Creating My Dream Home Office Nook in the Sunroom

Sometime in the future, hopefully sooner rather than later, I will be creating my dream home office nook in the sunroom! I say nook because the space I am using is small and I will be sharing it with my husband. And while at first, I was overwhelmed to the point of underwhelmed by the idea, I have started to become excited at the prospect of this change.

A few years ago now, my hubby and I were on a walk in the neighbourhood when we saw this really old, lovely large wooden desk out for trash. It’s a sturdy, heavy piece, likely from the turn of the century and my husband later went back and asked the home owners if he could take the desk. He re-finished it for me for my birthday, and I have been using this old desk ever since–and I love it. It has huge surface space, perfect for someone who lays out everything like me, and two really deep big drawers. Which admittedly, need cleaning out. But, it is rather large. It could fit into my office nook, but I have decided to be practical rather than sentimental and simply get a new desk, a more functional one for this office space. I honestly cannot wait to get this home office in the sunroom all set up!

What do I Want from my Office Nook?

This is the first question I had to consider as I have been planning my office nook. What do I want from it? Well, first off, my office nook has to be functional, or what is the point of it? It has to have all the bell and whistles any office would have–a desk, computer, good lighting (which I currently don’t have) a comfy chair and proper organization. And then it hit me–a huge problem with my office space right now is that is it not properly organized.

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My way of being organized is piling things. Piling papers, notebooks, all neatly on either side of the area where I work and having my planner laid out in front of me. I do this at work, and I do it at home. I really wish I wasn’t a piler, but…I don’t know how else to organize without completing forgetting things or just losing them in some file. Filing has never really worked for me. I need things handy. But I am going to have a really small nook as my office now, and I need organization. But that’s a whole other post! Zeroing in on what I needed really helped me figure out what I wanted this office space to do, and to look like.

Choosing the Right Desk

Honestly, in the past a desk was a desk and you bought what you liked, what fit into your budget and space. But I’ve come to think about desks differently now. Since working from home, it’s become glaringly obvious to most of us I think, that desks are a big deal. Probably a bigger deal than we thought before. We are spending hours sitting at a desk after all, in meetings, working on our computer, and the desk needs to be functional and comfortable. That’s right, I said comfortable. You spend hours there after all–would you sleep on an uncomfortable mattress? Then why are so many of us working at uncomfortable desks?

For me, a comfortable desk is one that has good surface space so that it fits my computer and allows me room for my piles of notebooks and papers. Which, I am working on to reduce and become more organized with. But I as I said, that’s another post. But also, since I suffer from back pain, I need a desk I can sit at with relative ease and not have to strain my body in any way. So no oddly shaped desks for me–a simple rectangle will do. And finally, I decided, after much research and consultation with professionals, that a stand up sit down desk is the smartest choice.

You might have heard this before, but sitting all day is not good for your body at all. And I have to come to envy my husband’s stand up sit down desk as he can continue working when he gets up simply by adjusting the height of his desk. I have a few stand up sit down desks in mind, but haven’t decided on which I will be purchasing yet. Whichever it is though, it going to be a huge part of the aesthetic of this home office in the sunroom.

In all honesty, I’m leaning towards the Ikea desk, but the problem is that Ikea is out of stock for six months for many, many items thanks to the pandemic. And, I want the desk sooner rather than later. I am still shopping around for desks, but these are the two heavy contenders at the moment.

Organizational Items for the Office in the Sunroom

As you can see, these desk have no drawers, so they have no built in storage space. While I can eliminate many of the things that are currently in my drawers, I will need some storage space for my office items. And seeing as there is only so much surface room, I’ll have to figure out another way to storage office items other than having everything up on top of my desk. I am currently in the middle of creating a vision board for this very purpose, and making lists of what I will want to keep, and what can go.

Decor for my Office Nook

No office space is complete without decor, and there is no way I am creating a home office in the sunroom without decor. No way. I hope that some of the decor pieces can be functional in helping with organization, but I also hope to have some space for a few crystals and maybe a plant. I haven’t decided what kind of decor I want for my office yet, but I do know that I want the decor to be white or natural (natural wood, greens, etc) and pretty minimalistic. I don’t have a ton of room after all. Everything I chose has to have a purpose. But I also want it all to reflect me, what I like and who I am. It has to be totally me. At least, the side of the office that is mine. The other side, being my husband, will likely look bare and futuristic. But as long as the part I’m working in feels like me, is bright and pretty, is all that matters. And I get the bigger side of the office so mostly the nook will be MINE.

Final Thoughts

I really can’t wait to show you my home office in the sunroom! We haven’t even started, and I have nothing yet, nothing but a dream and a vision board. But having that is a beginning, and that’s really all that matters at the moment.

What is your dream office space? Share in the comments below.