Small Home Office Ideas and Where to Get Them

After Covid-19, working from home has become a reality for many people. Even if you have to schlep to the office for some days, chances are you already have a rudimentary home office setup, especially if you have a hybrid work schedule. However, working from home doesn’t mean that you need to constantly keep moving your laptop from table to table, trying to carve out a place to focus on your to-do list and work! That’s when we began researching small home office ideas, and we were honestly surprised by the sheer number of ideas on the internet. Just because it’s a small home office doesn’t mean that it can’t be enjoyable, efficient, and a space you actually love heading to work.

Moreover, compact home offices can be anywhere, whether it’s in the bedroom, the living room, the dining space, or even a separate space. From layout, storage, rugs, and plants to lighting, wallpaper, and furniture, check out these amazing ideas for small office ideas at your crash pad.

Kazeila 6 Ft Artificial Olive Tree Faux Silk Plant

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Best mood-boosting accent. Office-friendly plants are a fantastic way of creating a mood-boosting atmosphere. They don’t have to be real plants; even artificial ones make for a fantastic friendly presence without overwhelming even a small office space. Plus, it will end up giving new life and greenery to your home office. If that isn’t enough, it will even help in visually dividing the space, especially if your home office setup has other elements like a daybed, etc.

One of the best additions could be this Kazeila 6 ft. Artificial Olive Tree Tall Faux Silk Plant. With a trunk made from natural wood, this beautiful artificial olive tree features lifelike fruits and leaves, making for a tropical atmosphere. What’s more, it was super easy to maintain, needing no fertilizer, pruning, or watering — just regular dusting. Since they came pre-assembled in heavy-duty concrete/plastic pots, each tree could stand easily on its own. Finally, the moderate size made it not too big nor too small, just right for our home office.

Delma Wall Mirror

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Best space-expanding accent. One of the niftiest additions to a home office can be a mirror. Mirrors not only bounce the light and make a place more naturally brightly lit but also end up doubling the views, making a space seem more expansive than it actually is. In fact, mirrors even made for a harmonious feel to our home workspace, which is why we chose the Delma Wall Mirror. This tall frameless floor mirror is designed from HD float glass, making it more durable and offering a much better reflection. What’s more, the mirror’s edge was frosted, which made it all the more secure.

While it could lean up against the back wall for a casual look, we decided to use the included powerful double-sided stickers, which were very easy to use to hang the mirror on the wall. In fact, if the window faces the back of your work desk, having the mirror in front is a great way to catch the light and view from behind you without having to turn back all the time.

Jdayda Foggy Forest Wallpaper

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Best wall element. Chances are that not all home offices will have natural light. For instance, some alcoves, space under the stairs, and basement home offices might not get natural light, thus making the space look smaller even during the day. Besides lighting, another thing to make the space look roomy, airier, and larger is having a light-colored wallpaper, which makes the space look expansive. Behold the utterly gorgeous Jdayda Foggy Forest Wallpaper, which will feel like the outdoors has been brought inside. This silk fabric mural boasts a highly detailed and clear pattern printing of a misty, foggy forest, with light, neutral hues perfectly complementing a dark space that gets no light.

Please note that these wallpapers come with specific installation steps, so make sure you follow them to the T.

G Keni 3400 Lumen Led Desk Lamp With Clock

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Best light fixture. One of the most transforming things for a small home office is good lighting. Even if your home workspace is flooded with natural light, task and ambient lights such as lamps, pendants, and sconces completely change the look of your home office. That’s why we chose the G Keni 3400 Lumen Led Desk Lamp with Clock, which we loved for more reasons than one. Firstly, it automatically adjusted the brightness with ambient light changes, ensuring that we had just enough light and not more or less when we worked. What’s more, the lampshade wouldn’t overheat either, besides 360-degree flexibility so we could enjoy the light from multiple angles. If that wasn’t enough, it came with five different LED lighting colors as well as brightness adjustment, catering to a wide range of people’s light preferences.

Sweetcrispy Small Office Desk Chair

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Best chair. Having a space-saving chair is imperative to making a small home office complete, considering chairs take up a good amount of foot space. That’s why we like ergonomic/task chairs, which have smaller, lighter designs than most office chairs, like the Sweetcrispy Small Office Desk Chair. This chair is designed to not only fit in small home office spaces but also without compromising comfort and promoting good posture. Since it’s an armless chair, it also fits easily under our desk, even more so because it comes with an adjustable height. Moreover, the chair even had a 360-degree swivel base with smooth-rolling casters that allowed for unrestricted movement. A high-density foam cushioning, a sturdy metal frame, and a BIFMA certification for durability and safety round up the features.

Also, check out the best ergonomic chairs for home office.

“The chair even came with an installation manual and video, allowing us to assemble it quickly within 5-10 minutes.”

Dizzzi

UD.houselife L-Shaped 360-Degree Rotating Desk With Storage

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Best desk. One of the most space-saving desks we’ve seen for small offices is the L-shaped desk, especially if there’s a true corner in your home office. What if we were to tell you that we found an L-shaped desk that can also be folded up? Behold the UD.houselife L-Shaped 360-Degree Rotating Desk With Storage, which is one of the best home office desks. The desk boasts a stylish yet unique rotating design, which means that we could simply fold the desk from a traditional one to an L-shaped one and back.

What’s more, the desk can be rotated 360 degrees, making it perfect for home offices that don’t have perfectly perpendicular corners. Besides a ton of surface area, the desk even had a push-open cabinet with a fixed shelf, making it one of the most spacious in-built storage we’d ever seen. All in all, this was a worthy contender for a desk in a small home office.

You might also want to look at the best small desks for home office.

Our Verdict!

Every element on this list is best for a small home office in some or the other way. We’ve listed them below.

• Best mood-boosting accent: Kazeila 6 Ft Artificial Olive Tree Faux Silk Plant
• Best space-expanding accent: Delma Wall Mirror
• Best wall accent: Jdayda Foggy Forest Wallpaper
• Best light fixture: G Keni 3400 Lumen Led Desk Lamp With Clock
• Best chair: Sweetcrispy Small Office Desk Chair
• Best desk: UD.houselife L-Shaped 360-Degree Rotating Desk With Storage

How To Choose The Best Ideas For Small Home Offices?

Utilizing overlooked spaces

One of the first things to remember while trying to design a small home office is looking for overlooked or underutilized spaces — and transforming them, if possible. For instance, if you live in an older home with a quirky layout, there could be many hidden spaces or alcoves that aren’t being used to their maximum. These could range from pass-through spaces, alcoves, and sunrooms to laundry rooms, garage spaces, and even attics. It’s one of the best ways to carve out a home office space from already existing margins in your home.

Expand Spaces

Small home offices shouldn’t look claustrophobic or cluttered. So, adding some design ideas is a great way to mentally expand the space. One of our favorite things to do in small spaces is add mirrors. This not only introduces a lot of natural light to the space as mirrors not only bounce light but also double the views.

Another trick is to paint the wall with horizontal stripes or introduce wallpaper that will make the room feel more spacious and wider. Keep it neutral like this space from Karen B Wolf Interiors for a calming feel. Just like with the mirrors, you could choose furniture made from transparent materials such as glass. It not only gives the space a light footprint but also makes it look larger due to the absence of solid walls and furniture.

Accessorize

Finally, accessorizing the small home office is very important to make it stand out as a creative space. This could be anything that inspires you, right from souvenirs, photographs, personal knickknacks, DIY mood boards, graphic patterns, and anything else.

What is the minimum space for a home office?

While there’s no standard answer, a separate home office (room) could start anywhere around 60 sq. ft. However, there are even smaller home office setups where you have just a desk and a board in front of you.

How do you organize a small home office?

Try and categorize all work supplies, organize files, sort all papers, label your wires, use a cable organizer, and always declutter your desk.

What is a cloffice?

A “cloffice” is, as you guessed it correctly, a home office space that’s been created from a small space, usually a closet. A combination of “closet” and “office,” it’s one of the most creative and widely-used home office setups.