Creating a tiny study - would this work?

[tinyoffice]

We have a 1960s house which has been extended a few times both by us and previous owners. The most recent extension was done by us and created the archetypal kitchen / living space at the back of the house. We retained a sort of 'middle room' which has had a few functions, was a kids playroom, then a tv room, but now is a waste of space and general dumping ground which drives me potty...

I'm working from home still, and do a job which is confidential, so I can't use any of the open plan rooms, at the moment I have a folding desk and work in the front living room with the door closed. It's fine but it gets on my nerves having to pack everything away every night, and then get it out in the morning, and sometimes I'd quite like to do an extra bit of work after dinner but can't face moving everyone out and setting up again.

So! I had the idea this week of building a stud wall in the middle room, see attached plan, it's the one I've marked in purple. It would be around 1.5m wide by 2.5m long. Does anyone have any thoughts about whether this would work a) would the space inside the office be ok, and b) would it create an unnecessary long corridor which would be worse than the dumping ground? I don't have lots of cash to do this, so don't want to do a bigger project and move things around if I can avoid it.

All thoughts gratefully received! Thanks

As long as it's deep enough to sit comfortably at a desk, then it looks great! If you google 'tiny study' there are loads of nice ideas!

I wouldn't personally. Why not just a glass door on the kitchen so it's still a large and self contained room without creating a long corridor?

What would be your reservations @Whitewatergrafting? It wouldn't work sectioning off the kitchen as everyone would have to walk through the middle bit to get to and from the kitchen and garden. I'm a therapist so it's a complete no no to be interrupted during a session with someone, and it would get annoying quite quickly if my family couldn't move around the downstairs.

I assume there is nowhere you can have a desk upstairs?

I would be tempted to do it as a niche rather than adding a wall - fitted desk and shelving etc. in the alcove; possible an open type shelf for half the space where you would have added the wall, to create a 'natural' barrier. My reasoning is that a wall might make it feel claustrophobic and would only give the illusion of privacy.

I would be concerned the space left would be very dark

This kind of thing, minus the staircase:

I would - and use the corridor for coat hooks etc.

It would make more sense to move the lounge into the space and then use the lounge as your study.

Yeah, no space upstairs, the house is quite small and we are a family of 5 almost adults, so everything is in use upstairs. We thought about a loft conversation for a while, but it's sooooooo expensive and we wouldn't gain much more. We want to try and retire a little earlier so trying not to spend lots on house projects.

I love those little nooks but it needs to be a space where I can close the door, I am a therapist and so need to have a space without any distractions for either me or the person I'm talking to (online). Obviously the work is confidential so I don't want anyone to be able to hear anything from either me or the person I'm seeing.

What about a glass (obscured) door or maybe some ceiling level windows?

That bit of the downstairs is very dark anyway, we are in a city so the window faces another building, and is north facing. We always have a lamp on in there anyway, so it probably would be similar in terms of light. The open plan bit is light as we have skylights in it.

Yeah, this purple space would be too small to use as a living room for all of us to use. We have a large ish sofa in there at the moment and it's just awkward and never used...

don't want anyone to be able to hear anything from either me or the person I'm seeing.

I like the plan but I think this is going to be a problem.

if I were doing it, I'd be tempted to go with an angled wall to make full use of the space

or go with your original but add storage along the corridor wall which might help with soundproofing

Just realised I didn't open the plan fully, what is sitting 2?

I didn't notice "Sitting 2" either! Is it a conservatory?

What's the room at the back? Sitting 2?

Otherwise I think the suggestion to build storage in to create a sound barrier is brilliant, and also making me think about my own plans for my noisy kitchen (mainly the washing machine) for my stupid open plan ground floor!

@Scampuss this is a garden room with two glass 'walls', it's a nice space but not big enough for a main lounge for us all, and is open to the kitchen. There isn't a wall between the kitchen and this room, just a sort of ledge where the kitchen stops. It's a useful second space, but tends to be used in the mornings when it's light. Our main lounge is a lovely cosy, darker space which we use in the evenings (and I use during the day to work).

One of the goals of our extension when we did it was to create space so we didn't all have to always be together 😂 Our old layout had one large lounge but no other space, and being on top of each other all of the time doesn't work for us.

The only unused space at the moment is the middle part, it is literally where everyone dumps stuff, and because it's kind of an offshoot to the corridor at the moment it's just a space that people travel through. I'd really like it to have a purpose and I'd really love a small space where I could work without having to clear it away each night.

@SoupDragon - that's interesting about an angled wall - I hadn't thought about that. Storage to help with soundproofing is a great idea too...

What about instead of a wall, have some kind of stacked pocket door system for when you aren’t needing privacy? Or would glass French door types of arrangement be sufficient for privacy? Can you give an idea of dimensions?

some ideas here

Office. Nooks

Ok, so it does sound like your idea is the most practical. I'd add an obscure glazed window (a porthole maybe?) to borrow light from the new room into the hallway.

I do think it looks like an odd choice. You end up with a really small room and a big corridor.

I was wondering about glass French doors. The length of the bit where the door would go is about 2.5m, so potentially we could use two glass doors.

I love the idea of pocket doors @Unleashthehordes but I'd been led to believe in the past that they are pricy to install and can be temperamental. Mind you it was at least 10 years ago when I was first thinking about it so perhaps they have moved on.

I think French doors would look odd in that space. I'd look at ways to make it feel deliberate, either a curved wall or a staggered wall with built in storage/shelves. And a porthole. Portholes are cool.

I like soupdragons second one - it looks as if the space will be about 6ft x 8ft? Plenty big enough for a study, and these days I think people are put off not having a defined study space, however small.

My home office is about that size, I have a 120 wide sit / stand desk across the width of the room, and a whiteboard, filing cabinet and storage ottoman against the opposite wall, it works well.

The size you're looking at is fine by the way - my office is our spare room and it's 1.78 x 2.81 however I lose a huge chunk of that to the boxing above the stairs so it's more like 1.78 x 2.00 with the boxing in and the door.

My desk is 1.20 x 0.80 which leaves me 0.88 to sit in on my enormous office chair, with plenty of room to manoeuvre.