13 Cleverly Small Home Office Designs

Along with the massive horde of remote workers, I too have switched over to the work-from-home type of work. As we speak, I am laying on my bed writing this article with sore neck, just wishing that I had an office with an ergonomic desk-chair area to make my work day easier. 

In order to come up with the very specific design ideas, we create most designs with the assistance of state-of-the-art AI interior design software.

Sometimes it can be hard figuring out where to put an office if you live in a small apartment like I do. It’s very important to be able to separate your home life from your work life, and sometimes it can feel like the work day never ends if you work where you also play! 

That’s why we’ve created this fantastic collection of home offices that have been designed to fit into smaller homes. There are so many good ideas in here on how to incorporate an office space where you would never imagine to. Hopefully you find all of the inspiration that you need in order to complete your own home renovation projects. 

1. The Cozy Closet Home Office

Floors & Walls: We’re starting off this collection with a home office design idea that I don’t think many people would ever imagine doing! This quirky and cute office area starts with lightly stained wood floors and clean white walls, in a room that looks like it’s the front foyer.

Features: It is such a clever idea to turn a closet into a tiny office. What looks to be very inspired by Harry Potter, this adorable under-the-staircase closet turned home office feels magical, enticing, yet completely practical all at the same time.

A desk has been custom built along the entire length of the closet featuring plenty of sweet little drawers for storage space. The office area is complete with two adorable stools and a couple of hanging cabinets for some extra storage. Another very neat part is that the backing for the office area is made from a black chalkboard, allowing you to doodle all over the surface!

Decor: This sweet little office space feels super friendly and inviting thanks to a doodling chalk board and cute little figurines and decorations spread throughout the small space. It feels less like an office, and more like a room where you go to channel your inner creativity.

2. The Smart Corner Home Office

Floors & Walls: This is a great idea for an office space if you don’t really want to dedicate an entire room to an office. After all, all you really need is a surface and a comfy place to sit! This quaint office area starts with some modern lightly stained wooden floors and some clean white walls. 

Features: This office space has cleverly been placed into a corner of a room that would probably otherwise be unusable, and just a corner to put a big plant in. Instead, a small desk with a couple of floating shelves installed above it turns this area into a place to take meetings, do your work, and also to hang some of your cute decorations!

Decor: This space is minimally decorated, featuring a wood & black theme found in the desk top, the floating shelves, and series of framed pieces on the wall. It’s minimal but homey, and a place that looks quite comfortable to work on the computer!

3. The Quaint Home Office

Floors & Walls: Here we have another super clever idea for a home office. What looks like it’s a connecting closet between two bedrooms, the owner has turned into a very quaint little office area. This starts with classic hardwood floors in a warm stain, and crisp white walls. 

Features: This entirely custom home office comes with a small desk, a cabinet, vertical shelves, and a small chest of drawers. Desk surfaces are often way larger than they need to be, so it’s really neat seeing an area that incorporate so much storage and room for a desk too! A modern shaped chair elevates the space while also providing comfort. 

Decor: This sweet little office space is decorated with some sweet personal effects and a framed drawing. I always find it’s best to keep decoration at a minimum in an office space, since these spaces are usually dedicated to focus, and visual clutter could be distracting!

4. The Hallway Home Office

Floors & Walls: As a person who watches a lot of tiny home design Youtube videos, it was a revelation to me when the designers revealed just how much a waste of space hallways are. Since we’re constantly facing challenges with reduced space, lots of contemporary home designers are ensuring that every wall is utilized in some way.

That’s why I find this hallway office design so smart! This cool office space starts with sleek cement floors and very clean white walls. The walls are made from vertically arranged wood beams, and the white paint gives them a whole new lease on life.

Features: This office space is one of my personal favorites I think. On one wall we have tons of storage space behind closet doors that are neatly concealed into the wall. On the other side we have a desk that runs along the entire length of the hallway, long enough that two work spaces can fit here. Beautiful wicker chairs are under the desk to make sure that this common area still feels cozy and stylish. 

Decor: This clean white space has little bursts of warmth throughout, found in the bright yellow table lamp (reminiscent of the Pixar lamp) and really rustic and lovely chairs in place of more ergonomic office chairs. So clever!

5. The Crafty Home Office

Floors & Walls: This amazing office space starts with rustic hardwood floors and white walls (there seems to be a theme going on here so far). I personally love having natural light beaming in wherever I’m doing work, and we get that with floor to ceiling windows covered with a sheer white curtain – probably to reduce glare on your laptop screen!

Features: More and more I’m seeing really clever furniture designs that are combining shelving units and desks. Here we have a super long but narrow desk. The legs are closer to the centre of the surface, allowing for either sides of the desk to be used as a shelving space! 

A gorgeous floating shelf made from warmly tinted wood is a great way to provide decoration, as storage for office supplies (since there aren’t any drawers built in to this desk) and a place for artwork! Using just one wall, the furniture designer managed to create a place to work, for storage, and for decoration.

Decor: This type of decor is my personal favorite:  midcentury modern aesthetics with modern execution. A really beautiful wood framed chair with pistachio upholstery steals the show, while yellow plaid curtains feel very cottage core. Ceramics, books, and plants give us that homey vibe.

6. The Attic Home Office

Floors & Walls: Attics are no longer just for moths to grow and old boxes to gather dust! I’ve always adored attic spaces, and it’s such a good idea to convert an attic into an office. It’s almost certainly the move private room in the whole house!

This room starts with modern, distressed hardwood floors and white walls – but the A frame ceiling with skylights is obviously what makes this room feel very special. 

Features: This quaint little office space features a clear glass desk, a peach colored office chair (so fun) a tangerine colored lounger in the back of the room, and a beautiful credenza that could easily be used as extra seating. 

Decor: While this office space is currently not very decorated, I can picture the space with a ton of huge and happy plants. Those skylights provide so much sunlight and I’m sure they’d be very happy in there.

Related: Small Foyer Ideas | Small Dining Room Ideas | Small Kitchen Ideas | Small Primary Bedroom Ideas | Small Primary Bathroom Ideas | Medium Living Room Ideas | Large Living Room Ideas | Small Living Room Ideas

7. The Divider Home Office 

Floors & Walls: Yet another genius way to turn wall space into something useful. Instead of taking the entire wall down to create an open concept room, keeping it as a room divider and incorporating a huge surface like this one can turn it into so many things.

This could easily act as a place to host dinners, as a place to display for favorite vases or sculptures, and it can just as easily be used as an office space. This cool room starts with warmly stained wood floors and white walls (yet again). 

Features: This room really doesn’t feature much but a clean white surface and a very stylish leather office chair with leather the same shade as homemade caramel. 

Decor: While the space isn’t currently decorated, there is so much that could be done! Hanging plants could be installed above the desk area, while collections of books or sculptures could adorn the outer edges of the super huge desk surface.

8. The Sunroom Home Office

Floors & Walls: I think that this is probably my favorite in the collection. That could be because I love anything that is a sunroom and I wish my entire home could be a giant sunroom, but also because of the construction of this amazing space.

This gorgeous space starts with cement floors, comes together with floor to ceiling windows with beautiful wood frames, and ends with a cement ceiling. There is enough impeding your view of the lush greenery outside. 

Features: I adore how the furniture that has been chosen for this sunroom office is super minimal both in design and in size, so that there is absolutely nothing in the way of the view on the other side of these glorious windows. Nothing is needed but a thin-legged desk and a thin-legged chair. 

Decor: Another aspect that I adore about this sunroom office is the decoration. There is basically none! All we get is the greenery outside (what other point does a sunroom have anyway) and a funky and colorful polka dot rug. Perfection.

9. The Wooden Home Office

Floors & Walls: I have a feeling that this is a space in a tiny home, since it’s all rather tiny. But what I love about tiny home designs is that tiny doesn’t necessarily mean cramped. This beautiful multipurpose space starts with wood and ends with wood, but what prevents it from becoming too monotone feeling is the fact that each surface is built with a different kind of wood!

Features: In tiny homes, you often have to get very clever with things you don’t normally have to think twice about, and a common way to save space is to have furniture built right in to the walls, and that’s exactly what we get with this neat and cozy little room.

There’s a built in tv-mount area, a built in reading bench with storage underneath, and a built in desk with a corresponding little wooden stool that can be used for building, crafting, writing, homework and of course, computer work cuz that’s what we’re all here for.

Decor: While the room isn’t currently too decorated, there is so much that could be done with this space. It’s begging for some splashes of color and texture, and maybe some plants depending on the window situation in this house. Since there’s so much warm wood already, you can really play around with bold colors and modern designs.

10. The Colorful Home Office

Floors & Walls: This cute little corner office space starts with the way that all of the others have: with wooden floors and white walls.Though this may seem plain to some, I really wouldn’t have it any other way in my house. Hardwood floors bring that essential warm and rustic element, while white walls are the blank slate allowing you to do whatever you want with your accessories without it becoming too much. 

Features: This cute corner office comes together with white furniture that blends right in to the walls. A shallow desk with an upper row of little drawers is space saving while also giving enough room for storage, and the super cool arrangement of floating shelves accentuates the shape of the corner.

Decor: I find this room to be very cleverly decorated with color. While a multicolored circular pom-pom rug is our base of color, we get pops of color incorporated into the shelves and drawers in the room. A simple solution, but very effective.

11. The Clever Home Office

Floors & Walls: Yet another super cute and fun home office! While this space doesn’t seem like it really needs to do much space saving, that doesn’t mean that you can’t get clever with your designs. This industrial inspired home office yet again starts with shining wood floors and white walls. 

Features: I love the idea of repurposing, and we see that done very well with this desk and shelving unit that’s been built up using old pallets. One side of the furniture pieces is arranged in such a way that the leg of the table also acts as a multilevel shelving unit. The stool for the desk area is also made from a pallet, adorned with a really fun plaid patterned cushion. 

We have another floating shelf which really sends the industrial theme home, with old piping that has been used for installation. 

Decor: While the furniture pieces are very industrial, the decoration is super modern and fun. Really bright and patterned textiles used for the cushion and rug, and a rather lovely and huge wall light adds a nice metallic touch and contemporary shape.

12. The Modern Home Office 

Floors & Walls: This super chic and modern seems like it’s been set in a lofted area of the home. A beautiful shade of wood has been used for the floors, while white walls provide the base for a super dramatic contrast thanks to the black brick accent wall. This creates depth and dimension, while the huge skylights bring that essential natural light and airiness to the room. 

Features: I find the desk in this room super cool. Customized to fit perfectly in its own little nook, this elegant desk has an angled side for three spacious drawers for storage, and a slightly elevated side for your desk. I love how much surface area there is on this desk, leaving room for multiple work stations or for crafting that needs a lot of space!

Decor: This room is very minimally decorated, relying on the appeal of the furniture and room surroundings to make its statement. A rustic little bench with some patterned pillows add a nice touch of comfort.

13. The Bedroom Home Office

Floors & Walls: We’re finishing off the wonderful collection with a home office design that I find to be one of the more clever ones. This is a superb solution if you happen to live in a studio space where there is no spare corner or bit of wall that could act as an office. This stunning room starts with gorgeous hardwood floors, and white walls that are warmed up with beautiful wood framing around the windows. 

Features: This amazing room features one piece of furniture: a bed frame that features an ottoman with storage on one end, and another end that features a desk, drawer, and stunning little room divider. It’s a rather genius was to combine two intended spaces into one. Though not everyone would enjoy working right next to their bed, it’s an excellent solution if you’re really tight on space.

Decor: While this room doesn’t really have any decoration, I do appreciate its minimalism. I always appreciate a space that is white and wood themed. It’s clean but rustic, and I like a bedroom that is free of visual clutter. It’s also a great idea to have this cleanliness for an office space, as there is no room for distraction. Though I must say I would put some plants in this room – they provide life, movement, and they also improve the air quality! Neato!