Lately I’ve had a lot of requests to convert what is most often simply a large alcove (the builder calls it a den) into a functional work space.

Here are two that I completed recently and each is customized to the needs of the owner and each was put together a little differently.

The first was done for a client who works from home and spends 12 hours a day in his home office. He needed a large work surface to spread out his papers and tons of shelving for books and binders.

We took three Ikea work tables and cut them to fit the dimensions of the room, creating an L shaped work surface from two of them and a desk side from the third. The tables were then mounted walls using L brackets and anchors.. We then took two Ikea Billy bookcases and cut the bottoms down so they would fit onto our work surface and reach the ceiling.

Then we added some trim pieces, drilled 4 holes and installed desk grommets and created an easy pleasing and functional home office.

At the second condo, the client need a large workspace and a long shelf for monitors and keyboards as he does film and music editing. Book storage wasn’t an issue but some overhead closed storage was needed.

In this case, the back wall was too long for stock work table top so we had to build a frame from scratch and cut table tops from large sheets of melamine. We added a couple of legs and two angle brackets for additional support. For the overhead cabinets we used kitchen wall cabinets designed to go above a stove as they were the perfect size.

So there you have it; two custom designed home offices created to address the specific needs of each client. A little creativity and improvising can go a long way to turning a basically useless space into something that looks great and functions perfectly.