The New York Times - USA (2020-07-26)

THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2020 MBRE 7

IF YOU’VE BEENworking from home for
months and have concluded that this situa-
tion is unlikely to end anytime soon, you
may be giving your makeshift work space a
serious second look. You’re not alone.
“We’ve been getting a lot of people asking
about ways they can improve their home-
office scenarios — both past clients and new
inquiries,” said Keren Richter, a founder of
the Brooklyn-based interior design firm
White Arrow. “It’s definitely a topic right
now.”
Continuing to work from your bed or the
dining table is unlikely to be very produc-
tive, or feel very professional, in the long
term. But what should you do if you don’t
have an extra room for a proper home of-
fice, or even an obvious space for desk?
“Sometimes it’s just about carving out a
space within a space,” Ms. Richter said. Or it
might involve finding leftover space — like
the attic she recently converted into a home
office at her house in Pound Ridge, N.Y.

For advice on how to squeeze a work
space into any home, we talked to architects
and interior designers.

Convert a Small Closet
Storage space is precious, but when you re-
ally need a home office, emptying out a
small closet to convert it into a work space
might be worth the trade-off.
Michael K. Chen, an architect, has de-
signed a number of tiny New York apart-
ments — some smaller than 400 square feet
— that include dedicated work spaces in
closetlike nooks (along with convertible
furniture, like Murphy beds).
“We’ve created niche offices inside clos-
ets or in cabinetry volumes that have doors
that slide and close,” Mr. Chen said.
In one Gramercy Park studio, he de-
signed a sliding door beside the living room
sofa that could be pushed aside to reveal a
hidden office with a built-in desk, cabinet
and shelves.
For such tight installations, using built-in
furniture, rather than trying to squeeze a
regular desk into the nook, helps maximize
the space. “A simple custom desktop is al-
ways worthwhile, because it frees the space
underneath the work surface from legs and
other obstructions,” Mr. Chen said. “It al-
lows you to maximize the usable space.”
Having power in the nook is essential,
whether it comes from an existing outlet or

is snaked in from a nearby source, so com-

puters and chargers can be plugged in.

Mr. Chen likes to hide computer peripher-

als like printers and scanners in cabinets

below the desk, installing them on pullout

shelves similar to those in kitchen pantries

so the devices are easily accessible.

Closet conversions don’t have to be ex-

pensive. Ursula Carmona, a designer and

founder of the blog Home Made By Car-

mona, converted a closet off the living room

of her home near Greensboro, N.C., on a

minimal budget.

“We needed a home office and had no

place to put one,” Ms. Carmona said. “But

we did have this closet that just seemed to

be collecting junk.”

She opened up the bifold doors, removed

the junk and added her own built-ins, mak-

ing low-cost shelves with plywood and pine

trim, and a desk with a stained piece of ply-

wood sitting on top of a pair of reclaimed

kitchen cabinets. A desktop computer

tower is hidden on a pullout shelf in a cab-

inet, with a cutout near the back to provide

ventilation and access for cables.

Painted a deep blue-gray and illuminated

by a brass pendant lamp, the unsightly old

closet is now an appealing place to work. “I

wanted to keep it attractive, because it does

open up to my living space,” Ms. Carmona

said. “It’s my favorite part of the space.”

Make a Larger Closet a Destination

As Ms. Carmona discovered, a closet-to-of-

fice transformation can result in one of the

most appealing spaces in your home.

“When you convert a closet or a little

nook off a hallway into a home office, it can

become such a jewel box,” said Nicole

Fuller, a New York-based designer. Espe-

cially when you have a slightly larger space

to work with.

During the renovation of one Manhattan

apartment with a pair of awkwardly shaped

back-to-back closets, Ms. Fuller demolished

the wall in between to create a showstop-

ping home office lined with glossy red-lac-

quer shelves, desk and wall panels, and a

ceiling of antiqued mirror. In another Man-

hattan apartment, she designed a home of-

fice in a walk-in closet using graphic hand-

painted wallpaper from Porter Teleo.

The takeaway? In a closet-turned-office,

it can pay off to try a decorative treatment

that might be outside your comfort zone.

“In small spaces, you can have a lot of

fun,” Ms. Fuller said. “Whether it’s a color,

finish or wallpaper that would be too much

of a commitment to put in a larger room, it

can create a dynamic space that is exciting

and inspiring to be in.”

Create a Multipurpose Room

If you can’t spare a storage closet, you may

need to squeeze a desk into an existing

room.

Although sleep researchers typically rec-

ommend keeping computers out of the bed-

room, Alexander Doherty, an interior de-

signer in New York, isn’t convinced. “I’m

not a psychologist,” he said, “but everybody

brings their laptop into their bedroom. It’s

the reality of the world in which we live.”

In the interests of practicality, Mr. Do-

herty said, “any chance I have of putting a

desk in a bedroom, I always do.”

In larger bedrooms, he has positioned

desks against the wall at the end or side of

the bed. In narrow bedrooms, he has placed

them just inside the door, before the bed.

“The desks, even with stuff on them, are

not necessarily ugly,” he said. “You could

have a pile of pleasant books and a laptop.”

A bedroom is actually a natural place for a

desk because it has a door for privacy and is

often unused during the day. But Mr. Do-

herty has also installed desks in more open

spaces, including living rooms and

kitchens, where they usually sit at one end.

In multipurpose environments, where

there isn’t a door to close, Mr. Chen sug-

gested using a rolling storage cart to help

conceal office supplies. “Some of the people

on my team have rolling carts by Joe Co-

lombo or USM for exactly that reason,” he

said.

Add a Folding Desk

If the only place to install a desk is out in the

open — in a living room, for example, or foy-

er — a unit that folds up can help hide your

work and allow your mind to shift gears at

the end of the day.

“When it’s not in use, you might not want

to be staring at this big computer,” Ms.

Richter said, “because it can feel uncom-

fortable to see your work space when you’re

trying to have off-hours.”

Even 19th-century cabinetmakers, who

made secretaries with flip-down panels for

writing and storage compartments inside,

understood the appeal of hiding the clutter

of work.

In a contemporary twist on that concept,

Ms. Richter has installed wall-mounted sec-

retaries by Harto in some clients’ homes.

They provide a place to work, but resemble

compact cabinets when closed.

“It performs the function, and you can

tuck your pens and books away, but it’s also

quite beautiful,” she said. “So even when it’s

not in use, it looks great in the room.”

Your Makeshift Home Office Needs an Upgrade

Working at the dining room

table isn’t going to feel very

professional in the long run.

ALAN TANSEY

Top, a closet-based office

Michael K. Chen designed in a

Manhattan studio. Upper right,

also designed by Mr. Chen, a

door concealing a Murphy bed

includes a desk that folds up

when not in use. Alexander

Doherty, a New York designer,

installs desks even in kitchens,

above, and bedrooms. Far left,

Ursula Carmona used plywood

and reclaimed cabinets to

create a closet office. Nicole

Fuller added hand-painted

Porter Teleo wallpaper to a

walk-in closet she converted

into a Manhattan office, left.

‘Sometimes it’s just

about carving out a

space within a space.’

THE FIX

TIM McKEOUGH

URSULA CARMONA

MARIUS CHIRA

ALAN TANSEY

NICOLE FULLER INTERIORS

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