The Compact Home Office: Revisited

In this age of mobility, with laptops, smartphones and online access wherever we go, it is vital that we have a space away from our offices where we can work. Whether you’re a work-a-holic, or just need to send a quick email, its great to have a home office to access and focus completely on the job at hand. The trouble is, with the majority of us being city dwellers, our urban homes don’t always come with that extra office-space square-footage.

Back in October, the Kia Designs team visited Decorex (among many other Design Fairs!). We discovered a number of great new products that help to create that ideal home office, without breaking the bank or the need to extend.These were perfect for a project that we were working on at the time, and are now towards the end of completion! See below some of the great products we found, and how we accommodated a compact home office into our design.

Compact Home Office Products

Hartô presented their beautiful Wall Secretary Desk Gaston, which we all absolutely fell in love with! Its made of MDF and Plywood, veneered in luxurious oak, with matt painted draws in a range of fun colours. Its curved edges and simplicity makes it sophisticated enough to appeal as the perfect compact home office. But its quirky and fun assortment of colours from grey to yellow means it would also look great as a kids study or homework station!

At 569.00€/£507.55 it might not be in everyone’s budget. So we had a bit of fun looking for some other unique ways to get that needed work space into your home. Here are a few alternatives that might get your creative juices flowing, just what you need to get you through that writer’s block…

Hartô’s solution to the Compact Home Office

Made.com have their own take on the Compact Wall Desk, just as stylish and cute but comes in a little cheaper at around £150. The ultimate space saver, and beautiful paired with a colourful stool or pouf.

Cute and Compact, made with Ash Veneered Plywood

And if you’d prefer something a little more desk-like, Swoon’s Jakob desk in Mango wood and Aged-Steel offers another great space saving solution that neither breaks the bank or compromises on style.

Mango Wood and Aged-Steel

Our Compact Home Office Design

We are currently working on a project in Wimbledon that is very nearly ready to hand back over to the clients for them to enjoy their new home. The project incorporates lots of deep forest-y hues mixed with etherial and mystic lilacs and sages. We’ve used paint to its maximum potential, contrasting these colours in each room, and using them to zone sections in each space. This is extremely successful in the compact home office area in the Master Bedroom. The bijoux flat has a generous living space and bedrooms, but not much extra space to slot a home office area in, so the compact home office from Made.com offers a perfect solution to the client’s work station needs.

The small wall mounted desk is the perfect size for this area: its ability to easily fold away allows for great clearance in the walkway into the bedroom, whilst the painted section prompts a clear distinction between work and relaxation areas.

Stay tuned for images of the completed project, which will be coming in the next couple of months!