Basic rules for workplace design in living rooms

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A study in your own apartment is a real salvation for a modern person. Often, a work area in the living room becomes a convenient and satisfying option for everyone. What is the best way to zone the living room and work area?

A shortage of square meters in an apartment is a common problem, and not everyone can allocate a separate room for a study. You have to set up a workplace in one of the other rooms - in the living room or bedroom. If you approach the issue wisely and think through every little detail, you can get an attractive option for a living room combined with a study.

Lighting

When developing the design of a living room with an office , it is necessary to take into account that the presence of good natural lighting for work is one of the main conditions. Therefore, the work area is usually located next to the window.

Other ideas for hiding your home office in different rooms:

And here are 6 more photos of a comfortable desktop that can be completely closed when work is finished. They all use the idea of ​​“compact + comfortable”, making this home office easily fit into any room in your home.

Shelving

Shelves made of wood or plasterboard will help create a dedicated corner, which will not be completely isolated, and thus will not reduce the volume of the room. These racks are used to store books, folders with papers; they can be decorated with live plants and decorative figures.

Which closet doors are better?

Cabinet doors should ideally open 180 degrees or slide along the side walls so as not to interfere with the work process. Here are some of the best options:

• Folding doors - they are especially compact and fold easily and conveniently.
• Pocket doors are revolving sliding doors that, when opened, completely disappear into the side pockets of the wardrobe and thus provide maximum freedom of movement.
• Sliding doors - These are ideal for elegant built-in solutions, but have one drawback. Since the track is attached to the top of the ceiling, the space to the side of the wall must be left free.

Corners and niches

If there are niches or corners in the living room, use them for a work space. Custom-made furniture will make the most of the available space.

The time of day is important

Before you start zoning your living room and work area, you need to decide when you need to work - during the day or in the evening, and also take into account your occupation.

Work during the day

If your work schedule is such that you work at home mainly during the day, then it is best to place your workplace by the window, that is, where there is maximum natural light. The sun's rays are known to not only improve our mood, but also make us more efficient, and therefore more productive.

It is especially convenient to equip it in long rooms. Likewise, the rest of the space, separated from the work area, will look more harmonious.

You can also save square meters if you install a table instead of a window sill, and place many shelves or cabinets around the window for the necessary accessories.

If your apartment has an insulated balcony or loggia, they can be converted into a work office without compromising the living room. But it would be wise to combine them. As a rule, the wall separating the loggia and the room is not load-bearing, so it can be dismantled. A good option is to remove not the entire wall, but only the window block, and place a table on the remaining part of the partition.

Work in the evening

If you have to work at home mainly in the evening, then you will have to think about the other inhabitants of the apartment, because the whole family gathers in the living room in the evenings. Family members are chatting or watching TV, which means you can’t count on silence. The exception is if you live in an apartment alone.

You need to start from the type of activity. If concentration and privacy are not important to you, for example, you are a web designer or a needlewoman, then socializing in the living room may not hurt you, and it will even be nice to join the rest of the family in communicating or watching TV.

In this case, you can place the desktop so that you are not fenced off from others, for example, place it close to the back of an unfolded sofa.

If you need complete concentration and concentration, then it is better to arrange your workplace, separating it from the general space.

Zoning

In the design of a living room with an office, the technique of visual division of space is also widely used. As a rule, different floor and ceiling coverings are used in different areas, wallpaper with different patterns or paints of different shades on the walls, or finishing materials of different textures.

Miscellaneous floor covering

If the living room and study are combined, it makes sense to use different floor coverings. In the area where the owners relax, carpet or a wooden floor covering with a fluffy carpet laid on top is appropriate. In the work area, the most suitable option would be a laminate or parquet floor.

folding corner workplace in the bedroom:

Is there room for a home office only in the bedroom? But are you sure that there really shouldn’t be anything here that reminds you of work when you’re relaxing? An excellent solution is a mobile modular table (can be made to order). It consists of a movable working part, and a fixed part, where office equipment and papers are stored. Need some work - move the cabinets apart at an angle of 90 degrees. Once you're done, slide them together and you've got a modest nightstand without any hint of a home office.

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Transfer to the balcony

Another option for creating an office interior in the living room is a work area on the balcony. This solution can be used if the balcony is insulated or combined with the living room.

Advantages and disadvantages of a working area in the living room

Combining a living room with a work area will help you in a situation where you don’t have the opportunity to set up your own office. In this case, the room acquires two functions at once: it combines the possibility of rest and work.

Combining two functional areas in one room saves space and makes the interior more original

This design solution has its positive and negative qualities.

At the beginning, it’s worth talking about what advantages and disadvantages the work area has in the interior of the living room. Why is this mentioned in the first place? In order for you to understand whether this interior design option is right for you, or whether it is worth considering the option of allocating a separate room in your apartment for an office.

Let's start, perhaps, with the obvious disadvantages, especially since they are significantly fewer than the advantages:

1. The designers consider the most significant drawback to be that several free square meters immediately disappear in the room.
2. Provided that there are often guests in the house, or the family itself is large, you will feel the need to coordinate your actions with others.
3. In addition, it can be difficult to abstract from the atmosphere of a common room. You may be distracted by extraneous sounds. It will not always be possible to get into a working mood.
4. If the workspace is divided and organized incorrectly, the entire room, and not just a specific area, can turn into your personal office.

If you think that the disadvantages are significant and there are too many of them, then we suggest that you familiarize yourself with all the objective advantages of this method of zoning a living room:

1. Living rooms in modern houses have large windows, sometimes even panoramic or several. It is thanks to this fact that there is always enough natural sunlight in this room. This is not only very convenient during the work process, but also has a beneficial effect on our health. After all, it is precisely because our skin is exposed to sunlight that the body begins to produce essential vitamin D. The production of this vitamin and the hormone cortisol increases performance, concentration and productivity.
2. Modern halls have sufficient area to accommodate several zones at once.
3. If you love original interiors with a twist, then combining an office with a living room will appeal to you like no other.
4. The combination of combining two zones helps to save space and make the apartment more comfortable and familiar.
5. Although there is a great risk that you will be distracted by extraneous sounds emanating from equipment and your family members, you will always be close to your family and friends, and will be able to spend time with them, even without interrupting your work or study.