4 Ways to Maximize Space In a Small Home Office: Ideas and Design Tricks

There is always a way to fit in a home office space. Have you seen a home office fitted into a closet? Did you know that using a mirror can help make a space feel larger?

Here are small home office ideas that will help you create a great space to work in.

1. Creative Locations For Your Home Office Space

If you have a small room in mind for your home office, then you can skip this part. Here are just some creative ways you can fit a home office into your home:

See if you can clear out a closet that you don’t really need. This might sound strange, but a closet is a pretty effective way of creating a home office. You can check out the post I wrote on how to do this here: Creating a Workspace at Home: Closet Office Ideas
The bedroom is not the best place to have a home office if you can avoid it. You want your bedroom to be a relaxing, stress free space. And this is hard to do with your work on a desk nearby. But there are some ways to get around this. For example you could create a DIY room divider (use curtains, or a bookshelf) to hide the home office space when you are done for the day. Have a look at my post here for more bedroom home office ideas: Bedroom Home Office Ideas, Tips, and Designs.
And for ideas on how to create a home office in the basement, have a look at my post here: Ideas for Turning a Basement Space Into a Home Office

2. Creating Desk Space

The desk is the first thing to tackle in a small home office. Depending on your home office layout, you might need a corner L shaped desk, a thin desk, or a fold up desk. You might get lucky and be able to buy the right size/shaped desk at somewhere like IKEA. Or you might need to get all DIY, and build your own desk to make the most use of your small space.

DIYing your own desk doesn’t have to be a complicated and grand endevour. You simply need the right sized table top, and a way to prop it up. Most hardware stores (like Home Depot) will cut a sheet of plywood to your custom measurements. An old door, nailing pallet boards, or reclaimed wood can also be used as a tabletop. An old surfboard also works.

For more ideas and pictures, have a look at my post here: DIY Desk Ideas

When it comes to the legs of the desk, you could go with hairpin legs from Amazon or desk legs from IKEA. You could also build your own out of 2x4s. Or how about getting two draw units, or small filing cabinets that you could use as a base for your desk.

3. Design Tricks to Make Your Home Office Space Feel Larger.

Color Choice: Painting and decorating your home office with light colors will make your home office feel larger. Go with white, mint, or light grey.

Then again if you want to create a cozy feeling home office, look for a dark color to decorate your space.

Color Style Guide: Black Home Office Ideas

Lighting: You’ll want to have your small home office space well lit. Try to have all of the corners in the room brightly lit, as this will make the space feel larger. A modern home office design will use recessed lights, as these are fitted into the ceiling hiding the light fixtures.

If you don’t plan on doing any remodeling, just make sure you have a bright desk lamp. If you are really limited on space, you can find desk lamps that clamp to the desk freeing up desktop space (you can get one in the Amazon window above).

And add some floor lamps if you have space, if not put another lamp on a shelf.

Mirror and Glossy Surfaces: See if you can hang up a mirror in your small home office. A mirror makes a space feel larger because not only does it create the illusion of more space, but the light bounces off of it making the room feel larger.

The same applies to using glossy surfaces. If you have cabinets, repaint them with glossy paint. Or if you are getting a desk, look for a top with a glossy surface. Or better yet, use glass – as this also makes a space feel larger.

One Large Decor Piece: In a home office, it is ideal to have a mini gallery wall of inspirational framed art and design pieces. But if you really want to make the room feel more spacious, it is best to hang up one large framed piece – as this creates a less cluttered and more streamlined look.

4. Storage Ideas For a Small Home Office

When it comes to storage for small rooms, you’ll want to make the most use of your walls. This means having shelving going all the way up the walls.

Some other creative ways of adding storage space to a small room include:

Hang a shelf above the door frame
Using over the door hangers and organizers. These can be put over the door to the room, or over any closet doors
Use the inside of your closet doors – screw in some hooks or railings

If you need to store anything out in the open, try and get good looking containers. This way your storage pieces also act as decor pieces in the room. Some examples of good looking storage containers include: