Staging the Home Office
For a faster, more profitable home sale
Staging the home office before you sell your house will give buyers that functional and organized space they are looking for at this time.
With so many people working from home into 2022, an office space has become a "must have" for buyers.
Unfortunately, many home owners don’t have the luxury of designating a specific room for a home office.
Most likely, your home office consists of a desk and computer sharing a space in a guest room with a bed, exercise equipment and an ironing board.
If you are preparing to put your home on the real estate market, why not stage a multi-functional room like this into a pretty home office instead?
If you aren't selling your home, but want to fix up a room as an office, this page is for you too!
Adding an office will add value to your home, even if it’s just a shared space in the kitchen or closet in the living room.
Interior Design Trends for 2022
"We are seeing creative uses of existing spaces in homes--closets for instance--that can be transformed into a functional office with new cabinetry," says San Francisco-based designer Allison Caccoma of Allison Caccoma Interiors. "Other less used rooms in homes are also increasingly needed as a beautiful office. The trick is to make it pretty. Paint the cabinetry blue or green, decorate with special fabrics like it's a proper room and enjoy your time working from home."
Staging the home office
Once you've decluttered, depersonalized and cleaned your office space, you can begin the fun part of staging the home office.
Your goal is to make your home appeal to the widest range of home buyers possible. The addition of a home office may just seal the deal!
Stage your home office in neutral paint colors
- Normally, energetic colors that stimulate the mind, like red, would be great for an office space. But bold, bright colors are just too overpowering and personal for home staging.
- Many people don't like bold colors and will only be thinking about all the repainting they'll have to do.
- Choose a neutral color scheme in calming colors, like a warm white, cream, soft gray, green or blue.
- If you want to add pops of bright color to your home office design, by all means, do so with colorful accessories, chair upholstery fabrics and/or window treatments.
- Flooring should be a neutral tone, whether it's carpeting, laminate or wood. If you're planning to install a new wall-to-wall carpet, stick with a neutral tone.
- Painting wood trim white will complement any color scheme.
The best lighting for a home office
Ambient light is a general, evenly distributed source of light that brightens up an entire room.
Natural light is the preferred form of ambient lighting for any room in the house, so open the drapes or blinds, or remove window treatments entirely.
If natural light is lacking, a ceiling fixture or floor lamps will brighten as well. You may need two floor lamps to balance the light.
A better choice for adding needed lighting to a room (that won't take up any floor space!) is with recessed lighting. I love recessed lighting because it doesn't protrude into the room and offers a soft, ambient light.
Task lighting is a must in every home office. A desk lamp or floor lamp should be bright enough to illuminate your work space.
How to place your home office furniture
All you need are a few pieces of furniture to indicate the purpose of a room. When staging the home office, a desk and chair and a few accessories will do.
Ideally, if you are expecting regular visitors, the desk and chair should be facing the doorway to the room when you are seated at the desk. A visitor's chair can be placed perpendicular to the desk.
If you have the space, create a little reading "nook" in a corner with a comfy chair, small table and a floor lamp.
For those who prefer looking outside while they work, place the desk and chair facing the outdoor view.
Placing the desk at an angle in a corner is another option for a small or difficult space.
The office desk and chair do not have to be the old traditional boring standbys. My personal favorite choice for a work desk is an small old farm table painted in white.
Any comfortable chair can serve as an office chair, as long as it's the right working height for the table.
Use office organizers to organize any clutter
Stage your home office by storing supplies out of sight. Hide office supplies inside desk drawers or stash them inside a storage cabinet.
Label each storage box so that you can immediately find what you need. You can find label makers at any office supply store.
Separate office supplies into categories by placing "like" items together. For instance, keep all writing utensils in one place, like your desk. Store all paper in another place, mail supplies in one drawer, and so on. This way you won't be rummaging through every drawer looking for one thing.
If you storage space if limited, take advantage of vertical space by installing shelves on the wall. This will give you extra storage without sacrificing floor space.
Shelving gives you a place to put your favorite books or work manuals, hanging filing systems, and more. Stage shelves with pretty office organizers like hanging wire baskets, bins, drawers or boxes.
Don't cram home office shelves completely full; leave spaces between items to create a more open office design. This is also a good interior decorator tip for small spaces.
A tall armoire in your office will provide a ton of additional storage opportunities-- if you have a wireless printer, you can stash that in there as well.
Accessorizing the home office
- Don't use your desk as a storage area. Your desktop should be 60% clear of clutter during home viewings.
- Keep writing utensils in an attractive holder; place a lamp off to one side; hide work papers in an attractive box.
- Remove family photos from the desk and room, as they are far too personal for home staging.
- Keep artwork and colors gender neutral in your home office design; an old map, attractive books, a globe, objects from nature, a landscape painting, a large wall clock...
- Try your hand at creating a vignette somewhere in your office.
- Place a large area rug beneath the desk area and chair to warm up and add color and texture to the space. Make sure that it's large enough so the chair doesn't come off the rug when you pull it out.
- Add live green plants or fresh flowers to bring life into the space. Place a tall big-leafed plant in an empty corner.
No spare room? Try one of these office design ideas
- Turn a spare closet into an office. What a great idea! When you're done working--you simply shut the door.
- Paint the interior a light neutral color, or perhaps in a coordinating or darker color of surrounding walls.
- Stage the closet with attractive organizational boxes, book covers and filing systems in coordinating patterns and colors.
- Be sure to select colors that coordinate with your surrounding home design to create good flow.
- Go to the containerstore.com to view a great selection of attractive and colorful storage containers for your home office design.
- Make sure that house hunters see your adorable closet office by leaving the door open for viewings.
- Open the closet doors to display the office space during home viewings.
- Add a pretty accent chair that complements your home decor, as pictured.
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