July 24, 2021

Custom Home Office Built-In Ideas

With so many of us working from home, your personal office space should motivate, soothe, and inspire you. If this sounds like your kind of workspace, keep reading.

Are you searching for custom home office built-in ideas? If you answered yes, you came to the right place. Your custom home office should revolve around your requirements, tastes, and budget. From built-in cabinets to shelving for a library area, this article outlines several solutions for your home office built-in needs. Now more than ever, home offices are in high demand. With so many of us working from home, your personal office space should motivate, soothe, and inspire you. If this sounds like your kind of workspace, keep reading. In no time, you will whistle the day away in the home office of your dreams.

Home Office Built-In Ideas

The “Cloffice”

Closet home office with shelves.

We decided to start things small and simple with the cloffice. A cloffice is exactly what it sounds like: a closet converted into an office. These are ideal for people working within a smaller space. Once the workday is through, close the closet doors and your work will disappear and remain out of mind.Most small closets come with a single lightbulb. One solution is to switch out that dull closet bulb for a hanging pendant. It will provide an inviting light and add style to the cloffice without taking up extra space.Install a floating desk with built-in cabinets and matching shelves for a modern, minimalist look. The desk should be larger than the shelves for comfort reasons. For a nice glow, install lighting on the bottom of the shelving. Use the cabinets or drawers of the desk for storage to make the smaller space feel larger. If the closet is a walk-in or another setup with a door, mount shelving or vertical bins with hooks as an extra storage option. If you have the space, these bins look great on any inner wall of a cloffice.

Built-In Desk and StorageDesk with storage.

The ideal built-in office storage solution uses a combination of a desk, cabinets, drawers, and shelving. This way, you can store your office items in an organized manner, no matter the shape or size. If there is already a room in your home with wall cabinets, this may be the right spot for your built-in desk. In doing this, you start way ahead of the pack in putting together your custom home office.By incorporating your desk here, you achieve an all-in-one look that helps camouflage your work desk when company visits. While there are numerous layouts with cabinets to add a built-in desk, one of the best design tips is keeping the desk even with the cabinets. If you build the desk out too far, it throws a wrench in the overall continuity.One easy way to bring a modernized seamless feel to this built-in desk is to paint everything a soft, modern white.

Additional Built-In Desk IdeasHome office with L-shaped desk for two.

Take a tour of your home as if you were seeing it for the first time. Do you see any unused space or areas you could use for a built-in desk? Many homes have tiny nooks perfect for small home offices. Examples of these spaces are under a staircase, a nook designated for appliances, or on the top of your stairs landing. If you use your home office for light work, all you may need is a floating desk with shelving above it. For a busier workspace, cabinets and drawers above and below the desk are ideal. If you are working a full-time job from home or spending a lot of time at your desk for other reasons, you will want a desk similar to one in an actual office. The good news is you can add warmth to the space and leave the cubicle life behind. Your desk can wrap around a wall in an L-shape or run the entire wall. These are perfect if more than one person needs a home workspace and privacy is not an issue. The L-shaped desk is also fantastic for one person with a lot going on. It essentially creates two desks. Use one part of the desk to house your computer, and use the other for hands-on tasks and important documents that you access regularly.

Built-In Office CabinetsHome office cabinets and shelving.

Next on our list of custom home office built-in ideas is built-in office cabinets. The most common built-in office cabinets are bookcase cabinets. Typically, these are a combination of closed cabinets and shelving. The top portion of the built-in unit is shelving, with cabinetry making good use of the bottom part.This cabinetry and shelving are essential components of your custom home office. You want your workspace clean of the necessary items you need to complete your tasks. If you have a designated space for each item, the area remains uncluttered and efficient. This gives you the time and headspace to do your best work.By matching the color of the shelves and cabinets to the walls, the area feels more spacious. Another tip is to use vertical space in different ways. Combine several types of floor-to-ceiling cabinetry and shelving. A great example of this is a built-in media space above your desk to house a television or stereo system.

Built-In Home Office Libraryhome office library.

Books can inspire us to do great things. The sight of a well-organized home library can motivate us to get to work and complete large projects. Why not keep this motivation constant by creating a built-in library in your home office? When considering options for a home office library, there are many to choose from.One choice is library style. This style creatively uses the entryway to your home office. Here, built-in bookshelves on each side of the entrance create a welcome entryway brought together by a continuous shelf on top. A rolling ladder is the finishing touch. Imagine the inspiration you will feel as you walk through this passageway lined with books that helped shape your life. A similar approach is to line the right and left walls of your office with built-in bookshelves. As you walk to your desk in the back of the room, you will pass through this hallway of literature and feel ready to get down to business.If you are a voracious reader, turn it into a power move. Display your hundreds, if not thousands, of books on floor to ceiling built-in shelving behind your desk. It matters little if anyone even visits your home office. You will see these books daily and can pull great motivation from the mere sight of this wall.

Additional Home Office Built-In Shelving IdeasHome office with shelving.

Built-in shelving serves two purposes in a home office. Primarily, it provides the storage space you need. Secondly, it serves as decoration. An organized area increases productivity and boosts energy. If you have the space, widespread shelving lends your home office an air of sophistication. When not used for storage, extensive shelving across the room can serve as display areas for artwork and awards. This is also a space where your personal style shines. Fill unused portions of your shelving to display souvenirs, collectibles, and other prized possessions.By converting an entire office wall into a series of shelving, you may find it hard to leave such a beautiful office once the workday ends. All you need to do is turn the computer off, pull a book from the shelves, and let the stress of the day roll off your shoulders.

LightingOffice with natural lighting from windows.

To get the most out of your home office's built-in solutions and really make them pop, you need the right lighting setup. Of course, natural light works best to bring out the ambiance of your home office. Not only is it much easier on your eyes, but a window will also make the space feel larger and offer a view when you need a short break.At certain times of the day, the sun’s glare can become too much. Installing translucent blinds is the best way to avoid this. Additionally, make sure your desk is not directly facing a window as the light can become too much for your eyes to handle.If your home office does not have access to natural light, it is best to have as much lighting as possible on a dimmer switch to adjust the lighting according to your needs. Overhead lighting helps fill in the blanks in a home office, but it alone is often not enough. For this reason, add a desk lamp with a flexible arm. These are great since you can adjust the height and angle to suit your current tasks.The placement of your lighting is also key to avoid shadows or glare. If you use a desk lamp that creates shadows that interfere with your work, move it to the side of your non-dominant hand. This cuts down, if not completely eliminates, this shade.

Benefits of Custom Home Office Built-Ins

With the right home office built-in ideas, work feels less like work. Whether used for a full-time job or paying bills, a custom home office should enable you to work efficiently and complete more tasks in less time. Ideally, the space will feel like home. At the same time, once the workday ends, you can close up shop and leave the day’s work behind as you enjoy time with family and friends.Your home is the heart and soul of your family. There is no need for a long office commute if you can do the work from home. Why not keep your work where you feel most alive?Our experts can help you get the most out of your home office space by investing in our custom Glide-Out shelving or other built-in storage ideas. Our customized solutions fit your space, budget, and lifestyle. Contact us for a free design consultation today.

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  • *By clicking submit, I provide my signature, giving consent to ShelfGenie, a Neighborly company, along with Neighborly’s affiliates and network of service professionals, to contact me by telephone (including text, autodialed and prerecorded messages) at the number I have provided and/or contact me via email to receive information about Neighborly’s or its affiliate’s offerings. I understand that this consent is not a condition of purchase and I can withdraw my consent at any time. To provide the most expedient service, I consent to be contacted during the normal business hours of 7:00am –9 :00pm, or at any time of day, within 10 minutes of submitting this form, if outside of normal business hours.