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Room Tour: A Home Office Gets a Light and Elegant Makeover
By changing the layout and adding bespoke cabinetry and a soft palette, this office is now both stylish and organised
A quick scan through the before shots of this office space reveal a good-sized room with heaps of potential that was nevertheless under-performing. That’s why Lucy Henderson of My Bespoke Room was asked to redesign it. She had already worked on a couple of other rooms in this Surrey house after the owner found her on Houzz. “We started in the living room and worked our way around,” Lucy says. “The office was the third space to tackle.”
Lucy took a practical, sustainable approach to all the rooms she worked on, reusing existing pieces where possible. “We weren’t doing any huge structural work, not even decorating in some spaces,” she explains. “The owner had moved in and put her furniture out, but it just didn’t feel very designed.” Lucy’s job, as she puts it, was to “pull it all together”. Read on to see how she tackled this space.
To see more great projects where the homeowner found their professional via Houzz, take a look at our Born on Houzz series.
Lucy took a practical, sustainable approach to all the rooms she worked on, reusing existing pieces where possible. “We weren’t doing any huge structural work, not even decorating in some spaces,” she explains. “The owner had moved in and put her furniture out, but it just didn’t feel very designed.” Lucy’s job, as she puts it, was to “pull it all together”. Read on to see how she tackled this space.
To see more great projects where the homeowner found their professional via Houzz, take a look at our Born on Houzz series.
The office as it looked before, with only a single light fitting in the ceiling.
Ready to renovate? It’s easy to find and hire interior designers on Houzz.
Ready to renovate? It’s easy to find and hire interior designers on Houzz.
The desk used to sit right under the window, which was framed by curtains. “When a desk is in the window, you can be fighting with the natural light at certain times of the day,” Lucy says.
Lucy’s new layout has the desk against the wall, so that neither the screen nor the person using it is flooded in daylight.
The door was rehung so it opens neatly against the same wall and not, as before, into the room, where it almost hit the sofa. “This meant moving a light switch, too, but as the owner had an electrician coming in for other work, she was happy to make that change,” she says.
To improve the lighting, Lucy added a standard lamp (seen in the first photo) and designed in a wall light above the desk. “Either a wired-in one, as here, or a plug-in option is a great solution if you need more light on your workstation, but don’t have room for a desk lamp,” she says.
Desk, John Lewis & Partners. Chair, Anthropologie.
The door was rehung so it opens neatly against the same wall and not, as before, into the room, where it almost hit the sofa. “This meant moving a light switch, too, but as the owner had an electrician coming in for other work, she was happy to make that change,” she says.
To improve the lighting, Lucy added a standard lamp (seen in the first photo) and designed in a wall light above the desk. “Either a wired-in one, as here, or a plug-in option is a great solution if you need more light on your workstation, but don’t have room for a desk lamp,” she says.
Desk, John Lewis & Partners. Chair, Anthropologie.
The wall opposite where the desk now stands used to be wallpapered. As you can see, it’s not completely flush, with an awkward little dog leg in it on the left.
Now, a bespoke cabinet designed by Lucy sits across the width of the room and provides plenty of storage. It’s built flush, so there’s no hint of the uneven wall behind.
“The owner wanted a nice backdrop behind her for when she was on video calls, so we designed the storage with space for display, too,” Lucy says. “The pieces on the oak shelves are personal items and photos.”
“The owner wanted a nice backdrop behind her for when she was on video calls, so we designed the storage with space for display, too,” Lucy says. “The pieces on the oak shelves are personal items and photos.”
The room was painted in a calming greige with yellow and green undertones, and Lucy added the mirror above the sofa to reflect the natural light flowing in from the window opposite. This scheme of soft neutrals punctuated with warm green and lots of texture is repeated elsewhere in the house.
Walls painted in Kind Regards; cabinetry painted in Brewer, both Coat.
Walls painted in Kind Regards; cabinetry painted in Brewer, both Coat.
The owner is so delighted with the space she’s asked Lucy (pictured here) to design even more rooms in the house for her. “We do it all remotely, which, given that I worked on this when we were in lockdown, was helpful,” Lucy says. “I only met the owner in real life later.”
Handles, Plank Hardware.
Tell us…
What do you think of this light and stylish home office? Share your thoughts in the Comments.
Handles, Plank Hardware.
Tell us…
What do you think of this light and stylish home office? Share your thoughts in the Comments.
Who lives here? A couple and their two young children
Location Woking, Surrey
Property A detached house with four bedrooms and three bathrooms
Room dimensions 3.5m x 2.8m
Designer Lucy Henderson of My Bespoke Room
Project year 2022
Photos by My Bespoke Room
When Lucy first saw it, the office was quite dark, with a heavy pelmet and curtains. She aimed to maximise the light and rethink the layout, so the owner could work comfortably in the space without too much glare on her computer screen. “She also wanted some storage for paperwork, house admin and a printer that she uses occasionally,” Lucy adds.
Having received a brief, photos of the space and a sketched plan from the owner, Lucy drew up a new floor plan and pulled together the look, calling the owner frequently until the layout, palette and key items were agreed. “It’s a very collaborative process,” she says.
The office is now a light, serene space that can double as a guest bedroom thanks to a sofa bed. “The owners already had it, but there needed to be space to pull it out,” Lucy says, who added an ottoman (just seen) as additional storage for bedding.
“We always make sustainable choices and reuse if we can, working with the pieces the owner already has,” she says. The heavy curtains were replaced with shutters, “which provide a level of privacy but also plenty of light”.
Ottoman, Sofa.com.