A home-office revamp with an IKEA desk hack

As a self-employed blogger and freelance creative based at home, I find having a calm, clutter-free work environment is vital for staying focused and inspired. I count myself very lucky that we have a small box room that I can use as an office, and over the years it’s gradually evolved to suit my needs. I’ve long been happy with the bones of it, including the neutral carpet and the beautiful greige paint colour (‘Matted Off’ from Crown Paints’ Elle Deco collection). But with multiple projects on the go at any one time – and a growing collection of books, fabric swatches and paint samples to house – I was beginning to find myself in desperate need of more storage and surface space. A revamp was in order!

There’s only really scope for adding furniture on one side of this room, as the other has a chimney breast and our boiler / linen cupboard. We also need to keep most of the floor clear to allow the doors to open, and because we often set up a camp bed in here when we need additional space for guests. So, it was time for a bit of creative thinking to fit as much as possible along one wall, without making everything look cramped or unbalanced.

Here’s what the room used to look like. Just read on to find out what changes I’ve made…

The IKEA CUSTOM desk

The obvious answer to my dilemma was to replace the simple white desk with something that provided more storage. The desk of my dreams would be a long custom-made design in pale oak – a bit like the this one in the home of US blogger Anne Sage. Sadly I didn’t have the budget for anything bespoke, so I decided to have a go at creating something similar using pieces from IKEA.

I already had a ‘BESTÅ’ cupboard in a white-stained oak effect, so that was the starting point for my design. Ideally I would have paired it with an identical one to form either end of the desk, but the cupboard is 120cm wide and I soon realised that the room isn’t big enough to accommodate two. At just 36cm wide and available in the same finish, an ‘ALEX’ drawer unit proved to be a good solution, but that in turn created another problem. I needed both pieces to be exactly the same height so that I could run a tabletop across them, but the drawers are 4cm lower than the cupboard with legs or 6cm higher than the cupboard without legs. I’d long ago replaced the wooden legs that come as standard on the ‘BESTÅ’ range with metal ones, but luckily I’d stored the originals away rather than getting rid of them entirely, meaning I could chop them down by 4cm with a saw and swap them back in.

The next issue I had to grapple with was the tabletop itself. IKEA’s ‘LAGKAPTEN’ range is designed to work with the ‘ALEX’ drawers, but the maximum length is 200cm. That would have left me with a gap of only 44cm to sit in, so I had to use two tops – one 140cm, the other 120cm – instead. I attached one end of the longer one to the ‘ALEX’ unit using the fixings provided, and secured the other end to the side of the ‘BESTÅ’ cupboard with furniture brackets. As the cupboard structure is made of hollow particleboard, I needed to add a narrow baton of solid wood inside it to give the brackets something to screw into, but that was easy enough to fix in place with wood glue. The shorter tabletop then slid into place over the cupboard. It’s worth noting that the tabletop is deeper than the cupboard, which means there’s a 16cm overhang at the back, but it’s not visible from the front and the void has actually come in handy for storage and hiding cables.

N.B. IKEA has an ‘ALEX’ cupboard to match the drawers, which would get rid of the issue with differing heights. This wasn’t available in the white-stained oak colourway when I undertook the project, however, and in any case I was keen to make use of my existing ‘BESTÅ’ unit. It provides more overall storage space, too.

The result is by no means perfect, as the tabletops come wrapped so it’s impossible to get two which have exactly the same grain pattern – and if I’m honest, I’d prefer sleeker drawers with the same push-to-open mechanism as the cupboard doors rather than the cut-out handles of the ‘ALEX’ unit. But I’m still really pleased with it, and I love the way one end looks like an elegant sideboard rather than anything overly functional or utilitarian.

The curtains

The other major change in my home office is a pair of semi-sheer white linen curtains to match those in our spare bedroom. Previously I only had a discreet roll-down blind in here, as I wanted to keep the space as airy and pared-back as possible. But with a larger, chunkier desk set-up, I felt it needed a few softer touches to offset all the angular lines. I also wanted greater control over the light, as a recent extension to the medical centre behind our house resulted in several trees being chopped down and we now get much stronger direct sunshine. We still have the blackout blind for guests who sleep in this room to use, but when I’m working I can draw the curtains against glare without having to choose between full light or total darkness.

The finishing touches

Another addition comes in the from of a large beige woollen rug. Not only does it add another element of softness, it grounds the space as a whole and stops the desk from looking lost in an otherwise empty room. I couldn’t find a rug long yet narrow enough to run the whole length of my IKEA desk hack, but I quite like the asymmetrical look of having it stop two thirds of the way along, and the flat-weave design means it doesn’t make one end of the desk noticeably higher than the other.

Most of the other pieces – the ‘String Pocket’ shelving unit, the artwork, the smaller accessories – have stayed the same, though I’ve rearranged things to suit the new layout. I’ve also swapped around my two Carl Hansen & Søn CH24 ‘Wishbone’ chairs so that the beige-coloured ‘Barley’ one sits in here and the blue-lacquered 70th anniversary edition is now downstairs.

So there you have it: my revamped home office. The additional storage and desk space has proven so useful, keeping clutter at bay and giving me more scope to style or work as needed. What’s more, the pale oak effect adds a gentle warmth, offsetting the greige walls perfectly and making the room feel much more inviting. The overall effect is minimalist yet cosy, and I genuinely look forward to spending time in here every day – and with the whole makeover coming in at less than £500 (including the rug and curtains), you can’t get a better result than that!

All photography by Abi Dare