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This post will show you how to create an aesthetic home office on a budget. We will show you how you can save money and achieve a beautiful space.
When we moved into our new apartment, we realized that our front office (dining) space did not have windows, which made it look like a big white box. We instantly realized that we HAD to do something with the space. In all honesty, it did take us a while to piece together the perfect room with the budget we had.
We knew we didn’t want to spend a ton of money for this space, but we did want it to fit our style and make us motivated to work in every day. Since we both work from home, we needed a space that reflected who we were and inspired us to work every day.
The Inspiration Behind the Design
We have both always had an eye for design. Growing up, we would sketch out designs for our bedrooms and then beg our mom to take us to IKEA and Lowes to fulfill the dream we had on paper. We didn’t always get what we wanted when we wanted it, but we were lucky enough to redesign our rooms two or three times as we got older.
What draws us to designing a space is envisioning the potential of the space before it’s even there. That is exactly what we did when we were designing our office space at home. We knew it had to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye and capture our sense of style.
We want to take you step by step through our design process, and show you how you can create a similar aesthetic office space at home as well.
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How to Create an Aesthetic Home Office on A Budget
1. Sketch Your Design Out on Paper
One of the best ways for us to envision a space and get an idea of how to design it, is to sketch out our design on paper. We knew the back wall of the office needed to be the focal wall. It needed to be a wall that drew you in right when you walked through the door. The wall had to have a feature, and we thought what better way to do that than with wallpaper, some framed art and a beautiful buffet table.
In the center of the room, we wanted to juxtapose the square edges of the room and buffet table with a round dining table and rounded chairs.
Since the room did not have any windows in it, we had to bring life into it! We recently wrote a post about 5 Ways to Brighten Your Space and used a lot of those ideas in this space. If you are struggling to bring light into a room without windows, these tips will help you achieve a brighter and lighter room!
One of the ways we made the room appear brighter was painting our dining room table white. The top was a natural wood color before, and it made the room feel dark. By painting the surface of the table, the room instantly appeared brighter.
Secondly, we sketched in a plant to add to the room. Adding plants to a room brings life and helps influence a livelier mood to the room. You can read more tips about that HERE.
What If You Can’t Sketch A Design Yourself?
If you’re wondering.. “I can’t draw and envision a space myself. I’m just going stop here.”
Keep this in mind! You don’t have to sketch out a space to envision it. If you’re wanting a pop of color in your office, we are going to tell you ways you can do that! We will tell you how you can piece together a home office on a budget! If all else fails, draw inspiration for what we’ve done here! Don’t be discouraged! Keep reading. We promise you it’s not as hard as it looks! You can create an aesthetic home office on a budget by following the steps below!
2. Decide On Your Focal Wall
One of the best ways to make an office motivating to walk into every day is a bright feature wall or a bold wallpaper print. We personally have always wanted to try out peel & stick wallpaper but haven’t ever really found the space.
When we moved into our new apartment and saw this boring, box of a room, we knew we had to take the challenge and use wallpaper!
First, decide on your focal wall. This could be the wall your desk or workspace is against. If your desk is more towards the center of the room, choose the wall that will immediately capture someone’s attention when they walk in. Many times, that is the wall adjacent to them (which is the one we chose for our office).
Once you decide on a focal wall, the process becomes much easier. You now know what wall you are going to add the most design to. You now know where to center your artwork, and where your eye will be drawn to when you enter your space.
3. Paint or Install Wallpaper on Your Focal Wall
Remember, you want your focal wall to pop and to put a smile on your face when you walk into your office to work every morning.
If you want to paint your focal wall, there are endless amount of options to choose from. We have linked some of your favorite aesthetic paint colors down below.
Lastly, if you are wanting to wallpaper your wall (which is the option we chose) there are so many happy patterns to choose from.
Peel & stick wallpaper is so easy to install. If you mess up a section, you can always peel the paper back and realign it. It’s renter-friendly and won’t take paint off your wall if you ever wanted to remove it.
We chose this one from Rifle Paper Company, and have our favorite wallpaper suggestions below!
4. Find Furniture that Fits Your Office Space
Depending on the look and function of your office, you can begin to find furniture that fits your space. We wanted a space that functioned primarily as an office; however, we also wanted a space for multiple people to work, a place to eat when friends came over to eat or for game nights.
You may be wondering, “Where do I find furniture for my space in order to achieve an aesthetic look?” We’ve got some great options and inspiration for you.
We found all of our furniture on Facebook Marketplace, however we only did that after looking at some of our Pinterest inspiration or favorite pieces from Target.
Guess what?! We got all the furniture in our office space for under $300. If you put that into perspective, it would be hard to find a table and chairs for that price.
Facebook Marketplace can be hard to sort through, that’s why we always love to give you quick links to order the products we love and recommend for your office. Nevertheless, we have listed our favorite pieces of furniture below to help you achieve an aesthetic office space.
Tables for Your Home Office
Desk Chairs for Home Office
5. Add the Final Details to Your Room
The last tip to create an aesthetic home office on a budget is to add the final details to your office space. We find that adding personal touches or items that motivate us are what add a special energy to the space. In our office, we have some of our favorite, encouraging design magazines and coffee table books, as well as some beautiful sentimental prints.
Each of the prints we have in our office means something special to us. It reminds us of our dreams that we are working on coming into fruition.
Whatever you are working on in your office, think of some personal touches that will motivate you to keep going and moving forward towards your goals.
Shop the Wall Art in Our Office
We are so happy with the end result of our office space! It’s fun, aesthetic and joyful! We are so motivated to walk in and work every day because we took these steps to creating such a beautiful space.
Remember, this is a space where you would love to work. Create an aesthetic office space at home that will motivate you!
If you have any other tips that helped to make your aesthetic office space at home, leave them in the comments below! We would love to hear how you are taking the steps to making your office space your aesthetic dream!
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Thank you so much for this post. You have no idea how many posts that I have read in the padt year and a half since I started working from home. Not to mention how times I have rearranged my office and I think I’m on one hundred and one ways now and still feel uncomfortable. I don’t know how to get this awkward space to feel cozy to me. And she the outcome is that I come in here and feel as if I do a whole lot of nothing. I am ocd throughout the rest of my home everything has a home and I spend my down time going through my house readjusting things that were moved and then there’s the dreaded office that I originally thew together to start my job. At that time it was my daughter’s old bedroom and tbh I have always worked in an office so I have never needed an office in our home. So, I had to find things and just use them as needed. For instance I found an old antique beautiful all wood vanity that I painted dark gray to use as my desk for over a year until my husband bought me a real one. So now I have sanded the vanity all the way down to bare wood and put several coats of clear gloss poly on her. And she is now stunning and I would love to somehow incorporate her back into the offic. Help me please with your ideas already I really need to know how to apply these techniques.
Warm regards,
#1Desperatehousewife
Hi Aimee, awkward spaces can be so hard to know what to do with. Our dining space/office was one of those spaces. We found that adding wallpaper helped the room come to life since there was no window. Other cozy elements to add in a space could be a large area rug, a cozy accent chair and some new lighting. These details help to bring a space together and make it feel more curated. 🙂 Hope this helps!