Office Design – How I planned out a Functional and Beautiful Space!

One thing I think you guys already know about me is that functionality rules in my household. So, when it came to working on my office design that was totally #1. My office had to FUNCTION and function WELL because I was going to be spending a lot of my time in it. So to me the first thing of course is the desk. I needed something to put my computer on lol

In my case it ended up working out that I had this old kitchen table I refinished years ago that my Grandparents’ left to me. It is, of course, not a real desk and not necessarily ideal.

I admit I’ve spent way too much time just drooling over the collection of desks that Lionshome has featured.

OMG those writing desks though…

Every good office design starts with the desk and the desk is totally determined by the size of the room and what needs to be on top of it.

From there comes the chair (at least in my opinion) my bottom is going to be spending a HUGE amount of time in that chair so its gotta be a good one.

After finding the banker’s chair of my dreams it became immediately apparent that I needed some cushions. Guess what got added to my DIY list?

In the meantime I’m making do with cushions off of my couch from my living room lol.

I’m not much of seamstress so I admit that that item I am totally procrastinating on…

The majority of my home is a mish mash of hand me downs and a few thrift store pieces. Figuring out how to design my home to look like a beautiful old farmhouse as opposed to a thrift store has been a challenge!

Besides the functionality factor after that I’ve worked hard to get my spaces looking deliberate in their own way. I call it: Updated Grandma’s House!

One big trick I’ve found (to avoiding the whole I live in a thrift store look) is keeping my surfaces as clean and empty as possible.

I’m a minimalist (there is nothing like clutter to absolutely drive me crazy) so this trick comes pretty naturally to me.

It is also a trick essential in my mind to an office design that inspires creativity and the ability to work in it. Nothing slows me down faster then a cluttered home, it makes it impossible for me to move forward with a new project and just plain makes me crabby.

Of course keeping my surfaces empty is more of an eternal goal than something I ALWAYS maintain.

After a busy couple of weekends and my day job I’ll come home and just shake my head at myself. Sometimes all my house requires is price tags to feeling like I’m FOR REAL walking into a thrift store.

Lately this has been worse than ever because this summer I devoted to outside projects so my workshop has been on hold. So, that means, my tools are in boxes and they are ALWAYS MISSING.

So I end up with a dining room table covered in tools because, once I find them, I don’t want to lose them again!

And my dining room table sits right across from my desk, directly in my line of sight from my office chair. I’m becoming suspicious that I designed my office space this way so I’ll clean off my dining room table as quickly as possible lol.

I also like some GREEN things in any space not just in an office. Living plants add charm, character and beauty all on their own. In this case I’ve got the big plant on the table between my rocking chairs as well as a little succulent I haven’t killed yet that I keep in an old milk glass bowl my aunt gave me.

My three keys to the perfect office design: Function, Comfort and Lack of Clutter.

(This post was in collaboration with LIONSHOME.)