New Uses for an Old Closet — The Home Office

Not all of us have the space to have a whole room devoted to a home office, but if you’ve got a closet you’re not using actively, then today’s tip will show you everything you need to fake it. What’s great about this clever idea is it will work in any size closet whether you can fit a full size desk, buying an Elfa type system, or just using a shelf to place your computer. The key to making it look custom and more than an afterthought is to line the closet with wall paper like the photo on the left, or sprucing up the back wall with a bright color you wouldn’t mind staring at while you work.

If you’re a Classic, Fun or Smart we recommend keeping those doors on as what’s better than being able to close the door on a particularly messy bit of real estate? We think curtains are best for Organics, kind of a softer version of doors that might tend to stay open all the time anyway except when the mess is bugging you. It’s ironic that the personality types who are most fastidious about keeping their desk cleans are the ones who would most cherish the doors. And yes, those personality types would be Classics and Funs.

And yes we know there are Organics and Smarts who can get JUST as fastidious if it’s very important to them, so go for it, take off those doors, just, y’know keep them in the basement in case, well things don’t go how you envision them!

Originally published September 8, 2011.