Office / Box Room

Since going freelance in March 2018, I found that I needed a space to escape away from the distractions of downstairs. We decided that the best place to create an office space would be in our smallest bedroom. By changing the location of the radiator we were able to reconfigure the room so that it worked as a little guest room and an office space with plenty of out of sight storage.

My intention was to create a bright and fresh space to work in, which also worked as a guest room. We actually ended up using this as an AirBnb room for a few months - as it is only a single room, it was very low maintenance and was a good little side earner too!

This is what the desk area looks like now.

When we viewed the house in 2016.

This room transformation was a luxury for us, because we didn’t actually do any of it ourselves. At the time, we were hosting supper clubs which paid for some of our renovations. Our builder Krystian and his helper were able to complete this room in about two weeks.

Here’s what they had to do:

• Stripped two layers of wood chip wallpaper (off walls and ceiling)

• Re-plastered

• Replaced two windows

• Replaced and relocated radiator* from under one window to under the bigger window (near where the desk is now)

• Painted walls and woodwork

• Created built in shelves in the existing cupboard for office paraphernalia

• Fitted wood for desk and added shelf above it

• Fitted new Sisal carpet

• Updated switches and sockets

*By relocating the radiator, we could then squeeze the little single bed under the other window creating space for a desk).

Literally a box room. We could barely see in when we viewed the house!

Same view two years later. The bed used to go where the desk is.

Walls

We painted the walls and ceiling in Farrow and Ball’s ‘Blackened’, which we colour matched in Dulux. It’s a very soft and cool light grey which (for a grey) is uplifting, especially in this room, as it is South facing and very sunny during the day.

Single bed in its new location.

Carpet

Still being in the relatively early stages of the renovation process, I chose a Sisal carpet. Unbeknownst to me, this is a tricky type of carpet to fit, and most carpet fitters aren’t keen on installing it. Luckily this room was small and straightforward to carpet, but as this was the first bedroom we redecorated, it meant that the rest of the bedrooms, along with the stairs and landing also needed to be carpeted with this for continuity.

I love the carpet itself as it looks fab and is super hard wearing, but i’m not sure it was worth the hassle we’ve had with the fitting throughout our renovations!

A tiny but very functional little room.

This is a super useful room now, and has a lovely view out onto the garden from the desk! If you have any questions about this little makeover please send me a message, i’d love to chat.

I’ve listed where everything was sourced below:

We sourced from…

Carpet - Designer Carpet

Radiator - EBay (similar to these)

Paint - F&B Blackened (colour matched by Dulux)

Blinds - Blinds 2 Go

We used existing furniture, bedding, lighting.