apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Hmmm...seems like they screwed up the title of your question.
But in any case what you need is COLOR and LIGHT!

ALL THOSE WIRES! Find a way to hide the wires/cables!
Not sure if you could get a new desk/shelving unti but one that has a closed back would help hide the wires/cables.

You need color in that room. Either replace the desk/shelving unti with something with color or paint the one you have. Something very bringt like yellow, red or a bright blue.

If you leave the shelving until you have than use the squares of blank space on the walls to put up a poster. Something with a lot of color.

And add lighting! Soft pink lighting would be best (buy pink bulbs).

And find a spot to put a mirror. Even if its a small mirror. Mirrors always seem to add a bit of positive energy to a space.

Ok, the title was corrected.....

ouch!

first, i'd keep your components close together to minimize the unsightly wires...or go wireless if you wand.

i'd also get new shelving from ikea or something. nice, white, clean. disappears. what you have looks like a cheaply framed out wall...a construction site is not a nice place to study!

i'd also maybe make a huge bulletin board out of a cool fabric and have it wrap around the walls, above the desk.

then add some spiffy STUFF. nice and colorful OBJECTS. and baskets to hide not-so-nice stuff in.

the worst is all the wires and how you've got things connected all over the place. i'd centralize that.

then it's how small everything looks compared to the size of the big empty wall space.

go big! on SOMETHING. stretched fabric on a frame? SOMETHING.

Oh no. To sit all day facing a wall is so not feng shui. I know it seems to be the 'handiest' way to use small space, but it s awful and it looks bad. One should sit facing a door, with view on the room, not the wall. I'd totally reorganize the whole thing. Don't know yet how, but think of it.

I agree, color and light would go a long way. I think a nice sunny color would really perk up the space, and a few more lights would help change the closet from dark and dreary to cozy and warm. Mirrors would be great too.

Some fun office accessories maybe, colored boxes for storage would hide clutter while pulling together the space, pencil and pen holders... I saw a good idea recently in Martha Stewart Living. Take regular water glasses (tall, clear ones) and cut a piece of colored paper to line the inside of the glass.

Plus, maybe you could treat yourself to some flowers once a week. If you used little vases, you could put some in this space and the rest throughout your flat.

Good luck!

I would start by painting this a bright color. Maybe a sunny yellow, or a light blue, or a grassy green - whatever you like, but something that will make it seem not so cave like and dark!

Next, if it were up to me, I would make a trip to the Container Store and buy some organizational items - boxes, bins, etc in some kind of matching pattern or color that would go nicely with the wall color. I would put books, office supplies, computer accessories (manuals, cds, etc) and pretty much as much as possible on the shelves that are up high.

I would paint the actual desk space a bright white and finish it with some kind of lacquer or something to keep it from getting super gross. I would keep the work area as clear of stuff as possible. Just the computer, keyboard, speakers, and maybe a cup full of pens/pencils and a stapler or something like that.

The idea is that it's a small space, so you want to avoid darkness and you want to avoid clutter (which can make it feel like the walls are caving in on you a bit). To add some warmth and personality to the room I might put up a small magnetic board and put up pictures I like or cards I like - something I could look up at and make me smile when I needed a break from studying!

Good luck!

Seriously: why punish yourself by spending hours of your day in a closet? Put stuff there, and a table elsewhere. Come out of that closet! :-)

my suggestions are pretty much the same as the first two commenters.

first, colour! will make a huge difference in the white blandness

second, paint the shelving unit at least. it looks light and flimsy but i think you can give it more substance by giving it a nice strong colour.

the bulletin board idea is great, you can offset it from the wall just a touch and then hide all your cableing behind that. you can make a fabric board, cork, whatever, just offset it and you'll have hidden cable management (another one of the things that i think will help you dearly).

make sure you have good lighting, task lighting as well.

and then just get a bunch of colourful or interesting boxes to hold all the small things.

bringing in something personal that isn't work related will probably give you the biggest impact in making it feel comfortable.

You might consider reducing the puss and kram.

First I would read what sarahw said on the http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/good-questions/good-questions-turn-this-closet-into-a-palace-006747 thread and place your primary work surface perpendicular to the door. A deeper work surface would insure that you had an unobstructed side view into the larger area and more leg room. The side work surface could then accommodate more shelving. With more shelves, you can put more books there which would give you a wall of books which always adds visual interest. The monitors should be closer together; one on the deeper work surface and the other on the narrower surface, but adjacent. You could then place the printer there. These moves would make it easier to calm the cord clutter. Two chairs are too many. Get one chair, perhaps with a swivel, (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90126038) that both of you can use but accept that only one person can use the office at a time. And as others have suggested more light and more color.

What are the dimensions of the closet? It looks like there are two computers in the closet and the one wall facing the light extends farther that we can see in the pics.

i second the "something personal" advice. i had the same sitch, with a walk-in that had to be an office, and i put one of my few
'showcase' pieces (a framed 'rare' poster) - that i would normally display proudly in the main space - on one of the walls of the walk-in. makes it far more pleasant to work in there with a piece that i loved to keep me company. if you set it up right, walk-in offices rock.

Colour, Fabric and Task lighting will all make a big difference and soften up the space.

Bring in something personal and fun. What are studying towards? What motivates you? Pin up a picture or two that will remind you of those things. Plants would bring a bit of life in, though finding one to survive a closet is a challenge....you could always rotate it in and out of another area...

Take an hour to totally organize whats on the shelves. I see random cardboard boxes. If you keep them - cover them with pretty paper. or even just white paper, so they blend. Stand up the books that are falling over...

I have metro shelving in my bedroom and I just recently rigged some fabric to hang off the front of the top shelf to hide some unsightly junk, you might use the same to cover the exposed stuff you dont need access too frequently, theres something zen to not seeing random boxes and junk and thinking "must do XYZ"...

Container store is your friend, and a lot of their desk stuff comes in fun bright colours, so that could bring some more life in. A bulletin board could be both useful and colourful.

Definitely clean up the wires, pin them to the underside of desks and the bookcase frames.

Since you dont want to spend much money, poke around the rest of your house - do you have a serving tray you could use as an inbox? A pretty vase that can hold pens and pencils? Are there cute tins somewhere that arent holding anything important?

Thanks for all the suggestions!

The space is 250CM long by 147CM deep. Unfortunately we have to keep the existing shelving and placement of the computers as we both need to work in here simultaneously and our redecorating budget is super tight.

I love the idea of having art work to look at instead of just a painted wall and using brightly colored boxes. I love a lot of the ideas, actually!!

(ps-puss and kram means kiss and hug in Swedish ;))

It's good that you acknowledge that you need help, because honestly this is the most depressing office space I have ever seen.

The big question for me is: if you are putting your office in your bedroom closet, where are your clothes? Unless you have some seriously awesome other clothing storage I'd ditch the entire idea of using this space as an office.

If you have thought seriously about these issues and have come to the conclusion that this is the ONLY space for your office, then you have some serious work to do.

1. Acknowledge that what you have in their sucks. The chairs suck, the shelves suck, I don't see a single thing in there that is conducive to a good office space. Rip out EVERYTHING. Those shelves look like butt. And not good butt, but rather saggy and hairy butt.

2. Start with function. You need good shelving to act as both a desk and traditional shelf space. Go with Ikea, or ISS designs, or something like that. Make it modular so you can move the shelves around without getting out a drill.

3. This is an office, you need a way to file your papers so they are not all over the place. Ideally I'd go for a filing cabinet (Bisley at container store is great), but you could do nice cardboard boxes.

4. Lighting. You need better task lighting, plus some general lighting. I think it would be really cool if you had a ceiling fixture in here to put a small chandelier in (Ikea makes a nice one for $40).

5. Chair. Go get yourself a real task chair, one with casters so that you can roll it around in that little space.

Once you have all the basics taken care of start sprucing it up with color and some other objects.

I think a bit of cord management would be the first (and cheapest) thing needed to make the space look more finished, rather than just "thrown together for the time being." No, it's not the perfect space, and yes, it also needs color, general organization, personal touches and some sort of finish applied to the wood shelving, but adding some order and intention to the cord-and-cable situation (and eliminating some of them if possible - go wireless where you can?) will make a big difference, even if you can't address any of those other things immediately.

Get a used iBook and an airport base station so that one can work on the laptop while the other is in the office. Craigslist has good ibooks for under $500.00. Wireless is the way to go. I just don't see how two people can work there without it being claustrophobic. If work must be done jointly, imho, it would be better to move out of the closet and take a portion of the bedroom or living room and use that. Then use the closet for its intended purpose.

Max-I would, in a heart beat, rip it all out and start fresh if we could afford it. But we have JUST moved in and have spent ALOT of money on the rest of the flat and I'm a student. We have "wardrobes" in the bedroom (which is quite roomy) so the clothes storage is not a problem.

I really do have to work with what I have in terms of the shelves, "desks" and chairs :( for now anyway.

My husband and I also turned a closet into a workspace. The quickest way to make a change is to paint only the parts of the shelving unit facing out into the room. We painted ours white so it would visually disappear into the wall since it's such a small space. This lets whatever art you end up putting on the wall be the focal point.

You are a student and a homeowner: use your space for what you need. Use your living room as an office where you both can spread out. Change out the wardrobes so each of them is an office armoire. Work out a schedule for the use of the closer office...I guess it comes down to what you think you deserve. If you "deserve" an uncomfortable, crowded and depressing space, then gai gezunterhait!

OOPS. My last post reads a bit harsh. SAT.

Aside from aesthetics, my first thought was - ouch! - having the monitors off to one side like that is a recipe for wrist and neck strain. Add a shallow shelf over each keyboard to lift the monitor above the keyboard, so you can look straight at it as you type. (A free-standing shelf that sits on the desk could work - even a plank on bricks.) Or use pull-out keyboard trays just under the desk.

Lighting is going to be key here... Mount a couple of lights under the shelves over the desk areas, maybe pointed at the wall for indirect light. (Something like this or this). Stay away from fluorescent, which would look awful.

I like the idea of panels to hide the cords; you could use velcro patches to mount a lightweight panel to the wall, so you could remove it easily if you need to move stuff. Or use cable clips to run the cables along the vertical supports.

And I'd second the suggestions of painting the shelves... maybe paint the supports white, and stain the shelves/desks a medium wood tone.

Yikes, in your intro you referred to this space as tiny, depressing, small and awkward. That is telling. If studying is important right now, I suggest using an pleasant part of your flat to do it in - you will be happier, and I suspect you will be more successful.
I am about to move from a house to an apartment, and I picked up the Apartment Therapy book because I want to make the transition in a positive way. Obviously I don't know your circumstance, but for me I know if I don't treat myself well at my new apartment, I may start missing my house too much (even though I am happier to be closer to downtown).
Best of luck.

If you're not familiar with ELFA, take a look. I did 2 closets with their shelves (saved 50% during last February's sale at The Container Store), but they also do office spaces:
http://www.containerstore.com/browse/index.jhtml;jsessionid=LPWUFQ3EB3OKDQFIAILSM44AVABBQJVC?CATID=77773
It's great quality and easy to set up!

The most important thing you do should have the best space in the apartment. This is basic to your sanity (and your grades), and it's much more important than having a nice-looking sitting room that you rarely use because you're huddled in the closet.

If you're positively determined to stay in the closet, you MUST paint the walls and the shelving unit. Consider painting them both the same color, as the lines of the shelving don't deserve any special prominence. Your best bets to make the "office" feel light and sunny are a saturated yellow or (oddly enough) a saturated yellow-based pink (so orange should also work). Do NOT leave the walls white and do not go with a "cool" gray or blue. Even lime green would be lighter and happier than gray. You don't have to look like a Mexican fiesta, but you do need a happy, sunny color, and it should probably be done in semi-gloss to reflect a little light.

Straighten the shelves and get nice-looking boxes or baskets to hide anything that's just plain ugly. Get them from thrift stores if you must, but get them! And do all the other decorative things everyone said, too.

If people leave unwanted household items curbside, you CAN get better chairs! Just be patient about waiting for the right ones to show up.

AND if you have relatives asking what you want for Xmas/Hanukah/Winter Solstice and their budgets extend to it, you want a laptop computer and a wireless set-up. The best thing I ever did for myself, decor-wise, was removing the need to have a home office.

throw some d's in that bitch

COLOR!! More comfortable chairs. Organize the wires. Some pretty storage containers.

AND, if it were me, one of those murals that simulates looking out a window. I think it would be nice to look out onto a park or a small river or even a garden -- something for your eye to focus on every once in awhile.

Barb

Okay, here's what I would do...

1. Paint it all white, wood and walls
2. Put large brightly colored square notice boards above each work station
3. Proper desk chairs are needed
4. Install keyboard trays under each work station
5. Work on cable management
6. Install adjustable shelves in the empty center work station (the one above the CPU)
7. Get storage drawers and place next to where the CPU is... something like this:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20107873
8. Hang art and photos that inspire on the notice boards

Do this, and I think you'll have a pretty rocking home office.

Time to visit an Ikea!

I actually think this can be salvaged, here's what I would do:

-Cover as much of the storage as possible: Use colored bins wherever you can, and if you need access to books, installing some bamboo blinds could be a cheap and easy way to cover shelves so they look tidier.

-Use magnetic paint to turn the entire wall areas behind the monitors into giant notice boards. Paint each wall a different cheery but complementary color, so each person has their own space. Hang some nice photos, etc. using magnets on the walls.

-Replace the chairs pronto. Whatever colors you get should match nicely with the wall colors, this space is way too small for major contrast.

-If at all possible, put both PCs as well as any power strips, etc. in the area where no chairs need to be pushed in, then put sliding doors in front of that area to conceal all the cords. This is pretty easy, you can just get two pieces of plywood cut to fit and put wooden sliding track (also cut to fit) on the top and bottom.

-Replace any desk lamps with clip lights that attach to the top shelves, this will help avoid clutter.

It's the combination of the lack of personality (no color, no pictures) plus the clutter (stuff thrown around, cables everywhere) that make this place look so depressing. So you need to clean up the clutter and draw the eye to fun personal elements. It's definitely doable!

Wardrobes make excellent computer/office workspaces; open and easy to work at when needed, and closed off and yet still aesthetically pleasing as pieces of furniture in the room when you don't need to work. Portable, they can be placed in any room, along any wall, wherever there is electrical outlet, and all the wires can be enfolded within except through one exit hole in the back wall of the wardrobe.

Reclaim your closet for your clothes, and establish your own, separate work spaces through the use of two wardrobes. If you need your computers to be networked, it's an easier fix to use wireless and routers than to be stuffed into one space.