7 Clever Ways To Use Unused Home Office Space
Are you unhappy with your home office? You might feel it there’s never enough space. To be honest, most people fail to make use of the office space properly. If you start focusing on the unused or underused portion of the office, you might literally fit everything you have always wanted to.
The most unused part of a home office is the space under your desk. You can fit a small cabinet here along with a trash can. Plus, installing a keyboard tray, headphone hanger or cable trays are some of the interesting options you have in hand.
If you are surprised by this. Then just wait till you see what we have in store for you. Our list includes 7 unique ways to make every inch of the home office meaning full and useful. So, let’s start.
1. Mount Shelves On The Wall
When someone complains about storage shortage, we first look at the walls. That is the most unused or underused portion of the entire home office. Instead of buying new furniture like cabinets that take up space in your office, consider attaching shelves to the walls.
You can get those ready-to-use shelves from online stores. Or, if you are into saving money, go to the nearest workshop and cut some wooden sheets thick enough to work as shelves. The rest is simple. First, paint those newly found shelves to match the office better.
Next, mount them to the wall in front of your desk. Make sure the shelves are not so low that leave a shadow on the desk. But they still should be within your arm’s reach. Why would you build a shelf that you can’t access, right?
Now, what should you put on these shelves? We think the objects on your desk that are “barely used” would be the right ones. For example, sentimental items like photos, indoor plants, calendars, reference books, etc.
If you have too many stationary products like pencils, pens, highlighters, etc, keep some of those on the shelves. That way, you always have easy access to them whenever needed. But at the same time, your desk feels less cluttered. Isn’t that genius?
2. Opt For Vertical Storage
Vertical storage is the key to a minimalist office interior. If you have a small office nook, this technique is going to create extra space in your office. It simply means using the vertical space for storing purposes since small rooms run out of horizontal space way sooner.
But how does that work? Well, you can invest in furniture with better storage facilities either above it or underneath. For example, instead of getting a bigger desk like 60”, get the 48” one with built-in drawers and cabinets on both ends. That will help you make use of the space around the desk.
You can do the same thing when choosing filing cabinets. Make sure the width is lower than the height. That way you don’t have to leave a large spot within your home office for one piece of furniture. For example, you can accommodate the extra space beside a tall cabinet to a snack fridge.
3. Attach Task Lights To The Wall
Do you feel like your desk doesn’t have enough space? Instead of investing in a larger desk, first, try to use the space above the desk. We mean, you can mount the task lamps on the wall. That way, you have one less item to accommodate on the desktop.
The best part is that you are not getting rid of anything. You still can use the lights as before with the benefit of a spacious desk this time. Installing lights above your desk allows you to manipulate the illumination only for your desk. People with bedroom offices can relate to this pretty well.
Most of us like having dim lights in the sleeping area. But it’s contradictory to what you need inside an office. Having those extra lights attached to the wall, allow you to create a small bubble of bright light while working. Plus, it doesn’t irritate the other person trying to get a nap.
4. Get A Cable Tray
We bet your office desk looks dense due to the cables. Most remote workers depend on a lot of gadgets for their tasks. And, failing to manage those cables, take away so much usable space from the desk. It’s an irony.
But you can fix it right away by making use of the space underneath your desk. Yes, the bottom side of your desk doesn’t seem to be useful at all. Get a cable tray and attach it there. Then, get some cable clips if you are dealing with too many. That’s literally all you need.
Now, start collecting every cable lying around the floor or across the table. Clip them together and store them in the tray. That’s it. You won’t notice where the cables are. All the space that became unuseful due to the fear of damaging those cables is available once again.
The same space can be used for placing your keyboard as well. Just get a keyboard tray and free up more space on the desk.
5. Hang Indoor Plants From The Window
Want to bring live plants into the home office? Well, we have just the right place for you. You can utilize the window frame for that. Just keep the pots on the frame if you have that kind of space. If not, install some hangers or hooks around the top frame. Consider hanging the plants through those hangers.
The natural sunlight helps the plant flourish. At the same time, you are enhancing the home office aesthetic without compromising the space.
6. Choose An L-Shape Desk
Is your office established within a room’s corner, the available space to you is really complicated. It’s not as straightforward as decorating a normal office. The deepest part is perhaps the hardest to utilize.
In that case, design your office space with an L-shape desk. These desks allow you to make the best use of such corners. If you have an office partner, this is more space saving than having two legit desks inside the tiny office.
7. Install A Chalk Board In Front Of The Desk
Looking for other ways to utilize the office walls? Well, how about bringing a chalkboard? If you love working in an old-fashioned way, you would prefer chalkboards over typical computers. There’s just something about doodling ideas on a blackboard. You just never get tired of it.
Plus, it’s way easier to write important reminders on the board. You can just dust it off afterward. You don’t have to sacrifice any extra space for that.
Before You Go!
As you see, there are lots of ways to properly furnish even a small office nook. But it gets easier if you choose the right place/room to build a home office in the first place. Keeping that in mind, we have prepared this full comparison guide on which room should be the home office. We can’t wait for you to check it out.