Lola
- Jan 8, 2021
- 3 min read

How To Design and Decorate a Home Office

What should a home office have? How to make the space look nicer? Learn the Interior Design trick to give a space a 'finished' look. Zoom background planning. Dedicated home office rooms and small spaces ideas, as the new Cloffice (closet-office).

Last year has left for sure an imprint in many things, and home design is certainly one of them.

As one of the top Interior Design trends for 2021, a home office is now a must-have space in every household, not as something temporary pulled together but as a new space that needs to be designed.

The need of planning for a functional and cheerful space, where we spend a big deal of time every day, seems greater than before.

What should a home office have?

Basically, when designing any working space you should always consider adding these items:

a desk
a good chair
storage
room and task lighting
access to electrical outlets (for charging devices and task lights)

How to make it look nice

Everyone gets the basic functional needs, but how do you design an attractive space?

The best Interior Design trick to give shape to a space is to manage carrying the eye from the floor to the ceiling.

This means that you need something on the wall above the desk.

A tall desk, like the one in the first picture below, would do the trick. Shelves or a window above the desk can work too.

Credit: West Elm | Mark Heywood | The Shade Store

This will always make any space look better. In any picture that you find of a space that looks 'finished', you can see the trick in action: your eye carries easily from the floor to the ceiling.

It is mind-blowing because it's so easy to see once you know about it!

Also, to achieve balance in the whole room, the eye needs to continue being carried to the opposite wall.

If you are interested in identifying the axis and giving balance to a room, you can read more of this on the blog post 'How to give a room a designer feel'.

Gallery walls can be a great help filling that space, as they take exactly the shape and space that you need.

If that is the way you are going, check out this blog post where you can see specific information about how to design your own, measures you need to take into consideration, the space' shape, where to buy art, and how picture lights can upgrade the look.

Notice that this desk is not against the wall but facing the front door.

This configuration is particularly nice -if you have room for it- and gives the whole office a different character, especially with the moody paint (another Interior Design trend for 2021).

Credit: Futurist Architecture | Town Line Wallpaper & Paint Inc.

Another feature to note is that when placing the desk not against a wall, using a rug helps to define the space.

The Zoom background

Near the beginning of quarantine, my husband was working from home in our guest room-office and I was struggling with his messy Zoom background (a Murphy bed with an old overstuffed bookshelf).

We got some IKEA bookshelves and with research, were able to accommodate all of our books much nicely and put together a pretty good bookshelf backdrop for his calls.

Today, planing your video calls background is part of the functionality of the space.

Here are some tips from Fast Company:

Give priority to a solid background with larger art or wallpaper that is not too hectic with patterns.
Avoid doorways if possible (to prevent accidental guest appearances)
Add plants to cheer up the space

Small spaces ideas

Have you heard the word Cloffice yet? It's one of the most searched terms on Pinterest these days.

A Cloffice is an office in a closet and comes as a genius alternative for small spaces. They look pretty good. You can check out their DIY solution here.