Cramped corridor to pink palace: The home office makeover you have to try
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In the near-18 months since the pandemic first hit, there’s been a dramatic boom in working from home.
In fact, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that of the employed population, some 35.9% of us worked from home in 2020.
Read more: How to cope with going back into the office
While offices are starting to reopen, many will remain working from home permanently or on a more flexible basis, so now's the perfect time to start thinking about brightening up that gloomy home office space.
Martha Keith, founder of stationery store Marthabrook.com, decided to redecorate her home office earlier this year - and the results are inspiring.
“Like many people, I have been working from home a lot more as I don’t need to be in our studio every day. Your workspace can have a massive impact on your creativity and productivity, so it was definitely time for a makeover,” she wrote in her blog.
Read more: Who is Lulu Lytle? The high society designer behind Downing Street's controversial revamp
With a narrow, corridor-like room to work with, Keith knew the space had to be light and bright, so she opted for a white desk from Ikea and painted the walls a delicate eggshell shade.
Scroll down for more pictures of Keith’s home office makeover.
"I wanted a white desk, and one that wasn’t too deep to fit in the space," Keith wrote.
"The lovely desk lamp was a gift from my Mum at Christmas from Made.com, and the pen pot, pen tray, document organiser and all the desk pads are from Martha Brook – of course!"
"The dried flowers are from MUD Urban Flowers, cute twisted candle from Sugar and Cement, postcard from Rose England and the Venus candle I made in a workshop we did as a team with Yougi," she said.
"I sit facing this wall every day I’m working from home, so I wanted to create something beautiful and uplifting. Paired with my favourite prints are various others found on Etsy or Instagram, from small independent brands. I added some added texture courtesy of this empowering velvet banner from Oh Squirrel and a metal star from Oliver Bonas."
"I have been dreaming about having a pink front door for years, but my husband Chris – our Head of Operations – said no! So I had the inspired idea of painting the inside of my office door pink. You really can’t tell from the outside."
"My shelves were quite frankly a mess before, so they needed a good sort and style," Keith added.
"The large pink document holders from La Redoute hide a lot of my paper, and then we had fun with the rest! Cute matches from Oliver Bonas, postcard from Type By Alice, useful and pretty plant book from Prick London and bookends from Made.com."
You know what to do. If in doubt - think pink!
You can see Martha's complete renovation at marthabrook.com
Watch: Work from home style tips
