Your life is unique. Your workday is unique. Why shouldn’t your office be unique, too?
Maybe it’s time for an office makeover to spark creativity and productivity at work. Here are some unconventional ideas from the design experts at Diplomat Closet Design.
Grow a Garden Office
During the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for home offices surged. Today, about 12% of the workforce is entirely home-based, and 28% work hybrid in-office/remote schedules. Unfortunately, many people now feel stuck indoors and miss seeing the greenery of nature.
Counteract this problem with a garden office. Surround your workstation with nature and refill your soul as you work in a jungle-like environment.
Great garden rooms need two main things: plant space and natural light. Install large and sturdy open shelves to hold an array of flowers and plants while keeping your work supplies safe from the foliage in nearby cabinets or closets. Leave plenty of floor space for tall plants in large pots.
Welcome natural light with minimalistic window sheers or adjustable blinds on large windows. You can even install a ceiling skylight or tube light to welcome more sunbeams into your space.
Take Center Stage While You Work
Experienced designers often position desks and workstations in the middle of rooms, as opposed to along walls. This puts all the focus on your work and gives an impression of having more breathing space around you.
Centered desks also look great on camera, which is important if you spend lots of time on video calls or share your videos/photos on social media. There’s a sense of drama. You’ll be right in the center of the action.
A centered desk calls for clever design techniques to hide cords and prevent visual distractions. Here are a few tips to help you pull off the look.
- Place cords under floor protector strips and top it off with a rug for beauty and safety.
- Install a floor outlet beneath a hidden panel under your desk.
- Drill a hole through your desk as a hidden path for cords and chargers.
- Contain clutter in cabinets and drawers along the walls, away from your desktop.
- Build a closet in the room where you can store bulky items out of sight.
- Add long open shelves, decorating thoughtfully with just a few tasteful objects.
Install a Wall of Grown-Up Cubbies
Busting clutter is an ongoing battle for most of us. Organizing experts estimate people lose up to 1 hour per day trying to find missing things among the clutter in their lives. Over a lifetime, this can add up to more than a year of lost time!
As children, adults help us stay organized by installing eye-catching organizational features like storage cubbies. Remember the wall of cubbyholes from preschool? Why not bring this concept into the adult world?
Grown-up cubbies look fun and fashionable. They add a geometric flair to your office while providing a sense of structured organizational purpose.
In the adult version, cubbies get an upgrade with sophisticated designer home office colors and decorative touches. Add baskets or bins to the cubbyholes for storage and style.
Conceal Your Closet Office
There’s no such thing as “not enough room” for a home office! Even in a relatively small space, you can use unconventional thinking to build a home office into a closet, corner, or cabinet.
Envision turning an oversized vintage hutch or old entertainment center into an all-in-one workstation. Arrange its shelves and drawers to suit your needs, and use its desktop to hold your laptop and devices. Old meets new in this unique mini-office design.
Another option is to have a custom workspace built directly into an existing closet or wall in one of your rooms. This is a great option for a guest room or den where you have an unused area calling out for custom-crafted office features. You can even design it to fold away behind closed doors, completely hiding your workstation when you don’t need it.
Consider installing a home office closet system that allows you to tailor the design exactly to your needs. These systems offer complete design flexibility, and with a bit of creativity, anything is possible for your office!
How to Design Your Unconventional Office
When you’re thinking outside the box for your office organization, turn to Diplomat Closet Design. We have a team of professional designers and builders to share unconventional and unexpected ideas for upgrading your home office.
