Adapting to a Post Covid World: How Has Fitted Furniture Design Evolved?
There’s no doubt that hybrid working is here to stay. With many of us...
There’s no doubt that hybrid working is here to stay.
With many of us now spending at least some of our week working from home, this new flexible approach has seen us scrambling to adapt our homes to fit – finding places to work within our family environments that range from the dining room table to the sofa.
Of course, although fine on a temporary basis, these options aren’t conducive to a productive – or comfortable – working day over the longer term.
For homeowners with the luxury of a spare room to transform into a home office, the answer is obvious. But, without a room you can easily dedicate to a desk, how can you create a compact workspace that allows you to do your best work, day in, day out – and which doesn’t impinge on your home life when the day is through?
Join us as we explore some of our favourite and most ingenious small home office ideas, each of which creates a stylish, practical place to work that will help you maintain a healthy work/life balance for many years to come.
The Hidden Home Office
For rooms without the space for a dedicated home office, a hideaway Home Study is the perfect way to make your WFH life more productive – whilst also allowing you to separate work and family time.
A key trend for 2023, smart storage solutions like our ingenious Hidden Home Office (above) allow you to tuck your work away at the day’s end, while also providing ample desk and storage space to keep you focused, engaged and comfortable.
And the ability to close the door on your desk – quite literally – at the end of the day means you’re able to make the mental switch between your work and home life much more easily, creating the separation that is so crucial to your and your family’s wellbeing.
“It’s very difficult to switch off mentally when your desk area is visible”
SARAH HARRIS, NEVILLE JOHNSON STYLIST
Where in the home might you place a hidden study like this? Well, the simple answer is that our beautiful bespoke furniture can fit in almost any free space.
Because each of our designs is custom-created and handcrafted to your home and style, our expert designers can fully configure your piece to suit your requirements and the space you have available, whether that’s a free wall, alcove or corner.
The Integrated Workspace
Looking for a storage solution that does it all? Our stunning bespoke lounge furniture brings the best of all worlds to your home, with the potential to integrate a practical workspace within a larger solution that offers the perfect mix of open and closed storage.
Above, in our luxurious Blue Lounge design, the timeless shaker-style cabinetry has transformed this previously unused space into something eminently useful, maximising every inch from wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling with a piece of precision-fitted furniture that’s both functional and beautiful.
Ideal for any home where floorspace is at a premium, the central section houses a desk and drawer surrounded by shelves and storage, with integrated task lighting built in above and hidden wiring to the power points below.
This is a wonderful example of how Neville Johnson’s bespoke designs allow you to make the most of spaces where freestanding furniture struggles.
“If you have high ceilings and walls, then furniture built to maximise the full length and height is the perfect solution.”
“We often overlook wall space, but even a small area can be maximised with a floor-to-ceiling concept with open and closed shelving for storage.”
JAMIE GODFREY, DESIGN MANAGER
The Under-stairs Home Study
For a workstation that solves all your work-from-home woes, the space under your stairs is both the most obvious and the most often overlooked.
Many of us have these seemingly tricky nooks that we think are too difficult to put to good use – but our talented designers have other ideas!
Experts at transforming the most awkward of alcoves into something that is functional, practical and looks fabulous, they are often able to spot the previously undiscovered potential in your home.
Above, our stunning staircase transformation was combined with the creation of an inspired understairs home office – the two spaces designed to flow seamlessly together visually, and fit together with millimetre-perfect precision in practical terms.
This bijou office is full of clever little details – from the mixed finishes of the shelves which create interesting focal points for display, to the elegance of the curved corner cabinets that improve the flow of the piece.
The new space elevates the entire corner, offering a surprising amount of desk area and mixed storage and creating a stunning workspace that adds real value, both to your working life and to your home itself over the longer term.
The Tricky Loft Conversion
Marked by sloping ceilings and awkward alcoves, your loft conversion might not be your first choice for a sensational small workspace, but we’d love to convince you otherwise!
“Alcoves and sloping roofs are usually viewed as tricky to work with,”
“However our bespoke furniture can be designed and fit around each awkward element, meaning that empty and previously unused space is fully utilised, in turn providing you with maximum storage/ workspace.”
JAMIE GODFREY, DESIGN MANAGER
Below, in our Modern Loft Home Office, our expert designers have made the most of the relatively tight floorplan, siting an L-shaped desk (fabulous for smaller spaces) under the roof windows to enjoy an abundance of natural light and crafting a whole wall of storage that slots perfectly into the sloping eaves.
The result? A remarkable transformation that turns this part of the room into the ultimate home working environment.
Creating a stylish and practical home office when you don’t have a spare room may seem challenging but, with the right approach, it’s entirely possible to design a beautiful, functional and inspiring workspace that helps you thrive when working from home.
If you’d love to incorporate a home office but have been struggling to find the right place without a dedicated room in your house, our talented designers are here for you.
Experts at spotting the areas of your home that are ripe for transformation, they can help you carve out a functional and inspiring study from even the trickiest of spaces.
Click here to book a free design consultation, and discover what we can create to elevate your work-from-home life to new heights.
