Workplace in the living room: how to equip an office in the hall

In the article I will describe in detail the positive and negative aspects of arranging a workplace in the living room. I’ll tell you where to do it better. I will mention the subtleties of zoning a room with an office, and which interior design is better for this. I will help you understand how to properly place furniture. I will give you some ideas on the proper arrangement of the table, and consider whether it is possible to combine the bedroom with the study.

Pros and cons of a living room with a working area

The positive side of the design of the space for working in the living room is the saving of usable space. For small apartments, this is sometimes the only way to create an office.

Whereas the main disadvantage of such a neighborhood is the lack of isolation. It will be difficult to concentrate when children are running nearby or someone is watching TV.

Zoning allows you to use the living room as an office

Where is the best place to cabinet

The best place for such a space is closer to the window. Thanks to natural light, a person does not succumb to fatigue for a long time.

The advantage of such a move will be isolation, which allows you to work quietly, without being distracted by extraneous noise. Moreover, a wide windowsill can be a good desk.

It is best to position the work area by the window.

The subtleties of zoning a room with a workplace

A wooden or drywall rack will allow you to create a dedicated corner. Of course, this will not provide sufficient isolation and silence for the workplace, but a decrease in the volume of the room will occur. Moreover, it is better to put books, folders and other attributes of a real office on the resulting shelves.

Drywall rack to help zone the room

Moreover, their density by and large does not matter. It all depends on the chosen style of interior decoration.

You can separate the workspace with curtains.

For visual separation of business space and a place of rest, use various ceiling and floor coverings. Buy different wallpapers, materials of other textures or just use other colors and shades.

If there is no way to make space near the window or in its direction, then it is important to provide this place with sufficient lighting. Plus to the ceiling, it is recommended to install local lighting in the form of a table lamp.

Moreover, it will carry not only the aesthetic meaning of zoning. But in it you can put and conveniently store many things.

The cabinet should be well lit so that you can work comfortably at the table without straining your eyes.

Interior Design

Zoning the space of the office and living room can be divided by their style design.

At the same time, pastel and light colors that make the space brighter will not distract from work. The living room can be executed bright and colorful. The main thing is not to use large and bulky furniture and decor elements. It is necessary to make the space as free and spacious as possible.

It is better to make the decoration of the walls monophonic, and you can dilute the paints with the help of decorative elements and furniture

Proper placement of furniture

It is best that the table is located by the window. This will provide you with natural light during daylight hours.

But if this is not possible, it can be located in the center of the room. This is suitable for apartments with a small footage. Since it is necessary to place all the most important areas for a comfortable life in one room.

The table is best placed by the window

For rooms that have a niche, or they differ in a non-standard form, you can use the chance and order furniture to equip the working area to order. It will create an effect of isolation between the cabinets. This will save both usable space and a convenient place to work.

If the room has a niche, then you can select it for the workspace

The cabinet is perfect as a partition. This will not only visually hide the table, but also hide from distracting surroundings.
If the living room is square or rectangular (narrow), then the cost can be placed diagonally in one of the corners. If you put a chair there, you can simultaneously watch, for example, the children. It will seem that this is your office.

Ideas for interior living room with a working area

Consider several options for the proper combination of workspace and relaxation areas in the living room:

• creative workplace

Niche Handicraft Workplace

• workplace on the balcony or loggia

Workplace on the balcony Workroom on the loggia

• wide window sill as a work surface

Using a window sill instead of a table A wide window sill in any room can become a working area, thereby saving space

• workplace separated by a curtain

Zoning rooms with a curtain

• cabinet between cabinets

You can separate the cabinet with shelving and shelves

• hidden cabinet

You can arrange a workplace in the closet You can retire by equipping an office in a closet

• cabinet zoning using different heights

Separate the work area by lifting it a level higher from the main floor Zoning by raising part of the floor

For small apartments, sometimes the circumstances are such that in one room you need to place several vital areas. For example, a study and a recreation area. It is unlikely that it will be possible to make the workspace truly isolated, but you can visually highlight this place. The main thing is to correctly distribute the usable area and think through the furniture well. And if you resort to the help of designers, you can get a beautiful and comfortable interior for living.

The best place to organize a workplace

The working area in the living room can occupy different places. In most cases, the owners choose intuitively, as a rule, closer to the window, since working with natural light is much more comfortable than with artificial. This is really the best option. But here, the main working space can be located in different ways - parallel to the windowsill or perpendicularly. In the latter case, it is worth considering how the light from the window will fall, because a person sitting at a table can give a shadow with his own body.

If you insulate the balcony or there is a bay window in the room, the interior of the living room with a working area will be predetermined. It is possible to take the cabinet to this territory if it is heated. The balcony, respectively, is usually separated from the rest of the hall by translucent structures. A bay window will have to be zoned by additional means.

A working corner by the window can be equipped instead of a window sill. If there is no exit to the balcony, such a countertop can occupy not only a place under the window opening, but also the corners adjacent to it. Such a zone can be of various shapes and volumes - the window sill as a table can be made of various materials that will be comfortable for work. Usually it is wood or artificial stone.

But there are other options:

• The office can be equipped in a niche, which are rich in one-room apartments. In this case, the apartment will need to provide high-quality artificial lighting, because the recesses are located at a distance from the window opening. And such a space should be closed with air access, so glass partitions will not work, otherwise the person working at the table will have nothing to breathe.
• Converted storage rooms - another option for expanding the living space of a one-room apartment. Actual this method allows you to significantly increase the size of the niche, which can fit not only the cabinet, but also a single bed. It turns out a full room, for example, for a child of any age.
• The design of a living room of compact dimensions often does not involve too much furniture, and then a corner or even two remains empty. But one of them may turn out to be empty at the front door, and nothing can be delivered here, but another non-functional joint of the walls can be equipped as an office.

• For the desk and work area, you can fence the space in the middle of the room, if it is convenient. Perhaps this is the best solution for arranging an office in a room where there are several more functional areas - a dining room or a bedroom. In addition, this is where the “pantry” or “built-in closet” can be located, behind the facades of which is a full-fledged office. Inside, you can place a rather large desk, shelves above it to accommodate the necessary literature, and on the inside doors you can hang cards, posters, drawings, organizers for office supplies and much more.
• A convenient option would be to organize an office between two windowsif the living room has two or more window openings. There will be more natural light than next to a single window.

Zoning the living room to the relaxation area and study

No matter how successful the location of the workspace is, for effective work, privacy and comfort, the office should be separated from the main territory of the hall.

Zoning the living room involves a variety of ways that help to clearly divide the room into functionally significant zones.

• The simplest and most effective tool in this case is an open rack. On it you can put folders with documents, textbooks, encyclopedias, fresh flowers, lamps. Such shelves also look luxurious as decor, in a non-standard shape and with an original arrangement of surfaces. To separate the cabinet, it is not necessary to place the rack in parallel or perpendicular to the walls, it can have a non-standard curved shape.

• A design like a bar counter and pendant lights directly above it - visually unobtrusive, but understandable and effective solution. Lamps will add light, while separating the study from the recreation area.

• An interesting solution is the arrangement of a wide aperture, along the perimeter of which you can set the backlight. It is advisable to do this from the side of the living room, since it will not interfere with rest, but it can interfere with work.
• Shelves around a window or computer can also be equipped with lights, which not only provide additional lighting, but also highlight the working area from the entire volume of the living room.
• Sliding partitions - another effective solution. In a spacious room, they will help to actually divide the space into two rooms. But you should not choose glass cloths - they will block air access at the same time, if the office is near a window, a balcony or a loggia. Here, textile, paper, trellised wood and openwork metal partitions are applicable.

The choice of solutions depends on many parameters, including interior design.

The style of decoration of the living room and workplace

A living room with a workplace is usually arranged in a rather limited space of apartments with an insufficient number of rooms, the size of which also does not please with wide possibilities. Therefore, as a rule, we are talking about rather modest interiors. Most often this is a modern environment, subject to the requirements of functionality and comfort. In the combined space, you should not choose elaborate and delicate directions, because here only decor will take up a lot of space.

Living room furniture with a workplace is usually outwardly simple, but as functional as possible. Tables for such mini-offices choose compact. They can be molded with a window sill or angled with anatomical bends for more comfortable work. Chairs should be exclusively orthopedic - for long and simultaneous safe sitting during work. Such sets in any style will be identical - ergonomic, as efficient as possible. Choose only color, dimensions, content.

But the framing of the workplace can be more stylish - it can be a modular system of shelves, racks, cabinets. Modern ideas for the interior of a living room with a working area offer many transformable and hidden systems. It usually uses smooth facades without fittings, which can be neutral in color or bright enough if children use the “cabinet”.

The main idea for the design of a combined working corner is the placement of open shelves that are appropriate in any direction and style. Here you can only vary the materials and decor of those. For example, in an ultra-technological environment, metal racks can also be installed, in other designs it can be both glass and wood. It is it that is used most often. Open shelves are convenient not only because they fit easily into different interiors, but they are also more ergonomic - sitting in a chair is much easier to reach a book, textbook or folder than it is to a door to open and close it.

You can emphasize the style with details, design of lamps. It will help to shade the design and color, and the placement of the lamps. Of course, many elements for such a living room should not be chosen, otherwise the interior will turn out to be variegated and overloaded. You can see examples of the design of such rooms in photographs that will help you choose the most interesting ideas for even the simplest rooms.

Living room with a working area: pros and cons

This design decision has its positive and negative qualities. The good side is that such a combination, in addition to saving space, makes the interior more original. In addition, usually in the living rooms there is good lighting, which creates favorable conditions for work.

But there are pitfalls. For example, extraneous sounds from the recreation area can distract from work, and households, not wanting to interfere with the worker, simply can not rest well.

Before deciding on this design move, it is worth weighing the pros and cons.

Where to place the work area?

If you still decide to combine the work area with the recreation area, you need to first determine its location. The cabinet should be located in the side of the room, for example, in the corner. If it is located in the center of the room, households will not be able to relax.

Particularly appropriate, the working area will be located near the window, which will provide natural light.

A completely isolated area for work can become if it is placed on a balcony or loggia. It is very important to take care of the insulation of this site so as not to freeze in the cold season. If the balcony is small, you can destroy the partition so that everything necessary fits in this zone. But when arranging the working area in this place, it is also worth taking into account disadvantages, for example, noise from the street can distract from work, and dust in the warm season can damage the equipment.

Zoning

One zone will be the hall, and the second - the office. The division must be clear. Ideas can be applied or borrowed from eminent designers. There are not many options for a pentagonal room. Piano fits well into the fifth corner.

Workplace Zoning provides comfort to both the working person and his household. For this, partitions of various types are used. For example, capital partitions provide complete insulation. Screens and curtains can act as light partitions, which will additionally create cosiness in the room. You can also separate the work area with furniture, if you put the cabinets so that they hide the entire work area.

Decorative panels will be not only screens, but also decoration. Water panels or 3D panels will look very beautiful and stylish. Plastic screens connected to electricity, in addition to the above functions, will be an additional light source, in addition, in the dark everything looks as impressive as possible.

As a partition, you can put a large aquarium: it is quite expensive, but the result compensates for the costs. This method will delight guests with its originality and beauty.

The working area can be highlighted with color. If the interior of the living room is bright and catchy enough, it is recommended to make neutral colors for the work area to ensure maximum focus on work.

However, do not forget about the main rule: the work area, in addition to comfort and restrained style, should not stand out too much in the living room. In this case, the room will not look harmonious.

In addition to these techniques, you can also transform the space, for example, create a niche in the wall. This solution will be as comfortable as possible for the employee. It is possible to place the working area on a small podium, this will qualitatively highlight the area for work among other items, but it will not be too convenient and practical.

The labor area is recommended to have your back to the main part of the living room so that the worker is not distracted. However, the location of the office facing the recreation area can play into the hands, if there are small children who need to be looked after.

Furniture placement

The most important point in this matter is the convenient and beautiful placement of work furniture in the room. With space for receiving guests, everything is simple: here you should put a TV, coffee table, sofa or a couple of armchairs. The coffee table can be a classic or “transformer”, which, if desired, can be laid out, which will make it look like a full-fledged dining table.

A convenient solution for the working area is furniture on casters, which can be easily removed, for example, during the holidays, when the family expects a large company.

Of course, it will be more convenient for the company to relax in free space.

In order to successfully place the necessary furniture without the effect of cluttering the room, you must first take out from the room what you can do without. Excess furniture and objects will clutter up space as much as possible and interfere with free movement. Bulky furniture is also irrelevant; it is better to replace it with multifunctional objects.

After that, you need to place the desktop - the most important element of the interior, on which most of the work is done. It can be placed diagonally in relation to the room itself. So the whole corner of the room will be occupied, which will make the working area especially comfortable. The table itself should not be too large, the advantage is the presence of boxes and compartments for equipment (computer, printer, and so on).

If the size of the table allows excesses, it is possible to place photographs, decorative candles or figurines on the heart that are lovely to the heart.

The main thing in this business is not to overdo it so that accessories do not distract from important work.

In particularly small rooms, drawers can be used. - when assembled, they practically do not occupy space. On balconies or loggias, you can use the window sill as a table, if you increase it with drywall. Often in small living rooms, the working area is hidden from prying eyes, for example, they hide it in a closet.

The chair should be soft and comfortable, it is recommended to use a chair with wheels, the height of which can be adjusted according to personal preferences.

The selection of a chair is very important: comfort during work affects performance and does not harm the musculoskeletal system.

A transparent table and chair will be in harmony with any interior, without attracting excessive attention. Near the table, it is appropriate to place the outlet so that you do not have to stretch the wires and extension cords through the entire room, this will cause discomfort to the residents and will look messy.

To store things, you can use racks, which can also serve as a screen. Do not forget about the hinged shelves, which practically do not occupy space. They can be filled with literature, folders, and so on.

Placing in the labor area of ​​a sofa is not the best solution, since it reduces labor productivity. And placement on the wall of a cork board, on the contrary, is very convenient. You can attach notes, reminders, up-to-date documents to it, this will help to save important sheets that household members can by mistake throw away or simply get lost in a pile of other papers. In addition to practical benefits, this element can be used as a decoration that attracts attention.

Despite all the options, the most convenient is the manufacture of custom-made furniture. This method will help bring all your design decisions to life.

Colors

Known that colors affect the performance and general psychoemotional state of a person:

• Cold shades of colors increase focus on work,
• Bright colors (yellow, green, blue) affect the creative mood, this is ideal for people whose work is associated with creativity and the need for creative thinking. However, you should not use these colors separately, as they will distract from the main work,
• Blue has a calming effect and helps to concentrate, while blue is too relaxing and distracting from the details,
• Red color in a small amount gives a supply of energy and self-confidence,
• Warm shades will only distract from the task, this is the most unfortunate option for accountants and those whose work involves accurate calculations and in-depth analysis.

Advantages and disadvantages

Before embarking on the alteration of almost the most important premises in the apartment, it is necessary to identify all the advantages and disadvantages of this reconstruction. First, consider all the possible benefits:

1. A lot of light. The living room is usually the largest and brightest room in the apartment. Adequate lighting is very important for any job.
2. No need to conquer a room from anyone. The living room is, by definition, a common room, that is, it does not belong individually to any of the inhabitants of the living space. So, you will not need to ask permission, ask someone to give you this place. And it will be possible to calmly go about their business, without distracting anyone and without interfering with the household.
3. Ability to update the design. When remodeling the space of a room, the most unexpected ideas may arise, when implemented, you can completely transform the room, and it will become the brightest and most original place in the apartment.
4. Space saving. It often happens that the private room is too small to provide a place for any activity. And there is no opportunity to occupy another room because of the lack of free meters.
5. The ability to do several things at once. You can do your job and at the same time communicate with all other family members or watch TV if it does not distract you from your occupation.

However, the idea of ​​combining the hall and the working area is not without drawbacks:

1. Since the room is primarily intended for receiving guests and is a place of general gathering of all family members, these factors can be distracting, which will prevent you from concentrating on work. Extraneous conversations, the loud sound of the TV - all this scatters your attention and can affect the quality of your actions.
2. Inconvenience for the rest of the residents. If your activity is associated with the presence of extraneous noise, they can interfere with those who will be in the room at the same time with you.
3. The workplace should always be in perfect order, so every time after finishing work you will be required to carry out a full cleaning of the room. If you work with papers, you need to remove them every time so that someone does not accidentally brush them off the table or put a cup of tea on them (after all, many people like to eat in front of the TV).

If you sew, in addition to cleaning garbage on the floor, be sure to carefully hide all dangerous items such as scissors or needles so that children or someone else inadvertently grabs them.

Place for work area.

If you are determined to settle down with your work in the living room, you need to determine how to properly make the zoning of the room. There are some of the most common options for how to best equip a place to work:

• Balcony. If you have access to the loggia or even to the balcony (even a small one) from the living room, this will allow you to get additional premises for work. If the design of the apartment allows, then the wall between the room and the loggia can be demolished, thus increasing the space, and instead of the wall, a plasterboard partition with a niche can be installed to store things, papers and other items you need to work. Often a window block is inserted in the wall between the loggia and the room. It can also be dismantled without touching the bottom of the wall - it can be conveniently adapted to the table.
• Niche. It can be an ideal place to work. The niche is easiest to separate from the rest of the space. And the lack of daylight can be compensated by additional built-in lights. Moreover, they can be mounted not only in the ceiling, but also in the walls around the entire perimeter of the niche.

• Angle. Most often, the space in the corner is empty as too uncomfortable to put something significant there. But for the desktop corner is quite suitable. Such placement is often chosen by mothers who are forced to combine work and childcare. Furniture on wheels is suitable for this option, so that it is more convenient to get up from the table.
• Near the window. This option has several undeniable advantages. Firstly, you can use the windowsill as a table. If necessary, it can be increased to the desired width. And secondly, the workplace will be sufficiently lit. Alternatively, you can place a table between two windows. Then the light will come evenly from both sides.

Furniture

The interior of any room, and especially the multitasking space, is determined by the furniture. For the guests and recreation areas, it is standard: it is a set of upholstered furniture, the size of which depends on the availability of free space, and various table options: coffee, serving, dining, transformer - there can be many options, and most often a cabinet for audio and video equipment. As for the business space, difficulties may arise here.

Depending on the type of activity, the furniture may need the most different. If the work of the intellectual plan is carried out mainly on a computer, in this case a comfortable chair and a light table are needed.

Since the age of bulky monitors is a thing of the past, and they were replaced by light laptops and compact all-in-ones, it is often enough to have only a small table and an outlet nearby to charge the battery. And to store documents, discs, stationery and other things, you can hang a small shelf.

If you are busy with some kind of creative work, and you need, for example, a sewing or knitting machine, then a convenient sitting place is important. Only in this case it should not be a soft chair, but a chair with a height-adjustable backrest. You should also consider the storage system of working materials - yarn, thread, fabric and so on. It can be a rack with glass doors or a chest of drawers with drawers.

They, if necessary, can serve as a delimiter of space. Whatever the furniture, it is desirable that it does not look like a foreign body, but in harmony with the environment. For example, if the TV stand and the coffee table are made in the same color scheme, then the desktop must be selected in color. Especially if the working space is not protected by any partitions.

In order not to clutter up the room with extra furniture, you can use an existing one - for example, a dining table, if any, or a console for the TV. For the same purposes, you can pick up transformer furniture. Today's stores are ready to offer customers various options: a folding table or chair, a retractable worktop and even a table that turns into a berth.

Closed floor cabinets will make a small room heavier. Therefore, it is worth using a place on the walls - hang open shelves for books and papers. However, a sense of proportion is important, and there should not be too many shelves, otherwise they will visually “eat up” the space.

We equip a separate workplace

When arranging the working area, you need to pay attention to:

• the shape of the living room: elongated, square or generally pentagonal, which is found in houses of modern projects,
• room size: it depends on what and how you separate the work area without cluttering up the common space,
• location and size of windows,
• occupation: this affects the size of the working area, the arrangement of additional shelves or cabinets in it,
• the number of family members living in the apartment.

How to zone the living room and work area

If you are busy with mental work, and you need a quiet environment for work, consider these options. You can fence yourself off with:

• drywall partitions,
• semitransparent plastic partitions,
• glass panels with stained glass or other decor,
• consoles from frosted glass blocks,
• a rack with niches for documents and other accessories, while the rack can be either closed or through, allowing you to see what is happening in the living room,
• bookcase
• cabinet with drawers, if you are doing needlework,
• sliding panels
• just curtains or drapes.

This is only part of the most common options, there may be many more. In addition, a lot depends on the type of activity:

• one is enough for a laptop and you can even work on the couch. Then the table is needed, in fact, for a better organization of labor. In this case, it can be very small, for example, a compact surface on two legs, screwed end to wall,
• if you need to work with documents, the table will need a larger size, because the paper needs to be laid out somewhere. Well, without a rack with folders for documents also can not do. This means that either the shelves will be placed directly above the desktop, or the rack zoning the space and become a repository of documents,
• but the hardest part for organizing a workplace is for needlewomen, because a huge number of tangles, coils, skeins, beads, shreds and everything that is necessary for sewing or another type of activity must be placed somewhere. And it’s better if such a workspace is well organized so as not to spend a lot of time searching for it. A bespoke cabinet organizer will come to the rescue, it can also serve as a partition wall. You will also have to take care of a good-quality table, which will house a sewing and / or knitting machine, an overlock, etc. It is worth considering options with a retractable or folding tabletop.

Or, in general, develop a whole cabinet with a bunch of drawers, which when opened turns into a workplace. And when closed, it will look just like a cabinet with closed doors - the general order in the living room is guaranteed. By the way, the wardrobe is also convenient for those who deal with a large number of documents. It’s just that their shelves will be adapted not for needlework, but for business folders. The table in such cases, as a rule, is made retractable, retractable or folding.Very practical and modern.