If you do any kind of work at home, you’ve definitely considered the “closet into office” conversion. Whether you’re a student, a busy professional or a momtrepreneur, you know how important it can be to have a workspace in the home. But, you may also face the reality of limited space.
Most of us don’t have an extra room to devote to work. Turning a closet into an office is the next best thing. If you can sacrifice some unutilized space, follow our tips on converting a closet to an office.
Closets come in all shapes and sizes. So, before you can get started on your closet into office transformation, you need to think about what kind of office you plan on ending up with.
If you’re transforming a coat closet, your biggest limiting factor will be the depth of the closet.
If you’re transforming a walk-in closet, you have more flexible options.
Measure from the back wall to the interior lip of the threshold to ensure that all of your office equipment like printers and scanners will fit with the closet door closed. After all, the best part of a closet-office, or “cloffice”, is that you can close the door and hide it all away.
A desk is hands down the most important part of any office.
If the closet is not a walk in, installing a custom hanging desk is likely your best choice – just have it cut to fit the size of your space.
The countertop can be any material you like. It could be as simple as two sheets of plywood affixed to each other with glue and screws.
To hang, you should measure about 30 inches from the ground and screw cleats to the wall that the countertop will rest on. You can clean it up by attaching a front-facing board.
If you have a walk-in closet, you’ll likely have enough space to place a standalone desk inside the closet if you choose to.
Yes, a desk is the cornerstone of any office. But that doesn’t t mean that it’s the only component of an office. Beyond the desk, you get to be a little creative and make your converted closet office into your own.
Depending on what it is that you do, you may have specific needs. For example, crafters might value extra cabinet space and a bookkeeper would probably look for more filing cabinets.
Pro tip: if you hang shelves for books, binders and files, make sure you leave enough room between shelves for the tallest of your documents.
When you convert a closet to an office, you can truly make the space your own. Make sure everything works together for the good of you.
Though it might be tempting to let your converted office become clutter-filled again, you need to stick to your guns to truly reap the benefits of your new home office. That means: keep pens and pencils put away, keep your desk clear, close the door when not in use and absolutely no hanging clothes.
You've probably never seen clothes draped over a CEO’s desk so why should they take up your space?
A dedicated workspace can make you exponentially more productive. Taking care of your office space is taking care of yourself – and, you deserve it.
Timothy Harris is a freelance writer based in Albuquerque. He brings a professional background in event marketing, residential real estate and journalism to the table to provide useful and relevant content for the modern renter. Timothy has previously written content for Karsten & Associates in New Mexico and Up 'til Dawn, a philanthropic fundraiser that benefits St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.