How to Plan Your Office on a Budget
While I wait patiently for my contractors to begin the next jobs at my house, I thought I’d share some of my affordable office furniture ideas with you. We’ll use my own office (pre-pandemic) as our case study. While this was a commercial space, the ideas I’m about to share can be adapted to your home just as easily.
By the time I moved to this new space, my husband and I were preparing to move to our new home in another city. I was already slowing down my design practice in order to focus my attention on my DIY Courses. Because of this shift, I no longer had employees.
This new office was approx. 500 square feet but because the ceiling was 9’ and the walls were “open concept”, the possibilities of visually expanding the space were very good. Here’s how it looked when I first took over the space. Just a big open L-Shaped room. Also, it was very dark.
(That’s my landlord and also our very good friend.)
The first order of business was to PAINT! And if you know me at all by now, you know my favorite white is Ben Moore Swiss Coffee OC-45. I painted all but the back wall Swiss Coffee. For the back wall, I used an accent color I custom mixed. It’s a very light greenish/gray. When you use an accent color in the rear of the room, it draws your eye and invites you into the room.
I also wanted to play upon the gorgeous, polished concrete floor so I decided to go with a style that definitely leaned toward mid-century modern. At the same time, I needed to use the furniture I already had. So, with the exception of two new rugs, everything was repurposed from my previous office space.
You also probably know that I LOVE SketchUp to draw in 3D. Here’s my space plan to give you an idea of how I broke up the zones.
To check my plan, I always add a 3D person at the correct height and try to look at the room as if I’m standing in it. Here’s a couple of examples. Not too fancy but it does the trick.
Here are the after photos. I’ve noted where these affordable office furnishings came from. =0)
You may recognize some of these things in my new house and in my videos now that I’ve moved. I always try to buy things I know I can use elsewhere later on.
That’s it for now. Thanks for tagging along and I’ll write again soon. At the house, we’re gearing up to do the LR/DR moldings, new doors, hall cabinet, window treatments, and a little more paint. 😬
Want to learn how to DIY Design your own home? Check out my guides over in the DIY Outlet !
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