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Clever Home Office Solutions

by | Apr 3, 2008 | Decorating Inspiration, Organization

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Clever Home Office Solutions

These days having some sort of “home office” is a necessity. Whether you run a business from your home or have a life, a blog, or all three (eh hem, yes, many of us are juggling a lot of balls!), you need to be organized. Having a place for everything is a must.

For most of us, we need to make the most of the space we have. Precious few have the luxury of a room dedicated solely to a home office. In spite of our limitations, we still want our homes to be attractive, personal and inspiring. So, if we are short on space and want to keep our expenses low, how do we manage to have a well-organized office and still have our homes look great? In doing some photo research, I came across a few photos of some clever home office & organization ideas I thought I’d pass along for inspiration.

Desks can be expensive, but you can make your own to suit your needs. My own personal desk is actually two file cabinets with a desktop for a surface. I find that works well for me, and is definitely something you could make on a budget. Even old ugly file cabinets can be spray painted to give them a fresh look. Another suggestion is to buy or find table legs to attach to an old door. Or, use an old table fixed up with a new paint color. Instantly personalized desks!

Clever Home Office SolutionsClever Home Office Solutions

Similarly, you can take several old file cabinets and give them new life with paint and new knobs. Instant credenza! Or, find an old dresser and give it a fun new paint job. Dressers are perfect for extra storage just about anywhere, including your home office! Frame a white board with wood to create your own custom message area. I insist on having several bulletin boards and message centers in my own home out where I can see them. For me, out of sight means out of mind.

Clever Home Office SolutionsClever Home Office Solutions

With a little color coordination and creative storage containers, you can store office supplies right out in the open in just about any room of the house. You can cover storage boxes or even shoe boxes with paper to coordinate to your decor. Baskets also work well to corral papers and supplies.

Clever Home Office SolutionsClever Home Office Solutions

Clever Home Office SolutionsClever Home Office Solutions

Or, use tables with skirts or curtains that coordinate with your decor to help hide some of the clutter. Find wasted places under counters, shelves, or tables to claim some space for storage. Perfect “creative concealments!”

Clever Home Office SolutionsClever Home Office Solutions

In small quarters, you can utilize any corner to hide some supplies! A skirted table in a dining room can hide file cabinets or shelving, and a coffee table can be topped with cushions to create both a charming seat and a place to stash supplies. You can also organize a closet to contain your home office needs.

Clever Home Office SolutionsClever Home Office SolutionsClever Home Office Solutions

Clever Home Office Solutions

Finally, I wanted to share an adorable space from a very creative lady. My blogging friend Rhoda of Southern Hospitality created this personal and functional office in a little nook next to her laundry room. I love the use of shelving above the desk to offer even more storage in a limited space. She infused the space with her own personality, including a pretty accent wall in spring green and storage boxes and baskets that complete her look. She packed a lot of punch and usefulness in what could’ve ended up as wasted corner.

Clever Home Office Solutions

Find more of my thoughts on Home Offices and organization:

Check out this fabulous DESK from a recycled door!


  • Find beautiful home office ideas for every corner of the house right here
  • Read tips (including mine!) featured on Productivity 101 here
  • Read my interview on The Home Office Organizer Blog here
  • For more ideas on how to creatively conceal things around your house, click here!

photos: top Pottery Barn
bottom: Southern Hospitality-Rhoda
rest of photos: Better Homes & Gardens

53 Comments

  1. Dee

    Great options, and the very thing I have been thinking about for a summer project!
    Thanks, Dee.

    Reply
  2. Kathleen Grace

    Thanks Melissa, Just what I need for inspiration as I work on reorganizing my own office space:>)

    Reply
  3. Kim

    I love all the different ideas. A little something for everyone!

    I hope to be more organized in my life someday.

    Dee is right, a great summer project.

    Reply
  4. Lori

    Thanks for pulling together all that inspiration for us Melissa!

    Reply
  5. Catherine

    Thanks Melissa! This is an area I need a lot of help with. My husband and I currently share the same room for our office and my paint room. Our son will be finishing his masters in about a year and will be moving out. So, my husband will be taking our son’s room for his office and I will have my own space back. I’m looking forward to doing something creative with it.
    Hugs,
    Cathie

    Reply
  6. Robin

    I am in dire need of my own office…Hubby took over the spare room for his office…sigh….I told him I’d be happy with a desk in the closet! LOL
    I hope you have a great day!

    Reply
  7. Polly

    I used to have a wonderful new unit that looked like an armoire but the bottom half swung open to make an L-shaped desk. Huge and Heavy! The upper cabinets were deep and held a ton of stuff! But, alas, when we moved into this old farmhouse our floors were not so even. The new unit wasn’t built to accomodate the settled floors of a 100 year old house. Within weeks the hinges were pulling away from the wood and the swinging half could no longer be closed. So now I have a little makeshift area that is adorable. Not quite as functional but sometimes “darling” trumps “perfect”. Blessings… Polly (p.s. did you see feathered nest’s pantry yesterday? You’ll love it! Here’s the link: http://thefeatherednest.typepad.com/the_feathered_nest/2008/03/the-pantry-prin.html)

    Reply
  8. Vee~A Haven for Vee

    Lots of wonderful suggestions for the home office or the home period. Love what Rhoda has done with her space!

    Reply
  9. Mrs. B

    Oh, this is just what I needed because what I have now is really not working! And buying new home office furniture is so expensive! I love Rhoda’s office, she’s got great style!

    And that coffee table with the cushions on it has given me a great idea! I’m gonna have to take a trip to the garage and check out that coffee table that’s in there…

    Reply
  10. mrs darling

    I totally neeed to revamp my office. It started out being a spare bedroom and morphed into an office. Now I need to make it a real one. I love these ideas.

    Reply
  11. Sandra Evertson

    Ah, fabulous post! I especially like the nook with all the slide out drawers! Could really use that around here!
    Sandra Evertson

    Reply
  12. Beverly

    Wonderful inspiration. My husband and I were just discussing my office/scrapbook room the other day. While my room looks good, I need more work surface. You know – computer, two printers, scanner, large paper cutter, and hopefully a flat surface to actually work with.

    I drew some sketches, now I just have to make them happen. This might be a project that has to wait until next spring. I have enough projects on my ’08 agenda already.

    Reply
  13. Joan

    Hi Melissa,
    Thanks so much for visiting me today. I love your blog. I am such a big fan of all of you guys who are so creative and can pull things together like this. I have earmarked your blog and will be back. Love the ideas on the home office, I work from home so these are great ideas.

    Reply
  14. patricia

    Lovely spaces to work from. I posted on desk vignettes and spaces and had so many people send me photos. I think if there is one color or 2 it helps to unify and pull it all together. Your photos show that so well.

    Reply
  15. simple mom

    What great eye candy! Thanks for sharing, and thanks for popping by my site.

    Reply
  16. marita

    these home spaces look great, wishing i had the time to get re-organized for a final setting.
    thank you melissa for the lovely possibilities shown.

    Reply
  17. Heather

    Great office inpriration. I am tryong to get this done as I do my spring cleaning. “A place for everything” my goal. Now if only my kids would keep it clean..LOL Thanks for visiting me.
    Heather

    Reply
  18. Rhoda

    Greetings from FL, Melissa! Thank you SO much for featuring my office. It was a labor of love and a fun project to complete & that little nook was the perfect spot for my office. I saw it in my mind when we bought the house & it turned out even better than I expected. Lots of great ideas here.

    Thanks for the shout out!

    xo,
    Rhoda

    Reply
  19. rosieswhimsy

    I surprised by myself by loving the white table with green legs and the green metal filing cabinets. I’m not sure it would go with the rest of my house but I’d take it in a minute! :-) Rosie

    Reply
  20. Hipmomofboyz

    Thanks for visiting my blog. I am new at this and it is exciting to see that someone is looking. I LOVE your blog, I will be visiting it.

    Reply
  21. Courtney

    I love this post! I am currently (slowly) working on creating my own home office and I love all these ideas. Hey, I see you got to my blog before I could tell you about your little award from me! Ah well, I really had intended to email you and tell you…oops…anyway thank you for the constant inspiration…and from a fellow Portlander…even better!

    Reply
  22. pugnotes

    Hi Melissa!
    It is so nice to meet you. Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving your nice comment about Emmitt.
    I am so glad I have found you. Your blog is amazing and my two favorite things are organizing and containers. My eyes got wide and my heart skipped a beat as soon as i arrived at your blog.
    How wonderful. I love all of your ideas.
    :) Melissa

    Reply
  23. Colleen

    Well, isn’t this a timely article for me! I LOVE LOVE LOVE looking at organized spaces – it’s the actual doing it that gets me all befuddled!
    Thanks for the “inspiration” and for your visit today! I have had you in my “faves” and I will add you to my sidebar – I think you are doing a “public service” trying to make this a prettier world – Oh, and I love Winston!
    Colleen

    Reply
  24. Terri

    My home office (as yet un-decorated) is the one room I want to hire a decorator for. It seems like there are too many options, too many storage schemes, too many things to think about, too much function to build in. Making something pretty is one thing, making something work is quite another. And they have all these functions. Ugh! Offices are the worst because I am so sensitive to light and ergonomics, etc. at my desk with my headaches. I need all the universe to be perfectly aligned…stars, galaxies, keyboard trays…

    Reply
  25. M&Co

    Perfect post! I’m in the progress (or at least planning progress) on turning my basement into a craft/office room, and I now got loads of inspiration, and a small kick behind to continue the process ;-)

    Reply
  26. Melissa Lewis - Off The Wall

    Once again Melissa, such great tips on the Home Office. Seems like more and more people are investing more in this room for their home.

    So funny you pictured the pic from BH&G that is all white with the red magazine holders and photo boxes with the fancy chandelier. I pulled the pic and modeled my home office after this. Even custom built the desk from wall to wall. I’ll have to send you a pic!

    Reply
  27. Jill from foreverandeverhouse.blogspot.com

    Oh these photos are just “eye candy”! I am so glad that you took the time to pull these together. My office is one of my next rooms at my house that I want to tackle and these are a great source of inspiration!

    Reply
  28. Rose

    Thank you for your comments on my blog today. Now you know I can’t let you get away without pestering for the perfect yellow paint color you mention. I am familiar with Sherwin Williams, but not the other brand you mention. Waiting to hear back from you.
    Hugs,
    Rose

    Reply
  29. Quality Products

    Amazing photos, great tips!

    Reply
  30. carolyn

    Hi Melissa !
    Thankyou for visiting my blog , and why haven`t i found yours before ! It`s beautiful !!
    I did my craft room , as i call it , last August , but it`s in dire need of a tidy and a rethink on storage !
    Thanks for the inspiration

    Reply
  31. M.Kate

    love this post, now time to reorganise my office :)

    Reply
  32. Dianne Wood

    What GREAT organizing ideas. I have an office and a hobby room just waiting for me to get in there and fill them up with the PERFECT peices and turn them into a comy work space.

    Your ideas are terrific. I LOVE them….:)

    Thanks for sharing them with us.

    Hugs to you,
    Dianne

    Reply
  33. Nay-K

    the first one is great!!!

    Reply
  34. Mrs.Limestone

    Love, love, love all the inspiriation photos. I certainly need them.

    Reply
  35. Paris Parfait

    These all look fabulous – and so organised! Why is it that my home office – which is literally my office – never looks like that??!!

    Reply
  36. this is glamorous

    An inspired post, Melissa–goodness knows we could all use a little organization and a lot of storage space!

    Happy weekend, BFF!

    xo

    Reply
  37. Sweet Cottage Dreams

    Oh such pretty places to have an office! Wait a second….”Honey! See what Melissa’s husband did for her!!” (shh…he doesn’t have to know that these aren’t from your home!) ha.

    I wish I had such a pretty place to work! At least I keep my spot relatively tidy.

    xo
    Becky

    Reply
  38. Sally

    Hi Melissa, well I have just found your beautiful blog. I am an Australian Mum/business women/interior decorator and with my partner have just started a blog, we are the blind leading the blind ([email protected]) we are really not sure why we are doing it. When I see your beautiful blog and all the comments you receive I get depressed. We have a great product that we developed here in Australia called my.organiser and we were advised to start a blog to help spread the word and get people to visit our site. But I think Tricia and I are the only ones reading our blog. We rarely get a comment. Help!! Do you have any advice. Hope you don’t mind that I mentioned your blog on our blog. (or is that how it works??) Sally

    Reply
  39. Tracy

    Hello, Melissa! Thanks so much for stopping by my place! I was a treat to meet you and find you lovely space here in blogland in turn. And I must say this post of yours with office solutions is very timely–I’m looking to rearrange and improve my little work room and these photos have me inspired. Thanks! Happy weekend to you :o)

    Reply
  40. Tanna

    Hi Melissa, love your blog and love these photos. I have some of them in my idea files for my clients. Better Homes and Gardens has some of the best office spaces. I love finding the DIY ideas. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

    Reply
  41. Melissa in Mel's World

    Seriously Mel, you are one talented chick!

    I love this post and am quite intrigued by the whole Home Office decor look and would love to see what others have done. I do have a room in my house that my husband and I have turned into a home office for both of us (we BOTH work at home) but would love to spruce it up because it is right off the kitchen and a major part of our house (No closed doors in this office and it over looks our pool).

    I love that VERY first picture, but would have to go more of a dark brown…

    Thanks for the ideas, you Rock girl!
    Melissa

    Reply
  42. Laurab

    Great post! I love all of these photos, especially the ones with color-coded organization boxes. I built a little home-office in the closet in my bedroom (with help from my Dad) like your friend did in her laundry room. It’s a great space saver!

    Reply
  43. Brandie Kajino

    Hi Melissa,

    I am SO inspired by those pictures! Maybe I should rework my office (again). Very cute stuff – I’m definately taking some of it and using it. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  44. Hooked on Houses

    Ohhh, these rooms are all so fabulous! I can’t stop staring at them. What wonderful inspiration for the day, Melissa! -Julia :-)

    Reply
  45. Daisy

    Just what I need to do- Get things organized. Great post!

    Reply
  46. Mrs. Kwitty

    It is always such a challenge keeping organized and yet looking good. You have some wonderful solutions and tips here!
    Smiles, Karen

    Reply
  47. Rona

    I enjoyed viewing the home offices. In our latest apartment our home office is located in our Gathering Room. I love the Pottery Barn calendars that are hung above the desk. Everyone can see 2 months of activities.
    I purchased a file cabinet from Ikea four years ago. It’s stylish enough and fits with the rest of this very large room.

    Ronas inspiring blog post..Target.com – Free Shipping When You Spend $50

    Reply
  48. Damaria Senne

    I’m planning to set up a dedicated home office. thank you so much for the inspiring rooms. It’s given me some ideas I hope to implement soon.

    Damaria Sennes inspiring blog post..This Week On OneLove

    Reply
  49. Kathy Passarette

    Great post and I love the images you used! I also love your friend Rhoda’s office area – very much my style! I’m going to have to remember these ideas as we hope to move this year and I’d like a NICE space to devote to my office area.

    Reply
  50. Lauren

    A coffee table as a bench! Why didn’t I think of that?? Time to hit the yard sales to find me a “bench”!

    Reply
  51. Jasmine from The Suburban Sentiment

    Love, Love, Love it! Thanks for this post, Melissa. I’ve had my home office now for one year, and already I want to revamp it after seeing this; hubby won’t be happy {wink}. Just imagining my own message center….

    Before I daydream away, I must say, I LOVE your site. Thanks again!

    Jasmine from The Suburban Sentiments inspiring blog post..Sweet Saturday: Choc-walnut squares

    Reply
  52. Lindsey

    Great post, there are some very inspirational design ideas here, I absolutely love the first image.

    Reply

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