Home Offices: Floor Plans that Fit Them and Tips for Styling Them

Perhaps no element of home design has transformed more throughout 2020 than home offices. Classic home offices were fairly narrowly defined: they were supplements for traditional offices for times you needed to bring your work home. Or they were work from home offices for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and telecommuters. Sometimes a DIY home office was simply a place to stash bills and do the taxes.

But home offices have evolved significantly. They’re now a go-to working space for millions of professionals whose morning commute shifted from traveling highways to familiar hallways. Even more, built in home offices are also classrooms for kids engaged in virtual learning.

Ideally, these DIY home offices are stress-free workspaces designed to stoke productivity. It doesn’t always work out that way; we get it, some StyleCraft team members not out on construction sites are working from home, too. So, taking our work-from-home and homebuilding experience in tandem, we’ve laid out some options for work from home offices available in StyleCraft floor plans. And we’re also sharing some tips for making these modern, stylish home offices an effective substitute to your traditional out-of-home workspace.

HOW WE INCORPORATE HOME OFFICES INTO OUR FLOOR PLANS

Does your back hurt? Does your quarterly report have juice box stains? You’ve been working from the kitchen table again, haven’t you? Being in the splash zone of kids’ snack times and saddling up on furniture that ignores ergonomics isn’t ideal for DIY home offices. Instead, the following home offices are much more practical, and are available in StyleCraft’s smartly designed homes.

Pocket Home Offices

These built in home offices are available in our Gateway, Expressions, and Freestyle homes. Basically, they’re set off areas in living spaces ideally situated and designed for spending some productive one-on-one time with your laptop or smartphone. In StyleCraft homes, these work from home offices are conveniently located either near the Owner’s Suite or the kitchen-café-family room — ideal for those floor plans featuring first-floor living.

The Ivy in Townes at Notting Place and The Highland in The Overlook at Hancock Village

Flex Rooms

Pump up your productivity with our versatile take on classic home offices. Our flex rooms serve many purposes — from playrooms to guest suites, to — you guessed it — built in home offices. Setting up home offices in place of a Flex Room is ideal in that it’s an enclosed space dedicated to one task: getting work done. In fact, transforming a Flex Room into a Study is one of the most popular routes for StyleCraft homebuyers. Typically situated on the first floor of the home in a convenient location near the family room and kitchen, these home offices ensure privacy and convenience.

The Potomac or James floor plans in Villas at Iron Mill provide an ideally located Flex Room-turned Study.

Dual Owner’s Suites

We already mentioned the downsides of setting up home offices in the kitchen. Well, another popular area of the home that gets forced into double duty is the bedroom. While sleeping in DIY home offices is never ideal — furniture for home offices shouldn’t include king beds and night stands — StyleCraft makes it a much more feasible solution. Our Dual Owner’s Suite floor plans allow homeowners to have both a comfortable Owner’s Suite and built in home offices. These roomy workspaces are conveniently located beside the Owner’s Bath and Bedroom.

The Mattox in Mosaic at West Creek and The Willow in Iron Mill Townes

DIY TIPS FOR CREATING YOUR PERFECT HOME OFFICE

Finding the right space for work from home offices is just half the challenge. Setting up shop is the other, whether you’re searching for the just right furniture for home offices or nailing the feng shui to maximize your productivity. Here are some helpful tips and tricks to optimize the setup of DIY home offices:

• The desk is the hub of all home offices, which makes it the ideal place to begin. First off, its size, shape, and placement can dictate your interior decoration. Second, once you’ve decided on the desk, the fun part begins: accessorizing your workspace with family photos, supplies, a houseplant — whatever muses get the wheels turning “upstairs.”
• We all want stylish home offices. But it’s best to conquer function, then form. Decide on how you’ll keep books, papers, records, and more organized. Will you use a book shelf, filing cabinet, cubbies, or some other system to make sure everything is in its right place? Extend this organization to other commonly used materials and supplies, keeping your calendar, Post-Its, phone charger, and even your printer within arm’s reach for easy multi-tasking.
• Just because DIY homes offices are in your home doesn’t mean they’re automatically comfortable. This includes the right chair to get you through a day of Zoom calls, as well as a few accessories to make it an inviting space afterhours — whether that means kids or other guests will be taking over your workday refuge. Setting up home offices with welcoming artwork, ample seating, and other touches ensures they work like an office but feel like home.
• Finally, think about the first thing you do when stepping into your office: flipping the switch, right? Optimize your lighting to go easy on your eyes, whether you prefer overhead lighting, the warm glow of a desk lamp, or parting the curtain and inviting the sun inside. Be sure to position light sources to avoid creating glare on your computer monitor, too.
• Looking for more guidance? Find additional ideas and how-to’s for getting DIY home offices up and running

Home offices are more and more becoming the primary option for where to spend your work day, and not just a back-up plan. By giving these work from home offices careful thought, you can plan on having a productive day — no matter what’s happening around the house. Just remember, whether you’re considering stylish home offices or classic home offices, it’s not just about looking good. The best home offices help you feel like you can get the job done without a hitch, too.