Most inhabitants in Singapore live in relatively small condominiums and apartments. Because of this lack of space, it is quite troublesome for some to fit an office or work area inside their homes. However, one does not have to worry too much. An office does not necessarily need to occupy an extra room or even a large area inside the house. With a proper office design idea, it is possible to start building your personalized workspace to maximize extra space and work efficiency.
Shelf under the Stairs
Many people do not have the luxury of having a 2-storey house. However if one is fortunate enough, the extra, awkward space underneath the stairs can be converted into a small office space.
Building an office underneath the stairs means maximized space consumption and additional aesthetic value to the overall appeal of the area. By just installing a hanging table adjacent to the wall, a small, cozy workstation is built. The wall space in front of the desk can be covered with corkboard, whiteboard, or painted with chalkboard paint to act as an elegant pin or memo board. A small chair or stool can be used at this station, so you can easily shove it under the desk when not in use, thereby preventing furniture obstacles inside the house.
Corner Workstation
Another great office design for limited spaces is the corner workstation.
Usually, corner space, especially in the bedroom, is overlooked as an excellent area to be converted as a workspace. More often than not, room accessories, such as floor lamps, tall vases, or high figurines are placed in junctions to eliminate blank space at the corner of the room. While this adds visual value to the room, it does not create extra functionality.
For practicality, you can fit room corners with an adequately sized corner table and chair. Added with a desktop, lampshade or even document organizers, the space can turn into a spacious workstation.
When opting for the corner office design, the make and color of the table and chair will be great factors to the overall looks of the room. If one wants the workspace to blend into the room, the table and chair should match its design. On the other hand, if one wants the office space to act as a feature of the room, conspicuous furniture, which complements the area, should be installed.
Bare Wall Office Zone
An excellent example of an office design, which fully maximizes space functionality is the bare wall office.
Usually, home architectural designs leave a bare wall inside the house. A perfect example of this the space created between a window and a wall divider. Because it lacks width, it is often ignored as a space conducive enough to act as a workstation.
The trick here is to build up rather than extending laterally. With just a width as small as three feet, you can fit a small table comfortably to the space without imparting heavy visual weight. This size is adequate enough to fit in desktops, laptops and other office accessories. The space up the wall can be fitted with layers of horizontal panels to act as small bookshelves or collection display stage.
Wall Closet Office
An unused, empty wall closet also acts as an office inside a room. The drawers inside the closet can be removed and in turn, a floating desk can be installed. You can use the extra layers up the closet to store boxes of documents or other office paraphernalia that are not used every day. With the help of an electrician, electrical sockets can also be added inside the wall closet to plug in computers and other electronic office gadgets conveniently.
For concealment, the door of the closet can be left installed. In this case, the office can be hidden when not in use. For variation, instead of doors, a tension rod and curtains can be used for cover-up. On the other hand, if one wants the office to really be a part of the room, the doors or curtains could be removed. Subsequently, elegant paint or wallpaper can be used for the wall part of the closet, so the work area will blend well to the room.
Portable C-Table Office
This idea is not entirely an office design, but an add-on to a room to act as a tiny, somewhat temporary workspace.
For those with really limited space, a C-table can be bought, instead of an office space fixed inside the house. A C-table is a special kind of table, which has a C-shaped frame. This shape allows the bottom part of the table to be tucked neatly underneath a furniture, particularly a bed or a sofa, thereby keeping it out of the way. The top part of the table, on the other hand, is designed to accommodate an adequate amount of space conveniently, so minor computer or writing works can be done.
The major advantage of this office design is that it is cheap and takes up the least amount of space. Some C-tables are designed to be folded, so you can store them without hassle in a small storage area. It also gives a person the option to go mobile, bringing with him the workspace whether he likes it in the living room or the bedroom.
Workspace on Wheels
For rooms that serve more than one function, perhaps the most compatible office design is the workplace on wheels. Essentially, this design is just composed of a table and chairs fitted with wheel casters, giving them mobility.
Usually, the table in this design is comparably larger than the other office designs, giving the owner a generous area to work with. However, as a downside, it takes up more space and seems to monopolize the room.
To make up for this problem, the wheels on the furniture make it easy for the table and chairs to be rolled away when extra space in the room is needed. When there is no guest room and a visitor comes by to sleep over, the rolling table and chairs can be easily shoved at the corner of the room, thereby creating a space where the guests can camp in for the night.