Cloffice: How to Make an Office in a Closet

A cloffice is a closet or a nook that you can transform into a functional office space.

Or course you don’t need a large walk-in closet to make this happen.

Just add a desk surface, storage area and a chair to a small closet or nook.

When we remodeled our clients home to make a second master suite, we used their current office space for the enlarged bedroom.

Now our clients are both retired and don’t require a large space, just somewhere to sit down and pay the bills and keep their paperwork organized.

However, if you are looking for a space where you did need to work from home, this set up will still work.

The only thing I’d suggest is a more comfortable chair.

So let’s take a look at how we created this office in a 4 1/2′ closet.

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Prep the space

To begin, we cleared out the closet space, and removed the clothing rod and shelf.

Next up, the wall was repaired with drywall mud and primed.

Finally add a coat of paint.

In our cloffice we painted the wall the same blue a the rest of the room.

Then the lower section of the wall that will be below the desk space is painted the same charcoal grey as the board and batten accent wall.

Add a Desk

Next up we want to have a good desk surface to work on.

Now of course, you could purchase a desk that will fit your closet or nook area, however I like the idea of it being more of a built-in feature.

So we are installing a floating desk.

Cleats are installed on the 3 walls at the height we want our desk to sit.

We also painted the cleats grey to blend into the wall.

Two wood filing cabinets were also painted grey and placed in the nook.

Finally bring in the desk surface.

For our desk surface we purchased a piece of butcher block.

It is stained to match the refinished furniture in the room

Add Lighting

One very important element you want to add to your cloffice it lighting.

Generally speaking a closet does not have a light.

We had an electrician install a can light in the cloffice area when he was installing lighting for the rest of the room.

If you don’t want to hire an electrician to add lighting, there are options like installing a battery operated puck light.

Add Storage

You don’t want to skimp on storage in your cloffice.

Our client already had two oak filing cabinets.

They were painted the charcoal grey and slide under the desk surface.

Not only does this give them plenty of storage for their important documents, but fits seamlessly into the design.

Vertical Storage

When working in a small area like this cloffice, you’ll want to maximize your storage space.

One way to add more storage is with a pin board.

We purchased cork tile squares and mounted them to the wall with 3M tape

Then cover the cork tiles with fabric by stapling it to the wall on all four sides.

This is the same fabric that we used to make a pillow for the bed.

Spreading the color and pattern around the room makes it feel cohesive.

Finally trim out the pin board with white painted boards on all four sides.

The corners of the boards were cut at a 45° angle.

Then the corners and nail holes were puttied in and painted.

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Floating Shelf Storage

Another way to add wall storage in this cloffice is with shelves.

Adding floating shelves will keep the space uncluttered.

We used the molding we secured at the top of the pin board for the cleat along the back of the shelf.

Then we installed a cleat on the right side into studs.

However, on the left side there was not a stud to secure the cleat to.

So we installed two wall anchors to secure the cleat on the left side.

A shelf was then placed on all three cleats and secured with brads.

To finish off our floating shelf we placed a piece of molding along the front of the shelf and secured it to the shelf with brads.

Finally all of the nail holes are then puttied and all of the boards caulked and painted.

Add a Feature Wall with Fabric

We wanted to create a feature wall along this side of the room with the fabric.

So above the floating shelf, we attached more of this beautiful fabric.

To do this we applied liquid fabric starch to the wall with a small foam roller.

Then you’ll take the fabric and place it against the wall.

We found it helpful to place push pins into the fabric along the top and sides.

Then roll more of the liquid fabric starch over the fabric until it is saturated.

Leave the push pin in place until the liquid fabric starch is dry.

Finally, remove the push pins and trim excess fabric with an xacto knife.

We are thrilled with the way this cloffice turned out.

It’s the perfect place to sit and pay bills and keep the household papers in order.

To keep some of the not so pretty items stored we used pretty boxes and files, while adding a bit of decor to the cloffice.

Make it Inspiring

Add a few pieces to your cloffice that inspire you.

A piece of art, a collection, plants, something that will inspire you while working in your office.

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Would this be something that would work in your home?

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