Tips for converting a bedroom into an office
Using a bedroom as a home office, as so many of us have ended up doing during lockdown, can be tricky. It still needs to feel like a bedroom, so it's important not to take up too much space or introduce furniture that feels to functional. Small desks that can double up as side tables later, pretty lighting, decorative shelving, and a comfortable armchair are all excellent ideas for walking the line between bedroom and study. Scroll down for more ideas.
Craig Fordham1/8If you're not happy that you have to shoehorn a workspace into a bedroom, know that interior designer Rita Konig thinks of it as a good thing. "Desks are terribly nice in bedrooms and mine sits in the bay window of ours. When I sit down to write a letter there, it is so much easier to focus in that quiet spot than my usual centre of operations - the dining room table caught between the kitchen and the sitting room."
Greg Funnell2/8If you only have a small corner to work with, Nicole Salvesen recommends stepping away from traditional desks and looking instead to antique side tables. "These can give plenty of space for a laptop or even a desktop, and later it can turn into a lovely roomy bedside table." This example comes from Mimi Thorisson's home in France.
3/8Another side table has been used in this room to fit into a corner, but the star of the show here is the made-to-measure box shelf from Jali, painted in a strong green that makes it a smart graphic feature. Shelving in a bedroom should feel decorative as well as functional, and we love how colour, art and bespoke cubbies for magazines come together here.
The task wall light is a great way to save space - this is the 'Hector' by Original BTC, which is adjustable and comes in a plug-and-switch format, so it does not need to be wired in.
Jan Baldwin4/8A piece of furniture like this bureau from Chelsea Textiles can be an efficient way to use space in a small bedroom, providing helpful storage as well as place to work.
Richard Powers5/8On the other hand, if you intend the room to function as a study in the long term, built-in furniture, such as a desk built into the back of a bed's headboard, into a closet or into the wall itself, can allow for plenty of working space without intruding too heavily into the room. "I think making a desk shallow but wide and built-in is good," says our Deputy Decoration Editor Ruth Sleightholme, "as then it can usually fit into a really small space and you can spread left and right without requiring that you come out into the room too much."
Although this room in a Provençal house by Andrzej Zarzycki is much larger than the average spare room, it's a great demonstration of how to use built in furniture to create a working space. Andrzej designed the space-saving bed in a spare room to have a desk area on one side and a bed with built-in side tables on the other.
David Oliver6/8If you're lucky enough to have a closet in your spare bedroom that isn't crammed with stuff already, this could be the perfect place for a built-in workspace that can be hidden away easily. This example comes from interior designer Virginia Howard's Pimlico flat, and includes plenty of storage solutions - a keyboard shelf under the desk and shelves above, plus wall space for pictures to liven up the interior of the closet.
Alicia Taylor7/8"I'd recommend trying to find a chair that works as an office chair (i.e. has back and arm supports and is comfortable) but that doesn't look especially like an office chair," says Ruth. An upholstered dining chair would fit the bill, as in this space in the former home of artist Howard Hodgkin. Ruth recommends Howe's' Camembert' or 'Salon' chairs, or Dining Chair Company's Hamilton chair. "The only thing to bear in mind is that you can't adjust the height so you will have to use stand-ins to work out the seat height you need. Your arms need to be able to form a right-angle when you are typing at your desk."
8/8If you find it jarring to work in a bedroom, consider dividing the space. Curtains can be an effective way of doing this, or, as Nicole Salvesen recommends, try an antique screen, which can be both decorative, functional, and easy to move around the house for other purposes.
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