Chances are, if you're reading Apartment Therapy, you're not the type to just accept what you're given with a home. You're always looking for ways to improve your apartment and make it all seamlessly fit your life. While you might have considered taking the doors off the kitchen cabinets (a great visual trick for renters in small spaces), you might not have considered that open shelving might work in another room in the home: Your office.
But before you make the plunge and start tearing off doors or switching out file cabinets for floating shelves, sit in your workspace and ask yourself a few questions.
Do you have a small office?
If feeling constrained is really cramping your office style, switching out closed-off storage for open shelves might help. Just like in the kitchen, open shelving in the office can create an airier feeling, as long as it's not overcrowded or cluttered.
Are you organized?
Open shelves mean there's nowhere to hide messes. If you're naturally organized--the kind of person whose cabinets would be spotless with or without doors--you'll do well with open shelves.
Everything in its place in Maurice's loft office.
Do you work with lots of tools or references at once?
If you need instant access to lots of tools throughout the course of your work, open shelving can help. Without doors and compartments, you can see everything at a glance and grab what you need easily. It's like an expansion to your desktop space.
Do you actually use everything you store?
One of the biggest "cons" about open shelving is that you leave everything open to dust and dirt. But that's only a problem if you don't actively use most of what's on your shelf. If you've pared down your gear and only keep often-used items around, dust won't ever be a huge problem.
Is your work or hobby creative?
Professionals in creative industries are a more likely fit for open office shelving because they work with materials and tools that have inherent aesthetic qualities. Dull finance textbooks don't quite make the best backdrop for your workspace, but garments, jars of ribbon and colorful art supplies definitely do.
Vintage clothes look great in the Adore Vintage studio.
(Images: Rosa's Wonderful Creative Space, Maurice's Chicago Timber Loft Office, Inside the Lovely Studio of Adore Vintage)
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My husband and I have a shared studio space and all of our shelves are open. I do this whenever I can in our home because it's too easy to "hide" things you don't want to deal with, or hang on to things that are of no use.
I am in love with open shelving. It helped my add more depth to my very vacant yet small living room. Take a peek at before and after photos of my offset open shelving in my living room http://www.sequel-sequel.com/as-seen-a-finished-wanted-look/.
Works in the bathroom as well. We have cubbies in the bathroom that go through to the closet that I use for t-shirts and other things that can be folded. On the bathroom side I keep the towels folded neatly and a few bins that can be pulled out for storing grooming items.
Those shelves in the first photo are so bowed on the right - it's making nervous just looking at it! Haha the third is just perfection though - I love the look of box shelves, especially in a closet-type space where you want your beautiful pieces shown off.
I like a bit of a mix so I can close the door/drawer on the less attractive tools/supplies, but have the things that are interesting or attractive and that I use frequently out in the open and easy to access.
I think I'm a bit of both, depends on what it is I'm storing. Files and basic office stuff in drawers, stuff like that, but most everything else can go on shelves where it's easy to reach.
In the kitchen, I do like drawers for most things, and a few upper cabinets, or shelves, depending upon what I'm after for things like glassware and dishes
My home office, which is not for paid work, is lined with bookshelves on 2 walls and I've used them for more than books. One shelf is devoted to my Greek family photos in front of a 1800 map of Greece, with photos of my ancestral village and a few Greek soldier dolls. One space is left empty for rotating art that fits into that space, and directly in front of me as I sit at my computer, I've hung a gorgeous Kilim rug behind the shelves and it gives my eyes a place to wander with it's intricate pattern. I rotate my international dolls on the shelves in front of the rug and I appreciate them more since I only see a few at a time.
In my painting studio, I have a set of shelves for open storing of inspirational books, upon which I prop small canvases of paintings that have to "sit" for awhile until they tell me what they need to be finished.
My paints and brushes are stored in cubbies of my favorite desk in the world which I found HERE on a weekly scavenger post. It's a Wells Fargo desk and I happened to live in SF when it was posted. I love the hidden cubbies that used to be used for the mail. I usually leave the doors open to see all the colors.
I have a wall of shelves for storing fabric and fiber for my weaving and quilting and they are open and quite messy. But colorful and inspirational. Being able to SEE them is part of the process of deciding what to do with them.
My kitchen has a floor to ceiling bookshelf too, and it's proving handy for storing heavy things like my mixer and cast iron dutch ovens at waist level. MUCH easier to move at that body-friendly height. The rest of the shelves are for things I use often, like spices, coffees and teas, colorful coffee and tea mugs...of which I have an obscene amount.
I've been told that right brained people do better with organization if they can see what they need when they need it. So I've surrendered to my brain style. Before, I used to neatly store things I hardly ever used, but kept the stuff I needed out in the open in piles on any horizontal surface. At least now the horizontal surfaces are shelves and it looks like I have a plan.
Wow. Sorry that was so long! I got carried away with how well shelving works for messy me.
I like open some open shelving in kitchens. There is always something I like to display I think they make a kitchen cosy.
Sistervashti, thanks for sharing such a loving description of your home office and kitchen. I enjoyed reading about your different storage solutions. I too rely on visuals to organize my office--it makes things easier and so much more pleasant.
Yes I do love open shelving, even if it do look a bit messy, i think it looks even prettier :)