Georgian Home Office - Before and After
I’m so excited to show you the final reveal of a home office project I worked on last year in a lovely Georgian house! It was done at the same time as the master bedroom. I’ve just returned there recently because we’re starting on their kitchen design and it’s like visiting old friends. We bonded over such things as our love of “bands” like S Club 7 and Steps (me and the female client, not the man of the house - he has different musical tastes).
Before
The house is Grade II listed and it’s one of the oldest houses in Boston Spa - a quintessentially English, postcard-perfect town on the outskirts of West Yorkshire. The clients live here with their two young children.
The house is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, with so many original features. It’s double fronted and one of the front rooms is their home office. They both used this room when working from home, sometimes at the same time - not ideal when they were both on calls. Although it’s quite a spacious room, it felt a bit cramped with two desks in there.
There happens to be a cute little annex in the garden, complete with kitchen and bathroom, where guests stay when they visit. The annex isn’t really used the rest of the time. They also have their own well. Yes - A WELL!!!
(Here’s the well!)
We decided to set up a separate desk space in the annex, so that only one desk was needed in the office in the main house.
Before
This room, like the rest of the house, has great bones. Look at the width of those floorboards, and they’re in such great condition! Georgians were obsessed with symmetry and this room has lovely proportions - a chimney breast with a beautiful original fireplace, and cupboards built into the alcoves on either side (not original but very well done - they suit the style of the house perfectly). It also has its original window shutters. The clients’ lovely whippet spends most of his days in here and likes to eat anything he can get his paws on which is why the bin was stored on the mantlepiece.
Interior Design Scheme
Design Concept
Layout plan
Instead of facing a wall, we decided to position the desk in the middle of the room, facing outwards with a lovely view of the space and the gallery wall of pictures opposite. Plus, it’s good for the old feng-shui to have your desk facing a door. We added a small sofa under the window where the client could sit to read work papers.
Concept board
The clients were keen for the office to feel warm, calming and homely. Georgians often painted their walls and woodwork the same colour so I came up with a green colour scheme, with the same shade on both. This would be more seamless, with fewer breaks in the room, so would feel more calming. They had decided to keep their existing desk which they’d recently bought from Barker and Stonehouse so that needed to be incorporated into the scheme.
Detailed Design
3D model
Although at concept stage I’d considered highlighting some aspects of the woodwork in dark grey, when I got to the detailed design, I decided instead to highlight the beautiful window, shutters and door in a warm white for a lighter feel. We stuck with the same green on all walls and the rest of the woodwork for a lovely calming vibe.
Detailed design board showing chosen products
Although lots of my clients choose to project manage to save on costs, these clients had a lot on with work and life commitments so they asked me to take care of the implementation.
Ready for the afters?!
The abstract rug from Rug Vista grounds the design and provides softness underfoot. The sofa is a comfy place to sit and read with a coffee.
Before
The shade of green we chose was Pinelands by Benjamin Moore.
You might be wondering how we got the cables for the computer to the centre of the room. Well, we bought a black cable tidy box from B&Q - you can just about see it on the edge of the desk here - with an extension socket inside and a single wire going to the nearest wall socket. A cheap, easy and tidy solution.
Before
We bought a floor lamp for next to the sofa but it arrived damaged and we couldn’t get a new one in time for me to take photos. So imagine a small gold floor lamp to the right of the sofa!
I used some of their existing prints for the gallery wall and added to them. We painted the radiator so that it blends in with the walls.
The total cost of products for this room was just over £2,500 and it feels like a completely different space. It really shows how a tin of paint, a rejigging of layout and great styling can make such a massive difference. What do you think?! Let me know in the comments.
I’m a Halifax based interior designer and I cover surrounding areas, including Leeds and Manchester. I also provide a remote design service. If you’re starting a project and need some help or inspiration, please get in touch.
