How to create a pretty home office…
Styling a home office isn’t easy, especially when it’s part of one of your larger rooms like mine is. My home office is part of our open plan living, and it’s tucked away in the far left hand corner of our living area, next to my toddlers play area. In my last home, I had my office in my bedroom, as I had quite a large room with plenty of space, and that was the best place for it. In my new home, it works much better having it downstairs as I much prefer being downstairs during the day anyway, and it means I can keep an eye on my little one whilst I’m working.
I changed up my office space in the last house quite a bit, but when I left I had the gallery wall directly above the desk, which I recreated here and soon found it wasn’t working as well. I decided to add shelving above instead and move the gallery wall to the left hand side, quite similar to how I once had my last office, minus the gallery wall. I’m more of a colour fan these days, so I’ve kept it quite colourful with the decor to add character alongside the white desk and chair. I think it works really well and it’s one of my favourite corners of the house, so I thought I’d share a few tips on how to create a pretty home office.
Use a clean corner
The first thing you need to think about is where your home office is going to be. I recommend using a clean corner, and by this I mean a corner of a room that is bare, and free of any other furniture and decor. I prefer a corner as you can decorate the office on the two surrounding walls. I previously had my desk in the middle of the room against just one wall, and it didn’t look as pretty and have as much character to it as it does now that it’s in a corner. A corner is also great for storage if you need lots of it, as rather than a gallery wall on one of the walls, you can add extra shelving instead, or have corner shelving stretching all the way around.
Choose your desk wisely
You may already have a desk for your office, but if it’s something you’re going to be shopping for, choose wisely! Think about the kind of overall look you want to achieve and make sure your desk fits within that. If you want a dark and moody vibe, you may opt for a dark wooden desk. If you want it to look simple and clean, white or light wood is a better option. If you want it full of colour, white or oak works lovely as a base, or you can even get some gorgeous painted desks. I really want to change my desk to a nice shade of oak to bring in some warmth, but for now the white works really well with the clean, colourful vibe that I’m going for. I’ve had my desk for a long time, and it’s the mid-century desk from West Elm, but there are much cheaper options out there these days. You can shop some gorgeous desk ideas below!
Pick a comfy, but cute office chair
An ugly office chair can really change the overall vibe of an office, but there are many cute options out there that are also comfy. I do have to stress that you shouldn’t choose cute over comfort, as there really is nothing worse than a sore bum from being sat at your desk all day. However, if you have a good browse of the shops, you can definitely get the best of both worlds. I have a scalloped boucle swivel chair which looks really pretty with it’s gold base, but doesn’t sacrifice on comfort. The cushion is quite thin though so if you spend long days sat at your desk, I’d maybe opt for something a little more supportive.
ADD ARTWORK
I think artwork can transform an office space from boring and bland, to pretty and full of character. The kind of artwork and frames you pick will depend entirely upon the final look that you’re aiming to create, but I personally love light wood frames filled with colourful art prints. My gallery wall is mostly Desenio who do so many cute prints.
cHOOSE aRTY laMPS
A lamp is an essential at a desk, and there are thousands of cute arty lamp choices these days that it can be hard to narrow it down. I have a gold rechargeable mushroom lamp on my desk that I love, particularly because it requires no wiring and is easy to recharge via my computer, but it also looks really pretty.
ADD SHELVING
I love shelving in my office space, I’ve tried it without and only had a simple gallery wall above, but when I moved into this house, I knew I needed to add some shelves. They work great if you need that extra storage space, but they can also really add some style to the area. I’ve got lots of different things on mine from mini lamps, a framed print, books, matches, a plant, as well as various different candles. You can really put your personality into open shelving and fill it with things that suit you and your style.
EXTRA STORAGE
It’s not pictured in the photos for this post as they are old ones, but I recently added a pink metal storage unit to my office space and it’s not only so convenient and useful, but it’s pink and adds so much personality and cuteness to the office space which I love. I’m a little obsessed with everything pink lately so I feel that it suits me to a T, and it’s the storage that I desperately needed for this area as underneath my desk was getting so cluttered!
Do you have a home office that you love?
