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I started planning this room with some trepidation, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel moving to the smaller box room at the back of the house from my formerly spacious study. But I can honestly say, I love my new office, more. In hindsight I don’t know why I felt that I needed a bigger space. I certainly knew that having a sofa in the last place was a little decadent(!), but what I didn’t know was that having a more compact home office would focus my mind better and feel more purposeful. Having had a good clear out of unnecessary items, my new office space is far more streamlined and easy to navigate (or at least it was until my husband started working remotely from home and then my son joined the space for some of his home schooling!).

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The Colours

My last home office space was painted a shade of deepest darkest grey (Downpipe) which was a little austere in feel (deliberately so). I like to work in spaces that feel serious and so when I moved rooms I knew I would need a shade that would mirror this darkness and concentrate my mind. The walls in my new office were already painted in School House White with a Sulking Room Pink chimney breast and a forest mural feature wall from when the space was decorated for my sons a few years ago. I still loved the colour palette, but whilst the green on the mural worked really well with other elements, it’s design felt a little too bouncy for a study.

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The Green

So, the search was on to find a green to take its place. I wanted a definite foresty green, something both dark and calming but also a shade that left room for reflectiveness. I chose Smoke Green by Farrow & Ball, which feels like an academic colour to me, it has a serenity and feeling of permanence. I absolutely love it, there is a vague creeping thought that I may like the whole space in this, but then I still love the cosy neutrality of the walls in School House White so this is only a thought in passing at the moment. But watch this space, as the study may continue to evolve!

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The Inherited

I don’t tend to start from scratch when I decorate a space and so I thought carefully about what I had space to accommodate from the previous study (you won’t be surprised to learn that the sofa didn’t make the cut, but it is now living happily in my mother’s living room). The pieces I brought from our old study were a vintage mid-century wooden display cabinet (which I use for books), a 1940’s desk I bought on eBay a decade ago and painted in French Grey by Farrow & Ball and decorated with Fornasetti’s Riflesso cityscape on the top, and a sixties perspex trolley I bought on the Portobello road as a teenager which houses magazines and fabric samples. 

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The Furniture

My study was fairly complete but it lacked a focal point where I could display and style things that inspired me. I was delighted to be asked by Heals if I would like to work with them on the makeover and choose some pieces that would fit within a timeless style for a more sustainable approach to decorating. I have long loved Heals as a design destination for enduring pieces so I knew this was going to be an easy brief to fulfil. The main piece I chose is a true stand out item, the Agnes high shelving unit designed by SCP at Heals. Made of solid walnut in a mid-century style, with shelves of various heights, this timeless piece made of honest materials is the perfect focal point for visual inspiration when sitting at the desk. I have added some of my favourite coffee table books (Bauhaus, photography, brutalist architecture, my good friend Nina’s book What We Wore) postcards from exhibitions, and I intend to keep favourite fabric swatches and paint here eventually too. Amongst the styling of treasured objects I have chosen pieces from the Heals Sustainability edit. From the Canopy collection designed by the Eden Project for LSA there is a beautiful curved glass vase which is made from recycled materials and also a selection of Trent and Bud vases hand crafted for Heals in Stoke On Trent. 

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The Desk Area

With the shelving unit set as my inspiration space, I have kept the desk area minimal with a new all-in-one HP computer from AO in white (I badly needed one after 8 years of overloading our last), and being an all-in-one it’s great for saving space in my smaller office. One single item adorns the desk itself, the black minimalist Marselis lamp by Hay from Nest. I love the lamp’s sophisticated minimal lines and it had been on my wishlist for a number of years. It feels like the final element that pulls everything on this side of the room together, dimmable with three touch settings,  it’s perfect for both cosy evening light by the screen and as a task light for day time drawing.

And that’s it, a few simple changes and modifications and a new space has been created without massive upheavals. It feels quite biophillic in here thanks to the natural tones, honest materials and pieces from nature. I’d love to know what you think, drop me a comment in the box below. 

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Makeover Elements:

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Items clockwise from top left: Paint Colours Green Smoke, School House White and Sulking Room Pink, all Farrow & Ball  //   Agnes high shelving unit in walnut at Heals  //   HP All in One computer from AO  //   Flowers print by Norm Architects  // Canopy Vase by LSA  //  Bud Vase  //  Marselis Lamp by Hay at Nest.

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I was kindly gifted a number of pieces for this makeover – the Agnes shelving unit and vases from Heals, the Hay lamp from Nest, the computer from AO, and two of the paints were previously gifted by Farrow & Ball in the rooms original makeover. Thank you for supporting the brands that support me.

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