Simple & Stylish Home Office Setup

Having spent years sat at a kitchen table tapping away upon the laptop then collecting printed work from the dank, dark and cold garage I was desperate to design a home office space from which to work.

Shortly after completing the extension work in November Paul and I began discussing ideas for the box room which was once our daughters nursery. We both felt that it was high time we created a home office rather than a spare room and other than a lick of paint and a few furnishings it took a minimal effort to put together.

We began by emptying the box room, giving it a fresh coat of ‘cappuccino’ paint a neutral colour idea for a working space. Luckily we had opted for a cream carpet when first decorating what was once the nursery so we were able to reuse the same carpet for the office although I would never recommend carpeting a child’s room in light shades as it is just asking for trouble as we learnt time and time again throughout the years. 

Having vaxed the carpet a fair few times to ensure it was as clean as could possibly be we began selecting practical, affordable and attractive furnishings. Being a bird that loves a bargain I picked up a pine desk for an absolute steal and after a clean and a rub down with some dutch oil it took pride of place in the corner of the box room.

I originally had a nautical theme in mind for the office and began selecting accessories on a small budget to stylise the room.

I’m a great believer in reusing things that are already around the house to save pennies where possible. Whether you wish to refer to it as shabby chic, decorating on a budget or being plain tight-fisted I couldn’t care less, it works for me!

I reused and revamped the beige gingham curtains from the original nursery decor, I brought back the Ikea Poang chair which I once used for nursing my children, adding a chunky blanket for a touch of colour.

I then collected some second-hand drawers from my parents, hung a large cork notice board from the wall and selected a range of pictures and accessories from Ebay, The Range and B&M Bargains to place around the room to complete the look.

Office Principles have some fabulous ideas and products which I would thoroughly recommend for those of you considering creating an office space. Whilst their ideas may be geared more towards larger corporations they are certainly a great starting point when developing your own designs.

In total we spent almost £200 transforming our box room into a home office. In the grand scheme of things it was a very small amount of money to spend on decorating and furnishing a room from scratch and I couldn’t be happier with the results.

Our entire family has benefited from the newly added home office, we no longer have to dash to the garage to refill the printer with ink nor do we have to scout around the house to find stationary, documents or files of any kind.

I have done my very best to keep the home office as minimal as possible, clearing away any clutter into designated areas. I am now able to sit at peace in calm and comfort as I work and as a result I’ve found that I am far more able to focus and in turn produce higher quality pieces of work especially as a blogger.

This is a collaborative post and may contain affiliate links