How to Remodel a Home Office
The order the work happens in, and what to settle before anything is ordered. Built-in desk, real storage, and a wall you can be seen against.
BeforeAfter
- 1
Work out what the room has to do
A home office remodel is joinery plus a lighting plan. The desk becomes part of the wall, the storage goes vertical, and — since half the room's job is now being a background — the wall behind the chair gets as much thought as the one in front of it.
- 2
Decide what is actually changing
On this project the work touches built-in desk and returns, shelving to ceiling, cable management, task and background lighting — and often acoustic treatment and wall finish behind the desk. Settling that list first is what stops a remodel growing sideways once it has started.
- 3
Hold the dimensions
Whatever the finishes, these do not move. A built-in desk wants 28–30in of depth for a monitor at a comfortable distance. Allow 36in behind the desk for the chair to roll back. Set the desk at 29–30in; a counter-height run at 36in is a standing desk, not a sitting one.
- 4
Plan the light before the finishes
Three jobs: task light on the desk surface, a soft frontal source at face height for calls, and something on the back wall so the video background has depth. A downlight overhead does none of these and creates screen glare.
- 5
Check it against the room you have
Photograph the space and render it before anything is ordered. A Standard run costs 4 credits and a new account starts with 4, so the whole thing can be seen before a single decision is paid for.
Questions
- What should I decide first in a home office remodel?
- A home office remodel is joinery plus a lighting plan. The desk becomes part of the wall, the storage goes vertical, and — since half the room's job is now being a background — the wall behind the chair gets as much thought as the one in front of it.
- What goes wrong most often?
- The desk facing a window, so the camera exposes for the light and the face goes dark. Shelving stopped at picture height, wasting the most useful storage in the room.
- Will it work in a small home office?
- In an alcove under 6ft wide, run the desk the full width and take the shelving to the ceiling above it. A freestanding desk in a small office wastes the two inches at each end that make it feel built-in.
- Can I see it on my own home office before starting?
- Yes — photograph the space and run it through the Studio. It is generated imagery, so compare the render against your photo rather than treating it as a plan.