Turn a Neglected Corner Into a Home Office

Here is my little corner in our dining room. It's a small space, but I am going to show you how to make it a highly functional office workspace! Plus, I didn't spend much money at all! With the way the world is right now, many people are finding themselves working and schooling from home. This situation can leave folks looking at their living space and finding that it is coming up short. Even without major life changes, sometimes we have new circumstances or new opportunities that leave us needing another workspace. Turning a corner into a home office might be just what you need!

In case you don't know this already, we have a large family. There are 12 of us living here. We have a 2700 sq ft house with no basement. Two years ago, we put up our Red Metal Barn. This gave us some much-needed storage and gathering space. Our older boys will sometimes do schoolwork up there, but mostly we work in the house. Our hope is to add on to our home in the next five years. Until then, I am going to rework our spaces and make the most of them!I had two relatively empty corners in our house. Corners...that's it. No hidden rooms or big closets to convert, just a couple of small corners! Guess what though? It's working!

How Much Space Do You Need for a Home Office?

Believe it or not, you don't need a very big corner to create a workspace. This desk is 34.5" wide by 22" deep x 42" tall. It just fits in this little dining room corner.Our dining room is not huge by any stretch. It is 11 x 15 and our 9.5' table takes up most of the space. My husband built a shallow cabinet years ago for our homeschool supplies. You can see that on the left in the picture above this one.

What kind of Desk for a Home Office?

I love old furniture, so I scoured Craigslist and Marketplace for a desk. We live in the middle of nowhere, so finding deals close by can be a challenge. This desk showed up one day for $100, and it was fairly close by. I snatched it up with the intention of painting it. I haven't gotten around to painting it yet, but I don't hate it as it, so it stays for now. The whole room is a bit orange for my liking right now, but I can live with it. I was thinking of a dark charcoal color? What color would you paint it? What I like about this desk is that it fits perfectly in the space. It has a roll-top that I can close if it gets a bit messy. There are little nooks for stamps, stationery, and planners. My husband drilled a couple of holes in the back so laptops and tablets can be plugged in here when they are not in use. The desk also has a drawer for pens and other supplies.

Use Your Walls for Organization

I got this wall hanging mail sorter from Decor Steals years ago. It is very cute, however, the pockets are not quite as deep as I would have liked. I use it to store chalk and it can be used for letters. In the past, I had a children's chore system where they each had their own little chore pack. This worked well for storing those when they weren't using them. On top of the desk are two mail sorters or charging stations. We made these from scrap flooring. I have a tutorial for that here on Hometalk.

Change Out Your Outlets

One of the most helpful things we did was change out the outlet near the desk. The tablets needed USB plugs and we needed two regular plugs for the laptops. My husband changed out the two plug outlet for a four plug with USB ports. This is so much better than having all of the charging bricks sticking out of the wall. I will be posting a full tutorial on how to do this soon.

A Comfortable Office Chair

This is the second little corner that I have turned into an office space. This is where we do computer work. Since I opened my Etsy shop, I have been spending way more time at the computer before my kids get up. I had a random chair plopped in front of the desk. I soon found that my back was killing me every day. My husband suggested that it might be the chair I was using. So, I bought a proper rolling desk chair. I like this one pretty well. It is very pretty and it's comfortable. The finish on it is not stellar though, I wish it was darker and smoother, it feels a bit rough. I really like the lines of it, so I may refinish the wood on it. Best of all, my back isn't hurting anymore!

Inspired to Convert a Corner into a Home Office?

I hope this inspired you to look around your house and see if you can make something work. I have often dreamed of having a dedicated office space for paying bills and working. Turns out, I had it all along, I just needed to look closely! Hope your New Year is off to a good start!

Check out this post on my blog, I have lots of links for great office items! HometalkWinterContest