Britain's newly tightened-up employment rights law is ushering in a new working culture, and hot on its heels is the growing popularity of home working and, thus, a surge of beautifully designed, productivity-optimised WFH spaces. To accurately replicate the types of studies that rise to the top of social media algorithms and magazines, first comes a proper understanding of home office layouts.
Contrary to many assumptions, it takes a lot more effort than ordering a handful of expensive pieces from a catalogue and calling it a day. Underlying the home office interiors that captivate us the most is a careful attention to spatial design and flow, not to mention how light behaves within the confines of the workspace.
Get things right, and it’ll bring untold comfort, a mindful environment that keeps you in the sweet spot between relaxed and switched on. To replicate the magic in your own home, pay close attention to the advice I lay out below.
Contents:
· 11 Surefire Home Office Layout Ideas
Outlining Your Needs
Any half-decent home improvement project starts with your needs and objectives. Take a moment to ponder where your priorities lie: a quiet space with next to no distractions or something a little more stimulating to kindle your creative energies?
Perhaps a joint WFH hub shared by your spouse? Here, you’ve got to expertly balance both parties’ requirements, which takes a healthy dose of introspection and some patience as you plan around the two desk setups.
With more practical requirements – by that, I mean activities extending beyond answering emails, keyboard mashing, and the odd marathon Zoom meeting – you might need additional floorspace, better quality natural light, clever storage solutions, or something truly niche.
Ask a professional voice actor or podcast host, and they’re likely exerting a lot of brain power on their walls to dampen the sound. Meanwhile, a social media manager is probably preoccupied with the ambient illumination and where to set up their tripod and ring light. Me? When designing my own office, I deliberately left a spot for the yoga mat for mid-admin stretching.
Types of Home Office
Following the logic that we all have different requirements, we also have different baselines to work from. Canvases, if you will.
So, here are a few specific points with regard to the different types of offices you might be outfitting: regular studies, temporary desk space, multi-purpose rooms, and garden offices.
The Classic Home Office
A bog standard home office – maybe previously the spare room or a general dumping ground – but now your dedicated personal workspace. Here, you have full rein of the aesthetic, which at the outset can feel incredibly daunting, but I’d say it’s a serious opportunity to cash in on the productivity gains.
Pick colour palettes that promote wellness and creativity; don’t rush the lighting design; orient the room around what’s most practical, most ergonomic. As I’ll discuss later, the direction of sunlight penetrating the windows is a central concern, especially important to art studios and social media filming backdrops.
On the upside, since you have an entire room to your disposal, you can afford to be more playful with your choice of office furniture, be it a huge writing desk, bespoke shelving units, a breakout section for sofaside meetings, or even a mini coffee station!
Temporary WFH Desk Space
Sometimes working from home is very sporadic; I’m talking about those once in a blue moon days where you don’t have any physical meetings booked in or a quiet afternoon spent at the kitchen table.
Yes, in this instance, you might not need a dedicated office space, just a flat surface to plonk the laptop and an appropriate seat to settle into. Here, a kitchen island with a tall-backed stool might pose the solution, but equally, a plush armchair and an adequately sized side table might do the trick.
Follow the golden rule – your screen’s top at eye level and, ideally, an arm’s length away – and you’re good to go. Throw in a laptop stand if you’re lacking here.
Multi-Use Office Rooms
Multipurpose rooms are a whole other ball game; there’s that pesky juggling act between fitting in all your essential equipment and furnishings without taking over the space. Really, you can’t afford to be too picky.
Obviously, clever storage is key, but room dividers would be my number one rabbit hole to explore. It’s an effortless way to keep zones snug yet separate, plus a touch of concealment prevents work from taking up too much real estate in your brain whilst you unwind in the same room.
After the full scoop? I’m giving you permission to come back to this blog later and hop over to my previous article on these multifunctional spaces.
Garden Offices
Consider me jealous. If you’re lucky enough to have a garden office, you’ll have a slightly different set of priorities still. As I explored in previous garden office ideas, things like WiFi boosters, your garden view, and the size of your shed office will all dictate which home office layouts are best for your purposes.
How Much Space Do You Need?
Weighing up all of the considerations mentioned thus far, it’s time to start planning your home office layouts. Grab a pen and notebook, or log into a free architect-style room planner. Let’s kick things off.
Desk Size
The size of your desk is central to your overall office layout, naturally. Its surface area sets the scope for your screens, tabletop storage, and the level of comfort you experience 9-5 – this is before I even mention the possibilities for accessories and task lighting.
Of course, there’s not a single ‘right way’ of doing things. Nonetheless, here are some measurements widely considered optimal:
· 1m in length is suitable for one small screen or analogue note-taking
· 1.6m long is roughly the minimum for a pair of standard monitors
· As for the width, 80cm is the smallest you can go without inviting eye strain and discomfort
· Standard height sits at around 74cm, although adjustable options will allow you to tailor this to your liking
Clearance & Obstacles
In terms of clearance, 60cm is usually the comfortable minimum behind chairs, although if you’re sitting on a desk chair with roller wheels, realistically, you’ll want more to avoid collisions.
Similarly, depending on the type of desk, you might want to consider how much space to leave on either side, so you don’t feel hemmed in with furniture, although it’s not a necessity. We all have our preferences!
What I will say, though, is that you need to keep your walkways clear. Especially in multipurpose offices/spare rooms, your workspace mustn’t cause holdups and inconvenience for the other users of the space.
For example, if you have two desks positioned on adjoining walls, the desk chairs are likely going to cross paths. Worse still, if one is beside a door that opens inwardly. Although not quite as aesthetic, a side-by-side home office layout is more practical here.
Storage Solutions
If you live in a pint-sized property or a boxy new build, storage is probably the bane of your existence – we’ve all been there! Luckily, there are many clever space-savers out there to save the day.
· Desks with inbuilt drawers, cupboards, shelving and hidden compartments – bonus points for foldaway Murphy or ladder desks
· Open shelving for box files, stationery holders, speakers, anything you want off your desk really
· Corner bookcases and cabinets
· Storage trunks or banquettes with hidden hatches underneath
· Wall sconces, rather than table lamps, to save on desk space
· Flexible pieces like nesting coffee tables and footstools, which can be easily shuffled about
· Cable ties and organisers to rid the workstation of visual clutter
· And many, many more…
Surefire Home Office Layout Ideas
With all the fundamentals covered, you can consider yourself well on the way to becoming a home office layout pro. With my insights, understanding how and why the examples below work so well.
Reclaim Corners with an L-Shaped Layout
Corners left untouched are essentially dead space. I covered this in our L-shaped lounge guide, but it’s no less true for a home office. Here, you could integrate two desks around the corner of the ‘L’, provided there are no doors to get in the way; if there are, this is a good time to consider flipping them on their hinges. Even folding doors will win you back the inches.
If this sounds too inconvenient, or you’re furnishing a study room for one, perhaps a corner desk is in order. Slotting snugly into the nook, you’ll get a natural sense of enclosure to keep things cosy and zone off the space in otherwise open plan interiors.
Linear Side-By-Side Workstations
Side-by-side workstations are a great option in long, narrow rooms where placing desks/a desk and storage pieces on opposing walls just isn’t feasible. In a standalone office room, you could have two desks side by side; treat the layout similar to a galley kitchen, breaking up monotonous runs of surface space with vertical storage pieces or a large indoor plant, like a monstera or a fiddle leaf.
In multi-use spaces, you could install a long, broad bookcase under some overhead units as a makeshift workspace for a laptop. When it’s leisure time, you can relocate the stool and the area becomes just a bookish part of the interior.
Island Writing Desk (Central Layout)
In a dedicated study room, placing a hefty writing desk in the central spot allows the piece to command attention (as it should). Position the ‘big light’ above as a natural embellishment: I’m thinking a plant-like, sculptural pendant in an airy room or something with a simplistic silhouette to complement a traditional décor. You could even experiment with ceiling moulding. Then position a large rug to delineate the working zone. The result: a well-defined office, which can be easily navigated and easily kept clutter-free.
A Broken Plan Home Office Zone
Open plan spaces call for a very specific strategy, something interior designers are now calling ‘broken plan’. Fortunately, this is something anyone can grasp: simply carve out zones with clusters of furniture that enclose smaller portions of the room. The aim is to restrict sight lines just by a smidge, so you get the best of both worlds: a cosy defined spot and an overall spacious feel.
In an office, take the opportunity to squirrel away clutter by gently hemming in the desk with bookcases, storage units, open shelving, indoor plants and even partition screens. Root the desk area in place with a floor lamp, wall art, textured rugs and wall sconces; you’ll be surprised at how these simple details, together, build a much more textured, lived-in appeal.
Window-Facing Layout
Like every home office layout idea, this one brings a handful of pros and cons in tow. First, the pros: positioning your desk towards the outdoor view is a natural reprieve from the monotony and an opportunity to reduce eye strain as you gaze into the distance.
Unfortunately, depending on the direction of the room and the level of surrounding greenery/ building cover, the benefits are often paired with screen glare. That said, this is nothing a pair of sheer curtains or roman blinds can’t fix.
Flexible Fold-Out Workstations
Who needs a full room layout plan when you could pull out a desk and tuck it away the moment you clock out?
Completely unobtrusive, numerous designs exist to expand your WFH latitude without compromising the aesthetics or functionality of your living spaces, many offering Tardis-like proportions. There’s the classic Murphy desk, which folds out from the wall, and then more sophisticated options that conceal a drop-down desk surface within an attractive sideboard.
Peninsula Layout
Another innovative home office layout I’d like to point you towards is the peninsula desk. Packing in tons of storage space into a relatively small footprint, you get a nifty combination of vertical shelving attached to a flat desk surface. One of the major pluses is that, because it’s not shoved up against a wall, you benefit from drawers on both sides and, of course, it provides a lovely, streamlined appearance.
U-Shaped Work Zones
High focus, low clutter, a U-shaped desk setup could be your ticket towards a more productive work life, especially if you’re reaching for files, notepads, drawing tablets, recording equipment, etc. at any given moment. It’s also one of the best options for users of multiple monitors.
Here, I’d recommend putting the primary monitor in the centre and utilising corner units to bridge those surfaces. Also, don’t forget what I said earlier about clearance – be sure to allow enough room to comfortably spin around on your desk chair.
Office Nooks (In Alcoves, Corners, Window Bays)
Whether the living room of a Victorian terrace, a countryside cottage bedroom, or just a modern property with the odd alcove, these otherwise tricky recesses are a natural spot to place a small diskspace for occasional WFH use.
As a furniture specialist, I’d recommend prioritising the seating here. Implement something with optimal lumbar support, so a tall back and firm yet soft cushioning; angle for rich, indulgent materials like real leather or wool; consider wide armrests; and be sure to pick a size compatible with the height of the tabletop. I’d recommend our leather office chairs in a heartbeat, but there’s also a wealth of armchair designs to wade through, too. Definitely take your time!
Dual-Zone Layout (Workspace + Lounge)
Dual-zoning is great in larger L-shaped spaces, but it also works a treat in broader rectangular rooms. Simply split the floor into a duo, which you will use for the two main spaces: a dedicated workspace and then a place to chill out when the day’s grind is done.
An instinctive way to zone the space is to use a long sofa, perpendicular to a wall to act as a soft divider, or you could pop the seating back-to-back with your desk or console. This latter tip is great when there’s limited breadth, since floating the furniture away from the wall helps ward off that cramped feeling.
Closet Office – AKA the Cloffice
When space is seriously at a premium – in other words, even a regular desk setup won’t squeeze into the room – creativity needs to take centre stage. In these instances, I’d recommend looking into the nifty ‘cloffice’.
A portmanteau of closet and office, they’re essentially a built-in desk hidden behind a wardrobe door, and more importantly, a powerful space saver. If you have a Victorian or Edwardian property stuffed full of nooks, crannies and alcoves, or just a walk-in wardrobe gathering dust, I couldn’t recommend them enough!
Final Thoughts: An Intentional Office Layout = A Liveable Space
Ultimately, your home office layout is the mastermind behind the flow, comfort, usability and broader aesthetic of the space. So you really can’t scrimp on the planning.
Keep your measurements sharp, your desk setup ergonomic, and invest a good deal of time into the lighting; together, they’ll amalgamate into a practical, productive office you’ll actually appreciate day to day.
Get these elements down, and then you can move towards the more glamorous stage – picking out your office furniture.
