunteer role will always generate paper though and that needs to go somewhere safe too. I will have a soft phone and teams for work so no desk phone either.

@VanillaSpiceCandle , I have absolutely no design skills but I can find an app to drag and drop

My office is much smaller and accommodates a single bed where snoring DH sleeps and my sewing table.

I actually have my desk on an angle across the corner of the room which you could do so you can at least look out the window.

Sounds like you need to be ruthless and get rid off the stuff. More storage you have the more crap you keep.

Actually, having a single bed in there would make life easier in a lot of ways, I just have no idea how we could achieve it. Maybe my initial plan to ditch the ugly cupboard and then be utterly ruthless with what's left isn't too far off what i need to do.

Well if you have £2k+ going spare..

www.studybed.co.uk

or more moderately, and a lot less space

www.wayfair.co.uk/Viv-Rae--Addison-Single-Cabin-Bed-with-Desk-V112084031-L1074-K~U001973920.html?refid=MX78958843250646-U001973920_596551130&device=c&ptid=4582558330022108&targetid=pla-4582558330022108&network=s&ireid=124249316&PiID%5B%5D=596551130&device=c&msclkid=720f1638d2321317f9d674cdbf366fb2&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=WF.P.UK.B.Furniture%20-%20Bedroom%20(SCA)-G362431358&utm_term=4582558330022108&utm_content=321_1074_0~Kids%20Beds

Get a good blind and put your desk under the window. It won’t always be sunny and ten trillion degrees. Get some plants in there.

@Gubu I had the same issue when I set up my home office. I would recommend taking some time to work in it how it is and then you will get a feel for what does and doesn't work I.e where your desk is / lighting / heat / power sockets. Once you know how you will use it. Work out what you will need. Key things for me were good lighting / workspace and having monitors at correct height and a proper ergonomic desk chair. Worth looking at the DSE ergonomic workspace guidelines to avoid beck / back problems.

Then I used things like lockable cabinets so I could store what I needed out of sight and only have what I use every day to hand.

My office is a deep turquoise / teal and I love it. I found white and glass furniture kept it light and airy plus lots of plants and floating shelfs / good use of wall space kept it from feeling too small.

Separately. Please can you tell me the app you used. I need to redesign my bedroom and that looks really helpful.

Here's what I'd do, I think...

Get a double blind for the windows.

Blinds 4 u do them and they are essentially two blinds coupled together. One is a sheer fabric that still lets some light through that you can close to keep the worst of the sun out when it's bright. The second is a normal blind that you can close up at night.

Put the desk under the window.

Put shelving up on either side of the desk, running down the side walls. Use them for storage and decoration, with hanging plants that droop down.

The ugly cupboard can go. The wardrobe can stay.

My velux window faces East and being in the roof it is very sunny and hot. I tend to work with it mostly or fully shut depending on how sunny it is 🤷🏽‍♀️

Not an issue.

100% go paperless. You need to be ruthless - I'm the trustee of a charity and there's no reason to keep actual paper, if you don't have electronic copies of things get them scanned and stored securely. It's a risk having the only copies of anything in someone's home.

Empty the wardrobe, take the doors off it and put the cupboards inside/or shelves to make that your shelving space.

Agree moving desk to window if you can afford to invest in decent blinds.

A decent chair is the absolute priority, you'll do your back in if you don't have one. Your new job might actually fund that for you under their Occ Health policy so worth asking.

Plants, floating shelves, pics on the walls are also a good idea - just don't make it too cluttered.

In a similar situation, we got rid of the cupboard and put a chest of drawers (facebook market place) we could put a printer and few bits on top. Empty wall space above that we could hang a white board too.

Reading this with interest as I have a tiny workspace
not sure if it's a norm for a joiner to do a free quote? I have never had work done before.

my window is also redundant as the flat is a sauna but I might have to rethink that.

I have a noticenoard above my desk and it's useful for all the little post it's that accumulate, plus drawings by the kids, kids timetables, school session dates. It doubles up as my work admin and life admin at a glance.

Don't neglect the chance to focus on good lighting - it makes a world of difference.

An overhead is often too harsh, once you've got your furniture sorted, invest in 2 or 3 lamps. One as a work light, 2 for ambient lighting.

A large mirror is brilliant for making the space bigger.

Any furniture you keep and doesn't match can be painted. You can upcycle the wooden cupboard doors too - rattan infil or a cut out design or similar, very on trend right now.

Keep decor simple, choose light coloured blind or curtains to help open up the room. I'd consider putting thr desk in front of the window so you can look out and get the benefit of the light evenly across your workspace. That would also free up the right hand wall where a long low bookcase would give you ample storage without closing the space, because waist high up would be free. A few curated pieces on top.