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If you’ve got a 2,000-square-foot-plus house, odds are, your bedroom is solely dedicated to getting a good night’s rest. But for everyone else out there working with less space, there is a strong chance that where you sleep and where you work are the exact same place. It might feel wrong to combine two spaces that could not be more at odds with each other, but we promise there is a balance that can be struck. And honestly, when you wake up at 2 a.m. in a panic over the email you forgot to send, it’s helpful to be a few feet away from your desk with your laptop at-the-ready. Here are eight ways to merge your bedroom and office.
Mount a Shallow Wall Desk
To keep the peace in her family’s 600 square foot New York City apartment, Heather Summers put a slim desk from CB2 in their bedroom so her husband could have a place to study for law school in the evenings. The now-discontinued piece was just a mere 20” deep, leaving enough room to prop up a laptop without crowding the bed. West Elm, Hay, and Pottery Barn all carry similar configurations.
Place a Freestanding Desk Opposite the Foot Board
If you’ve got a little more wiggle room, consider situating a proper desk at the base of your bed. Designer Chiara de Rege sourced this McGee & Co. option for her Texas client, Alex Simons, and made the set-up feel extra cozy by topping it with a lamp from Target and placing a Lulu and Georgia accent chair in the corner for when late-night emailing turns into late-night reading.
Turn a Closet into a Hidden Office
Studio Dorion turned a niche in this Philadelphia bedroom that previously framed a dresser into a WFH set-up by adding a built-in desk hidden behind closet doors. Psst: the antique desk chair can simply lean up against the doors or a nearby wall after hours.
Make It Disappear with Glass and Paint
Interior stylist Julia Stevens’ whole studio apartment is technically one big mash-up of rooms: kitchen, living room, office, bedroom, closet. But you almost don’t even notice there is a desk right next to her bed, thanks to the transparent glass console table and simple Home Depot shelves painted the same color as the wall (Skylight by Farrow & Ball).
Park It in Front of a Window
If you’re not sure where to put your desk, look for empty space underneath a window. Designer Nina Blair was faced with the challenge of making this bedroom function for both relaxation and productivity, and efficiency meant putting a desk against the window instead of in the more obvious living room—an effort to give the owner physical (and mental) space between where he reads for work and for fun. Bonus: as long as there’s not a serious glare, the natural light hitting you during a Zoom call will help you look amazing.
Build the Desk and Bed All in One
Forget buying a headboard: back your mattress up to a built-in desk instead. Upstairs in one of three small bedrooms in this Hudson Valley Farmhouse, Alan Barlis and Jessie Goldvarg of BarlisWedlick crafted a poppy red bed-desk combo that maximizes the tiny room—sloped ceiling and all.
Merge It with Your Dresser
Not only did YSG Studio construct a pony wall in this Byron Bay bedroom to create division between the bed and the closet, but the desk-vanity-dresser along the far wall feels like its own entity within the room. The bonus of going with custom built-ins is that your room won’t suddenly feel cluttered with freestanding furniture. The next step is learning how to make your bed as pristinely as possible so it looks tidy in the background of Zoom calls.
Reimagine Existing Cabinets
Design blogger Kassy Randazzo gave the pre-existing millwork adjacent to her bed a new life by ditching the open bookshelves and lower cabinets and crafting a desk with closed storage up above. The whole thing turned out to be a pretty affordable project because she cleverly re-used just about every piece of wood that she tore out of the original built-in.