How Small Can A Home Office Be? [Real-Life Examples]

Home offices are fun to decorate and customize. But not for those who barely have enough space to bring a desk. The question revolving in their head is, how small can a home office be? 

Typically, 70 sq ft is considered the minimum size for a home office. But a home office can be as small as the size of your desk. If you can fit the desk within any area, that can be your home office. 

You don’t need a 200 sq ft empty room to work peacefully. Trust us, with proper planning and space utilization, you can turn even a nook or corner of your home into a workstation. Keep reading to see the full process.

How Small Can A Home Office Be?

The usual size of a home office is anything between 100 to 150 sq ft. if you notice, that refers to a separate room dedicated to office purposes. The minimum home office size is considered 70 sq ft. anything less than that won’t be ideal if you plan to get an office room. You need that much space to bring a wide desk and chair. 

However, just because 70 sq ft is recommended don’t people always stick to it. We are going to share the experiences of remote workers who have turned 25 to 30 sq ft closets into fully functional offices. 

Check out some real-life examples below.

1. Walk-In Closet

Walk-in closets can be as large as 100 sq ft. but we are discussing the minimum size today which is around 20 to 25 sq ft. However, if it’s not a walk-in closet, some storage space can be within 15 sq ft as well.

Here’s what a fellow remote worker did to transform this crampy space into an office. Just remember, he only needed a place to keep the laptop and other documents and work. 

So, he started by getting the melamine shelves out. Once the walls were painted and smoothed out, he attached a customized desk after measuring his sitting height.

The length of the desk matched the closet’s length and so does the width. The idea was to avoid the desk coming out of the closet area. That way, you can close the door of our closet, and the office won’t be visible anymore.

That seems like a pretty good idea to work away from the kids.

2. Bedroom 

Another fellow worker established a small home office in one corner of his 160 sq ft bedroom. If you have no spare guestroom or walk-in closets, the bedroom is the safest space. First of all, it’s a personal space. So, unlike other areas like a living room, you don’t have o worry about getting interrupted while working.

Moving on to the 160 sq ft bedroom, he first repositioned every piece of furniture within the room. For example, the bed was moved closer to the wall. Also, he bought under-bed storage cabinets to replace a traditional wardrobe. That saved some space, to be honest. 

Then, he went for a long IKEA desk suitable for two workers. There were cabinets on both sides of the desk along with a mid-partitioner. The desk space is large enough to hold two monitors, and any accessory you need for gaming or work. 

It worked out well for him since he didn’t have too many things to move.

3. Under The Staircase

Lastly, the staircase area is mostly unused. You just throw stuff in there and never look at it. However, one home employee found this place quite useful and turned it into an office. Here’s what he did.

First things first, he painted the entire area and installed bright light bulbs. There’s barely enough space vertically to stand up. So, he made sure the office is simple with only a desk and a chair. Too much stuff can cause suffocation since that area doesn’t have an window nearby.

5 Interesting Ways To Create A Home Office With Limited Space

Converting a small space into an office is hard. But you know what’s harder? It would be utilizing every inch of that area for an effective office. Here are five interesting ways you can create more space in your small home office.

1. Go Wireless

Remove all the wires from your desk and you will be shocked. there would be so much usable space all of a sudden. That’s why going wireless is the number one thing you should consider while renovating a small office.

So, how to do that? Well, look for gadgets or devices that don’t come with long wires. For example, use a laptop (if possible) instead of a PC. Use cordless keyboards and a mouse. 

We understand if it’s not possible for you right now. In that case, use hooks to collect all the wires and bind them together. That might give you some extra space usually consumed by the black thick wires.

2. Monitor Arm

Next up, we have a monitor arm. If you own a PC with a large screen you really need it. The entire portion where you put the monitor can never be used for anything else. That’s alarming if you have a small desk, to begin with.

For that, we suggest you get a monitor arm and attach your PC to it. It raises the bottom part of the monitor from the desk. So, you can place some files, books, etc under the monitor. 

3. Go Paperless

Files and papers require way too much space than any of us might have anticipated. You need a closed cabinet or storage to keep everything organized. And, that’s just not feasible when you have turned your closet into an office.

So, why don’t you go paperless as well? By that, we mean saving your important document digitally. There are lots of options where your precious files won’t get lost, for example, google drive or iCloud.

When you need a paper urgently, just print a copy and go about your day. No need to search through packed drawers for a piece of paper.

4. Pegboards

Pegboards are pretty common even in a luxury home office. Instead of consuming the floor space by buying drawers and cabinets, utilize the wall through pegboards.

You can go creative and match the boards to your office interior. So that it doesn’t look forced into that area. You can put snacks, sentimental items(pictures), diaries, files, and all the stuff you don’t actively need while working. 

5. Under The Desk

The area under your desk is not useless. Most people just leave a bin underneath the desk and forget about it. 

 In reality, there’s ample space for you to store anything you like. You can even install a couple of drawers or put a small cabinet for all the stationeries. The only downside is that you will lose your legroom.

Before You Go!

You won’t be able to put every work-related object inside a small office. After all, how much can you fit into a nook or a 15 sq ft closet. But that would be so inefficient if you have lots supplies to organize. For that, we have come up with 6 amazing ways to organize home office items away from your desk.