The Ultimate Tiny Office Transformation!
My partner and I recently moved to a new rental property, which with much excitement (from me!) meant re-setting up all our belongings… finding new homes for things, trying new layouts, turning bookcases into TV units… you know the drill. It was a whole damn vibe.
Aside from the excitement of re-building our little whare, moving was actually pretty exhausting, so we ended up keeping this one tiny room near our front door as the dumping ground for things yet to find a home… Affectionately known as “The Shit Shack” / “Harry Potter’s cupboard”, I decided that as someone keen to practice what I preach, it was destined to become my home office space.
THE PROJECT
Now, being a designer I have tonnes of samples to house which means a need for lots of storage and space to spread these samples out while working… not the most ideal for the tiniest room in the building! And so, the conundrum… How to fit extra storage into an already tiny space? Bloody good job small spaces are my speciality, huh.
I began as I would with any project, by creating a scale floor-plan to work out exactly what would fit and how best to lay the room out. The room is only 1.3m wide and 2m long to the built-in cupboard by the door, and having my back to the entrance would bring super-bad juju, so I knew I’d need a skinnier-than-average desk in order to run it down the long side of the room and leave enough room behind me for wheeling a chair in and out.
THE “HOW”
At home, I’m a huge fan of repurposing and up-cycling, so I scoured Facebook Marketplace and TradeMe for some bargains to suit, ending up with a second-hand IKEA full-height bookshelf and a home-made desk that was built with a shallower top. Side-by-side these two pieces take up exactly the available wall-space (Eat your heart out, built-in joinery!). With a little sand, the desk looks good as new & I have ideas that one day I may either whitewash it or paint it green (standard Nat).
Having these two pieces side-by-side means I can easily access samples and and when I need them, and have plenty of table-space for spreading them out to create moodboards etc. The window next to me allows for soft, all-day natural light without adding contrast to my screen, as would have been the case if I had positioned myself facing it.
THE “WHY”
A subtly striped rug in a light colour helps to widen the room & brightens up the dark floor. Using a tension-rod curtain pole (being a rental, we can’t affix a permanent pole), a floaty sheer white curtain now softens the window frame, filtering the light & conveniently hiding the mess of cables to the only powerpoint in the room at its base. A desk lamp and festoon lights add a little character and brighten up the corners, visually helping to push them back.
Still to come, a more comfortable chair (but thanks for the stand-in, my trusty little cane sidekick!) and some art on the walls, because who says working from home has to be boring?! From junk-storage to cosy and inviting tiny office space- I couldn’t be more pleased with the result.