Aqward Office... need layout/furniture HELP!

14 years ago

My garage (only part of it) was converted into living space by the previous homeowner. I use it as my office. It has the strangest layout ever!! I plan on selling the office stuff I have now and going back with something less expensive and something that will fit better in the space.

This is the layout of the room. All the orange boxes are doors and the blue is a window. The dotted line is where the garage has a slight difference in levels (not a flat floor).

Here are the pictures of the room (please excuse ALL the junk!)

This one is a view facing the back of the room. The window is on the far right.

This pic is facing the weird steps (dotted line on drawing)

This last pic is the right side of the room. The door is the exterior door that you see on the right of the drawing

If I sell all the office furniture and maybe (don't want to) the couch I have a blank slate. As you can see in the drawing though, it is narrow, the left side has the two closet doors which prevent really putting anything there and it has that stupid unlevel floor where the step is.

I am in DESPERATE need of help! The rest of my house is gorgeous but this stupid room I am lost in. It stays a mess b/c it is ugly and things don't function well in here.

Here are some of the things I found online that are do-able (money wise) with my husbands little bit of handy man skills.

We are selling all the office furniture and filing cabinets for almost $1,400. I would like to put a little bit of money back in my pocket (I'm selling b/c I need the money), but I also want a pretty office.

Please help with any layout or diy office solutions!!!

Comments (5)

les917
14 years ago
What do you need the office to do? Is this a daily workspace for 8 hours or more a day, or just a place where you do some work, some craft projects, and hang out when you want some alone time?

Do you need a lot of storage, a large work surface, a place to crash (the couch?)?

Does the window open, and is the view worthwhile, or could the window be hidden?

Do you want to keep the western theme?
mtcollins88
Original Author
14 years ago
This is a daily workspace and I do some crafts in here too.

I need a lot of storage (alot of it is in the closets), a large workspace isn't necessary. Really the large workspace just gets cluttered. The couch/chair is there for two reasons... I wanted to be able to put a tv in there and have an extra sitting type room in the house. The other reason is b/c I don't want to pay for storage, I love that couch, and it won't fit in my living room.

The window does open, but the view is covered by bushes so there really isn't much to see. It can be hidden it is just really tall.

The rest of my house is western. My office is probably the least western with all the furniture in it. It doesn't have to be all out... but at least tie in with the rest of the house.

Let me show you a few pics of the house so you can get my style...
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mtcollins88
Original Author
14 years ago
Any suggestions?
sunfeather
14 years ago
That's a good price for your furniture. You'll laugh but I'm looking for a piece like what you have on the left with the bookhelves. I'm having a hard time finding something on line. I've seen some cube bookcase/storage pieces that look good and seem easly for a handy person to make.

I'm sorry, I'm not help - but I'll be interested to see how your room progresses.
Melissa Houser
14 years ago
I would go with something similar to the third inspiration picture you showed. Start it just to the left of the big window and wrap it around to where the bookshelf on the left side of your desk is in the first picture.

To do this, you'd need several (3 or 4) 2-drawer file cabinets and 2 bookcases to to put on top, along with whatever counter surface you choose...and I think that stock doors would work well for this. Install in a similar arrangement to the inspiration picture, but choose a color you love instead of the glossy white. I would be tempted to paint the file cabinets and bookshelves white or gray with black countertops. You could also stain/poly the counters to bring the wood feel back into the room.

On the wall next to the window, I'd put some kind of bookcase, or a group of open cubes, for storage of craft supplies in bins. If you're keeping the piece with the drawers (gorgeous, btw), that would be perfect just where it is! On the wall above that bookcase, I'd put something like a coiled lassoo or western theme pictures.

I'm not in love with your couch in this area, but you could definitely create a sitting area there for watching tv. If you do that, though, you'll need some kind of divider between the couch area and the desk area.

If you never entertain customers there, you could use a curtain or room divider to separate the office space from the rest of the room, turning the couch with it's back to the desk. Treat the sitting area to more western decor touches than the desk area...perhaps a western coffee table.

Personally, I like the chair in the corner and think that two chairs similar to that would be a better option for the sitting area of the room. That couch is really, imo, too big for the space. It will seem twice as huge once you put in a less substantial desk.

If you put in the two chairs, you could create a cozy seating area and the chairs would pull double duty as seats for customers, if you entertain customers at home for any reason. I like the cow rug on the floor, and think it would be a comfy spot to sit for kids, especially if they were doing crafts on a small round table.

I'll look back in later and see if any of this appeals to you.