Hey, it’s Zoë here to talk about one of my favorite personal projects: our home office.

Not only is this the room that the dogs and I retreat to every morning, coffee in hand, ready to explore the ever-changing world of interior design; but it’s also our functional guest room and will likely be reprioritized as a nursery in the future.

You might say “Wow, that’s a lot to expect from one room!”

Did I mention this room is 11’0″ x 10’10”?

Living in New York City means space is a valued and limited resource. When making design decisions, we have to be thoughtful about how every square inch is used for our current needs and our future plans.

Where We Started

Before I moved in with Rachel, the door to this room was usually closed. In her bachelor days, it served the purpose of a large closet; the floor was covered in bags of clothes to eventually be donated, folding chairs leaned against the walls and other seasonal items lined the corners of this small, but sunny, North facing room. That was until the COVID pandemic hit.

Both of us were forced to work remotely, and as a new couple, we wanted to take advantage of the time we could now spend together. Since I was living in a small one-bedroom in Queens, I would often ride my bike over the 59th Street bridge to work alongside Rachel. This was the beginning of our “home office”.

After officially moving in, the office needed to be rearranged again to accommodate my own belongings. I had collected many pieces of furniture over my seven years in Astoria, one of my favorites being the Industrial Modular Wall Desk from West Elm. It fit perfectly into my own apartment and I was determined to make it work in our now shared space.

Not long after moving in, Rachel was asked to return to her office and my own job declared we would become a remote company permanently. This meant I needed to figure out how to make this space work for us long-term. It needed to be a sufficient office for me during the work week but also act as a comfortable place for our guests to stay on weekends.

I measured out the dimensions of the room, and since many of my preexisting pieces were from the William Sonoma Brand, I looked to West Elm’s Room planning tool as my first opportunity to imagine different layouts for the space.

Home Office Goals

Aside from the obvious challenges that came with designing for a multi-task space of fairly small dimensions, there were some other things that needed to be considered:

1. We needed to accommodate our dog, Ted’s, 24″x 18″ crate. He struggles with anxiety and does best when he has a separate space to sleep or retreat to.
2. It needed to function as a day-to-day home office, that would still work for overnight guests [We have a lot of friends and family stay with us regularly].
3. From a future thinking lens, we needed to make decisions and invest in pieces that would still align with us using this room as a potential nursery. That meant anything we bought needed to somehow work elsewhere in the apartment when the time came.

So we had the desk, which checked the box for daytime office work. Next up was a functional sleeping situation for guests. I was devastated to part with my 1950 Drexel leather sofa, but it just didn’t fit in our current home and was missing the functionality we needed in our next chapter.

We compared many fabric and leather samples before landing on our final choice. Having the samples in the room meant we could see them in the natural light of the space, test their durability, and do some scratch tests with Teddy’s paws, since he spends most of his day jumping on and off the office couch while I’m working.

We decided to stick with a similar aesthetic to the original couch and chose the Pacifica Square Arm Leather Full Sleeper Sofa, in Statesville Espresso, from Pottery Barn. Using West Elm’s Room Planner, I was able to get almost perfect measurements and confirm the desk, couch, and pull-out bed would all coexist nicely in the space.

The Supporting Actors

The Rug: I wanted something neutral but durable. In general, I love investing in wool rugs because they feel soft underfoot, don’t hold onto odors, and visually look more expensive than synthetic rugs. I knew it was risky going with such a light color in such a high-traffic room of the house, but the dimensions of the space were small and lighter colored rugs would help make the room feel bigger. I got lucky and found this Fireze Rug from West Elm on super sale.

The Art: Emily showed me these frames from Target. After debating whether or not to go with one large piece vs. a triad – I decided to go with the latter. Three smaller frames felt more appropriate for the space and meant I could swap out the art more easily.

The Windows: One thing we do have in this apartment is wide windows – and many of them. I actually found it difficult to find reasonably priced curtain rods for our 8ft+ walls, so I instead turned to Room Dividers Now. I was able to get high-quality, low-cost rods to suit my windows and then bought curtains according to the dimensions of my space.

The Chair: I loved my Helvetica Office Chair from West Elm, but working from home every day meant I needed to invest in something both well-designed and ergonomic. Emily actually recommended the company Branch to me. They make chairs that are not only easy on the back but easy on the eyes. I’ve had mine for 3+ years now and still appreciate the positive impact it’s had on my posture.

The Plant: This is a special one. I actually got this plant, a Zamioculcas Zamiifolia, from my job when we shut down our New York City office. She used to hang out by the shared kitchen area, and now she’s living a happy life in my home office. Though I can’t tell you where to get this exact plant, I will say self-watering pots have been a game-changer for me. I’ve bought several, from the most basic ones from Target to the more complex ones like Lechuza. They’re a must for any plant parent who also loves to travel and just generally wants to avoid root rot.

The Personal Details

The other small details that have a major impact on the home office/guest room:

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The Current Space

A designer’s job is never done. I often sit in my office dreaming about what I would do if I could apply wallpaper or swap out the lighting. As a renter, these dreams are currently off the table but what we did do is create the multifunctional space we were aiming for, and that has made a huge difference.