You know how sometimes, it seems like there's not enough time in the day to get things done. But then somehow, you find time to do things and it all works out for the best? Yeah? Well you can carry that over-achieving philosophy to your space. Even when you think there's no possible place to plop a proper home office—residing you to a life of sofa-desking—you'll get creative and squeeze a workspace into one of these 4 areas of your home.
1. The Kitchen
If you work more than you cook, dedicate some of your counter space to a workspace. If you can't give up any of that precious counter, invest in an inexpensive kitchen island or cart (IKEA has some great ones, like this $59.99 model that's perfect for a laptop).
BONUS IDEA: You'll get great use out of multi-tasking your kitchen and office storage.
2. The Dining Room
Again, for the folks who's idea of "home cooking" is eating Chinese takeout on the sofa, use any available eating space—whether it's a formal table or just a tiny nook—as an office. A table and chair is a table and chair, right?
BONUS IDEA: The fact that your dining area is probably lacking in both power outlets and connectivity means you have an excuse to get crafty with cord control and get started making your place completely wireless.
3. The Closet
Kill two birds with one stone: Donate a bunch of your lesser-worn clothes to charity and make room to transform your closet into a home office. With the retail market going modern, there are plenty of small desks to be bought. Or, you can just make use of custom closet shelving, like in image directly above.
BONUS IDEA: If your closet is less walk-in and more peek-and-feel-around, try a desk on casters, like in this rolling hideaway closet office.
4. The Porch
If you've got an outdoor space, chances are it's the least-used room in your home. What's that? That's because it's below freezing outside right now? Well close it in with walls or super-thick curtains and wire up a few space heaters to get a cozy (if not comfortable) home office.
BONUS IDEA: Since you might already have motion-sensor lights installed out there, you'll be saving money with a super-efficient lighting system.
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A mini office in the playroom can be a good idea, too. Get work done and feel confident the kids aren't destroying something in the other room. This works best with laptops you can take with you when you leave!
My "office" is my coffee table.
It's got a big roomy shelf underneath it, so when I'm not working, everything gets hidden inside it - laptop, drawing tablet, mousepad, lap-desk, books, paper-pads, etc. It's actually a little surprising how much stuff fits.
Books I'm not actively using get put on a bookshelf nearby, and the wireless modem with backup drive lives there too.
I keep the coffee table clean so it's always a good empty workspace I can spread out on. Wouldn't work for someone who needs to keep stuff out more, but it works for me!
Thanks for the suggestions. I have also used a couple of collapsible brackets http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003N2Y0IU/ref=oss_product and an extra pantry shelf to create a dropleaf counter in my kitchen which is great to put up for doing paperwork, setting down the grocery sacks and extra counter space when too many cooks are in the kitchen, LOL!
I had to choose between my desk or a dinning table. now I have a kitchen island that works as dinning table, and a dinning room that serves as a studio....