“Home idea with IKEA”: a home office within living room

A family living room or a home office for one? There's no need to choose, as both functions can share the same room. Need a proof? Watch IKEA interior designer Justina Koskauskė make it happen.

Annoying mess
Before the makeover, an office nook in Akvilė and Ovidijus' living room had nothing to do with order and functionality. It was too dark and offered to little storage space for equipment, tools and other items. Besides, the office furniture did not exactly match the style of the living room. “I want my husband's workplace to be as closed as possible and less annoying,” confessed Akvilė.

Lack of storage
At his home office, Ovidijus works on the computer and makes crafts, so his workspace is full of very different items. Most of them are kept on open shelves, under the desk and on top of it, which means heavy looms have to share space with tangled wires and filed documents.

Brand new office and atelier in one
To make the workspace more isolated, the interior designer has slightly adjusted its layout. Now the whole wall is dedicated to storage, while the desk serves as a partition that divides the living room into two functional zones. The desk is intentionally rotated so that Ovidijus could see what is happening in the living room, yet no one could go behind his back and disturb while he's working. Another way to protect Ovidijus' privacy is a high backrest of JÄRVFJÄLLET office chair.

Justina left some parts of the wall open and hung there several SKÅDIS pegboards with holders and hooks for the most frequently used tools. She also applied the same SKÅDIS pegboard as a screen for desk. It helps get more privacy, as the living room is always full of action: Akvilė is watching TV, welcoming guests or playing with their little daughter.

Closed storage is one of the easiest ways to hide clutter at home. This is why Justina went for closed cabinets and drawers instead of a standard office furniture set. She combined some METOD kitchen cabinets to exploit the full height of the walls and added drawers of different depth to sort all Ovidijus' items by size.

The upgraded Ovidijus' atelier features a durable EKBACKEN laminate worktop that will stay like new for many years. It is easy to clean and maintain, highly resistant to scratches, liquids and heat. Moreover, the worktop is covered under the 25-year guarantee.