Re-thinking (and re-designing) our home office

From accidental dumping ground to a place I want to be...

In truth, I didn’t give our small study much thought when we were renovating our house. I bought a lovely antique desk, had a chair reupholstered, had a blind made and that’s about it. I was having the house shot for House and Garden and just needed it sorted. In theory, I loved the look of it with the antique Chinese rug, chic shelves and Gio Ponti desk. In reality, it wasn’t really working for me.

The before!

I put in a very out of place Tylko modular shelving unit (not pictured above!) that was meant to be practial over pretty but truth be told, it wasn’t even that practical. Eventually it got to the point where the room was being used to dump deliveries, wardrove overspill and stuff we didn’t have a place for in the office. The only time it was used as an office was once a week by my assistant or by my husband very occasionally for evening work calls. It’s south-facing but it felt drab and not really somewhere I wanted to spend time. I realised the combination of a large desk and not enough storage was exactly the opposite of what I really need. I need a lot of storage for clothes, products and office supplies and a small, simple desk with just enough room for a laptop or computer. I like the idea of a bright, white office but actually I need an office to feel cosy, soft and inviting in order for me to go in there and not just retreat to the kitchen table. More of a dressing room boudoir with a macbook if you will.