THEN & NOW: MY HOME OFFICE IN AN UNEXPECTED SPACE

Donna Talley

March 3, 2021

8 min read

Discuss

A Tale of Three Home Offices, Part 2: How I converted an unused attic space into a cool office

In my previous post, I shared the “Then & Now” story of my first home office in Better Homes & Gardens® magazine, and the design lessons I learned. However, In my next home office, I had to get a little more creative with WHERE my office was going to be. That’s how I created my home office in an unexpected space. Here’s what happened:

After I moved from my previous suburban house into a 130-year-old Victorian home in downtown Saratoga Springs, NY, I originally planned to use the smallest bedroom for my home office. That plan was quickly waylaid when my big, fabulous door desk wouldn’t fit in the space (oops, rookie mistake).

A friend helping me organize after the move suggested I consider using the L-shaped loft the previous homeowners converted from an attic space as my home office. OK, let’s give that a whirl.

Well, as it turns out, my big desk fit perfectly, and – even better – the view from my desk was the back yard terrace and gardens. With plenty of natural light, to boot. Below is the story of my second home office, featured in Better Homes & Gardens® magazine in March 2007 (click on the images below to read the article):

Below are the takeaways from my “Then & Now” Attic Conversion Home Office:

THEN:

There’s that darn Rolodex again! I know, I know. But this was only a couple of years later, and I still needed it to tell me how to reach people!

The green toile fabric on the Parsons chair is a little too traditional for my taste today (but at least I didn’t cover the whole room in toile, because that look IS a little too 1990’s). However, there are some really beautiful, modern takes on toile prints. I’ve linked the Parsons chair below with some gorgeous, updated fabric options.

The file cabinets (this time around I changed the paint color from cream to a soft sage green). But, looking back on it, we don’t need nearly as much storage for files today, so you can definitely do without a wall of file cabinets (no matter how good-looking).

AND NOW:

LOCATION: Big observation (especially in the current work-from-home situation): You can put an office in a non-traditional space! Look around your home: An underused formal dining room? An attic? The basement? A large closet that can be converted? A guest bedroom that’s used only a couple of times a year? Remember, it doesn’t have to be large – my L-shaped office in this story was probably 90 square feet, at best.

COLOR PALETTE: Decide on a simple color palette (here, sage green and cream, with touches of black) and the space will feel more “room-like”.
FLOORING shouldn’t be an afterthought. The floor in this former attic space was brown wood sub-flooring (read: not precious). I painted the floors with Sherwin Williams “White Dove” enamel paint in a high gloss finish, which significantly brightened up the small former attic space.
THE DESK, REVISITED: A non-traditional desk (a/k/a a repurposed dining table) is always a great solution. I changed the colors of the newel post legs on my converted-door-desk to the same sage green as the file cabinets and gave the desk a fresh coat of high-gloss white paint. If you find a dining table you like, you can personalize it with color. Paint is your friend, people.
LIGHTING: A pair of pretty, non-office-y lamps on each end of the desk make the space feel more room-like and are unexpected in a home office. I’ve linked to some great-looking pairs of lamps in a similar style in the shopping gallery below.
DESK CHAIR TIP: Make sure your desk chair is on wheels. It matters. My Parsons chair had caster wheels so I could roll around freely and not scratch my pretty painted floors..

BUDGET SHELVING: Inexpensive white wire shelves gave the small office an airier feel over traditional bookshelves. Links to similar styles in the shopping gallery below. This is a great budget-friendly option for shelving.

STORAGE ZONES are very important in a small space: On the shelves behind my desk, I stored everyday items (printer paper, envelopes, general office items) in attractive sage green boxes that tied in my streamlined color scheme.

HOW TO STORE STUFF: And on the subject of storage, boxes and baskets never go out of style. And since my desk didn’t have drawers, I used the boxes to store office supplies, and canvas and wicker baskets and bins to corral project folders.

MAKE THINGS EASY TO IDENTIFY: Notice the labels on the boxes and bins. A label maker is your new BFF (this one is my favorite).

GREENERY is always welcome in an office space (even if it’s just a few branches clipped from your yard). Same goes for dried hydrangeas and other decorative elements.

UPDATED WHITE BOARD: The big burlap board concept from the “Home Office Heroics” story in my previous post was applied in the form of the largest white board I could find. I had a local woodworking shop build a wide frame around it and I painted it the same sage green as the file cabinets. A white board is critical for many people who home office (here, it helped me visualize my photo shoot and scouting schedule at a glance).

UNCONVENTIONAL STORAGE: I found an unfinished wood coffee table at a garage sale and repurposed it as a little seating bench in an underused corner of the office. I added three inexpensive box seat cushions and squishy pillows to make it comfortable. Finally, that long storage basket was great for storing larger items that I didn’t need to access every day (i.e. boxes of file folders, surplus printer paper, etc.)

ART MATTERS: I didn’t have much wall space after putting up that giant white board, but I had a little. I added a pretty botanical print over the storage bench (which was viewed from my desk). A quick tip: Make sure the art isn’t too-small and is scaled to the space. Below, I’m sharing links to shop my favorite “fresh modern botanical” artwork.

I’ve created a shopping gallery below for an updated look for this home office (attic not required!).