A year and a half ago, I created this little office space for myself in an unused corner of our Living Room. Our house has a traditional floor plan and while the living room is the biggest, brightest room in the house, it hardly sees any action (which is probably why it's always so tidy, lol)
sources: chairs / sideboard / round mirror / rug / similar coffee table
It has always bothered me how little we use this space, but we gravitate to the kitchen and attached family room (pictured below) which is where we spend pretty much all our time as a family!
I used to have a small, windowless office in our basement and even though I did my best to make it a really cute and stylish space, I HATED going down there. Especially because I tend to work while the kids are at school, and it always felt so weird to be home alone, in the dark basement. Then one day it was like a lightening bolt hit me, I was reading my favorite blog, (The DIY Playbook) and was looking at how Casey (the blog's author) had created a little home office in her bedroom.
While I was looking at Casey's blog, I was in my living room and started eying up this corner:
I realized I could create a similar set up to Casey's in my big and bright living room , and that I had everything on hand I needed to do it! I moved my desk and chair upstairs and I had some picture ledges that I hung above to make it look pretty. Within a few hours, I had created this cozy little office nook for myself and I couldn't have been happier about it!
With the exception of living through this pandemic for the last year and having my family home waaayyy more than usual, I love having my desk in the Living Room.
Usually I work while the kids are at school. When everyone is home, I do wish I had a door that I could close. I am discovering the beauty of noise-cancelling headphones!
I have been using it for a year and a half now and for the most part, it has been great. There were a few issues that came up recently that kicked off a few changes to the space, which I wanted to share with you today.
New Chair
The first issue that I could no longer ignore was my need for a more ergonomic desk chair. I was in denial about this, because I LOVE the look of my wicker office chair. But as pretty as this chair is, it was killing my back and also the wheels started to fall off - my VERY large 6foot 7 teenage son likes to use this space sometimes and I think he exceeded the weight limit of the chair. I noticed once he started to use my office nook, the wheels on the chair were starting to buckle after he had sat in it, and I would have to pop them back in place. After a very uncomfortable recent back and neck issue, I decided to buy a better desk chair and I went with this one. I feel like my new chair is a compromise - it's fairly ergonomic but still stylish.
I just couldn't buy a 'proper' ergonomic office chair, partially because this office nook is part of my pretty living room and I wanted to keep this corner cohesive with the rest of the space.
Shelves
The other change to the space I have recently made came from a need for more storage. The alex desk drawers are great but I needed a bit more room, so I do what I always recommend when trying to create storage in a small space - use the wall!
I removed the 2 decorative picture ledges and replaced them with shelves. The look is not very different, but now I have a place to store my favorite decorating books, paint and fabric swatches. I also included some hidden storage with these decorative boxes.
before:
after
I am so happy with this space, and during this time while many of us continue to work at home and are looking for ways to create an office space, I highly recommend converting a corner of your home like I did.
If you liked this post be sure to pin it for later!
If you want to learn about how I organized my Alex drawers to maximize efficiency, read more here.
If you have any questions or need some help re-imagining your own space, send me an email at khansen@littlenestdesign.com or check out my services page, remote consults are available via facetime or video call.
Thanks for reading!
Kerri
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