Home Office Design

Like many people these days, we work from home. The property is an old dairy farm, which is essentially a cottage that has been extended over the years. The existing space was a thin rectangular room with a double fronted wood burner and an opening into a new extension. This extended space was also long and narrow, so neither room worked well.

We began by removing this central wall – the original external wall to the property. This required two parallel steels fabricated together and two columns with deep footings – in other words, an extensive amount of interior build work just to create one large room, but it was really worth it! I had designed the space so that the two main desk areas would be at the back of the room and built in. The central stud wall conceals the steep post, but also creates the space for two large, bespoke doors to slide into that can be slid across both desk spaces to conceal the working area entirely in the evening.

I wanted these doors to be beautiful and an integral part of the room design, so I selected bamboo cladding. The desks and shelves above are also built out of solid bamboo.

We replaced an existing window with new French doors which open out onto a private, side garden and nice coffee/eating area in the summer. The TV and fire area is entirely bespoke and conceals the steel post on the opposite wall. The Planika bioethanol open fire is the centre piece of the living area, and a wonderfully sustainable and beautiful way to heat the entire room in the winter, along with the electric radiators which are separate to the rest of the central heating in the house.

A made to measure bamboo clad set of cupboards running behind the sofa and tall storage cupboards built into the walls provide ample and discreet office storage space whilst, with nothing on display, but easily accessible.

Rebecca Coulby