Home office styles you can cop

Looking for home office styles you can cop for your own workspace at home? Last week, I shared a photo of my messy new office on Instagram. For years I was working in a tiny room right next to my kids’ nurseries. It was ideal because it provided a very low overhead for my new ID business, and allowed me to “spend time” with my kid (now kids).

But as my business grew and I needed to give it more focus, I realized that I had to move out of the house. While I loved the “distractions”—my babies wandering into the room, shouting new words they had picked up, or telling me things they had seen while playing with the neighbors next door; or simply just hearing their little voices squealing or laughing in my immediate vicinity—I couldn’t put in as much work as I needed to do. This made it difficult for me to compartmentalize: Work hours would often stretch as long as I needed to, because work was just in the room above my bedroom anyway.

My new HQ is just a space I carved out of my husband’s old house, which is currently unused space, after having been a restaurant and a gym at one point.
 
That said, I know how vital the home office is, especially when there really is no option to leave the kids with someone else, or you are just starting out and need to limit your business costs. Realistically speaking, all one needs is a comfortable table and chair, great internet connection, a good working laptop, and adequate lighting. But I speak from experience when I say that working in an environment that inspires you can greatly improve your productivity, and help you create quality output.

Check out these home offices that I’ve done or styled or shot through the years; see if you find inspiration in them to execute in your own home office.

Vintage items with refurbished materials

This makeshift “office”/study corner was featured in Working Mom magazine, when we demonstrated how you can create your own workspace even with minimal room and furnishings. The barstool is a hand-me-down, while the counter-type desk is actually made from recycled narra floor boards mounted on DIY brackets.

Repurposed console in an under-stairs nook

This is actually in my house’s living area, when, one time, I considered working there so that I could also help manage the household, supervise my kids, and work from the most central room of the house (instead of being ensconced way up on the third floor, out of sight, out of reach).

Filipiniana-style mini-library

My mom’s home office is a dream—She had a wall-hung desk and drawers custom-made, and shelves to display her books and a variety of tchotchkes.

She wanted it in the same style as the rest of the house—Contemporary Filipiniana—so she bought carved wooden brackets for the shelves and looked high and low for matching molding which she incorporated into her cabinet doors. 

She also had locks made into the drawers and a pullout keyboard drawer, so that she can secure her office valuables as well as maximize on desktop space.

Cafe-style roofdeck turned home office

One of my very first projects was a roofdeck that we converted into a home office. This was the conference area of the rooftop workroom. I wrote more about this home office in this blog post: https://bit.ly/2DJw8Sl

Ikea-inspired study nook

We came up with this simple and neat workspace at the Furniture Source showroom in Santolan Town Plaza using pieces from Ikea. Used here is the Micke personal desk, Scandi chair, vertical Lack shelves, and the Forsa work lamp.

Minimalist bedroom turned makeup studio

My best friend—who is also a makeup artist—converted her spacious, light-filled bedroom into an office-cum-studio, where her clients can do trial makeup sessions.

I wrote more about this office/makeup studio here: https://bit.ly/2TTk7AS

She didn’t have to buy so many plants for her makeup studio, because they had plenty of good-looking ones from their garden. We simply layered them on a white step ladder as she wanted them in one light-filled corner of the room.

To keep her hand-me-down desk from looking cluttered, we corralled the very few items on it with this gold tray from H&M Home.

Black and white photos above the bar-height makeup table make for some neutral inspo.

Bedroom office with travel-inspired corner

I once styled the bedroom and home office of Paula Pangan, my former art director at Cosmopolitan Philippines. She already had great style to begin with, which I just punctuated with a few more items that add more texture to her eclectic space.

Paula got these vintage-style travel posters from online and she had them color-printed so she could tape them up on one corner of her bedroom.

 
Want more home office inspiration? Head over to my Pinterest board devoted solely for that. I realized lately that I’m drawn to transitional style rooms, and home offices with beautifully designed shelves. How about you? What kind of home office are you drawn to?