30 Ideas That'll Turn Your Home Office Into Your New Favorite Space (2024)

“When I design a home office...the most important factor is also the most obvious one. It has to work for you,” says designer Elizabeth "Muffie" Faith, principal of Elizabeth Stuart Design. In other words, put your specific business at the top of your list. (Will you need to store products? Is it quiet enough to take calls? Do you need to accommodate an occasional guest?) Then, fill in gaps with the other office non-negotiables: A desk or table, a comfortable chair, etc.

Need your office to do double duty as a homework area for the kids? Keep them in mind when designing it. “Most parents know the struggles of getting school-aged children to do their homework. When this family designed their custom home, they created their “project room” as a destination for both kids and mom,” says designer Linda Sullivan, founding principal and CEO of Sullivan Design Studio. “Mom and kids selected fabrics for their own chairs to represent their favorite colors for individuality, and each household member has a designated project and homework box, so losing homework is not an option! The ladder provides help for reaching supplies on the highest shelves, and the customized island is made with an extremely durable laminated glass surface for cleaning up even the messiest of projects.”

One way to ensure your office isn’t a snooze? Add a bold pop of color while keeping the rest of the space neutral. “Our client did not need an enclosed or secluded space. Her home “office” was a spot to check email and go through mail,” says designer Alexandra Mangimelli, principal at Strang. “A correspondence space filled with light and bold color makes it a happy space for an artist.”

Need a family office but don’t have the space to spare? Take a look again, advises designer Malcolm Davis, principal at Malcolm Davis Architecture, as you may be able to optimize your square footage by transforming an unused closet or long hallway into a workspace. “This built-in desk runs along a hallway near the entry of the home.”

“Sometimes, infusing a homeowner’s hobby into the design plan is the best way to personalize a home office,” says Sullivan. “This homeowner was a rower. His love of the sport was celebrated with the use of nautical colors, patterns, and art."

Mangimelli designed the office of a couple’s part-time Miami home with minimal—but matching!—furnishings for a look that feels both luxe and intentional. “It needed to be functional for both of them, private, and sophisticated but still in keeping with the design of the overall home,” says Mangimelli “We designed a custom, dual-sided desk supported by brass legs with a walnut cabinet in the middle and topped with the same Calcutta used for the palladiana terrazzo on the floor. The walnut wall paneling is strategically used to also conceal built-in cabinetry that houses equipment and storage behind flush doors.”

There’s a reason minimalism is favored by some of the world’s most successful people. A clutter-free space outfitted with simple furnishings and a neutral color palette has a way of freeing the mind and sparking creativity. “This simple office was carved out of the massing above a staircase, allowing a compact house to live more spaciously,” says Davis. “A sturdy Masonite top with a leading Douglas Fir edge makes up the desk surface."

Maximize every inch of space in your office by opting for floor-to-ceiling shelving on all four walls. In this home office space designed by Davis, exposed 2 x 12 wall framing was employed to create display and storage cubbies. Organization is key in keeping things from looking chaotic, so if you tend to be on the messier side, consider doing the floor-to-ceiling treatment on just one wall.

To carve out a workspace without calling too much attention to it, look to furniture made from clear or transparent materials like acrylic or lucite for a playful-yet-chic vibe. In this sleek master bedroom renovation by Andrew Mann, principal at Andrew Mann Architecture, a clear decorative credenza in the entry vestibule doubles as a handy place to pile books to be read or pull out a laptop for a quick email. (Going the clear route also allows the art placed above to take center stage.)

Instead of hiding your hard-won collections in storage, put them to work in your home office! To keep things looking chic, concentrate your collections in one area of the room. (A grouping of like objects in one space makes for a striking and strong display, but a grouping of like objects dispersed around a whole room? That can look a little crazy.) “In this home, where gallery walls display the homeowner’s plein air paintings, an antique drop front desk provides a handy work surface for a home office while the glass front cabinet contains a collection of native American artifacts,” says Mann.

"Think about the interiors of your storage too," Kirschner says. "So many home offices get cluttered simply because there isn’t a place for 'stuff' to live." In a home office designed by Stacey Cohen, file drawers and a pull-out printer cabinet make for a clutter-free space. Wall-mounted drawers, like the ones shown here, can be bought separately and grouped together or stacked for hidden storage.