Working at home is a tantalizing concept, but the sight of a home office, with stacks of paper, beige and gray plastic bins, and soulless furniture, is enough to make you want to call in sick. Interior designer Caitlin Moran can help you create a space that will actually lure you in to work.
“A home office is like a pair of shoes,” says the Dallas-raised Moran, who made San Francisco her home base two years ago. “Most people don’t have to go straight for the orthopedics—it’s possible to find a pair that’s comfortable and functional without sacrificing aesthetic appeal.”
A first-time entrant at last year’s San Francisco Decorator Showcase, Moran used that balance of comfort and beauty—plus some inspiration from her years studying art history in Florence and her two-and-a-half-year stint with interior designer Vicente Wolf in New York—to fashion an office that created a buzz among the design cognoscenti who attended the showcase. Decked out with bold orchid wallpaper and unexpected touches like a glass urn for pens and stacks of colored boxes instead of a filing cabinet, the feminine space reflected Moran’s lively sense of humor.
“It was an opportunity to demonstrate that a home office can be beautiful, functional, innovative, and whimsical all at the same time,” she says. We collected tips from Moran on putting together a home office so inviting and efficient, you won’t want to leave its confines—at least not until your novel is complete. www.caitlinmoraninteriors.com.
What’s the single easiest way to make a home office more appealing?
Often, the home office goes in the smallest bedroom and can feel like a dungeon. I love to use bold wallpaper to make the room more exciting and feel bigger and more alive. Not everyone will go for huge orchids, but the Lee Jofa showroom (101 Henry Adams St., Ste. 490, S.F., 415-626-6921) has some great geometrics and more subdued papers that mimic paint. I love papering in small places—do it where you least expect it is my mantra.
What kind of furniture should I look for?
The desk and chair anchor the office and are the perfect place to play with an unexpected combination. If you are drawn to a traditional desk, try a slightly weathered French antique style from the San Francisco Antique and Design Mall (701 Bayshore Blvd., S.F., 415-656-3530, www.sfantique.com). Then go against the tide and get an Eames management chair with a sleek aluminum frame from Design Within Reach (1913 Fillmore St., S.F., 415-567-1236, www.dwr.com)—the leather seats come in white and a very cool apple green. A parson’s-style desk would pair well with a traditional English high-back chair in a textured linen.
How can I get organized without resorting to loud and bulky file cabinets?
I am not a fan of storage that reads “office,” but the reality is that we all have to file paperwork and keep our necessities close at hand. While you can’t get around the utilitarian nature of most storage pieces, you can easily personalize a filing cabinet by switching out the pulls. You can get really glamorous antique brass pulls at Bauerware (3886 17th St., S.F., 415-864-3886). Luckily, there are many good-looking organizing options available—lucite Rolodexes (from www.seejanework.com), beautifully designed file folders from Cavallini & Co. (a local company), and sleek, anodized aluminum file units from MDF Italia at Limn (290 Townsend St., S.F., 415-543-5466, www.limn.com).
My desktop always looks so cluttered. What do you suggest?
Be inventive in how you store office accessories. Zinc Details (1905 Fillmore St., S.F., 415-776-2100, www.zincdetails.com) has these beautiful Aalto vases with sinuous lines, where you can place a bunch of black pens and create something sculptural. Sue Fisher King (3067 Sacramento St., S.F., 415-922-7276, www.suefisherking.com) has elegant handblown Juliska glass bowls that make wonderful desktop storage for pens, pencils, or scissors. For something a little more fun and colorful, Global Table (www.globaltable.com) in New York has a great website where you can order lacquered trays in turquoise, chartreuse, and red for mail and bills, and little ceramic bowls for paper clips and other odds and ends.
Any tips on office lighting?
I like to use a combination of task lighting and decorative lighting, but sometimes the two can be combined. On my own desk, I have an oversize “geisha” lamp that is 42 inches tall. Because of the height, light shines over my entire work space. Some may prefer more direct task lighting. There are some marvelous examples from Artemide and Fontana Arte available at Arkitektura (560 Ninth St., S.F., 415-565-7200, www.arkitekturainsitu.com).
Are there office-appropriate colors? Succumb to emotion and be courageous. Why not treat a home office like any other room in your home? Wallpaper it or
paint your trim an exciting color that will make you smile as you work on your taxes and pay your bills. No color should be overlooked.
A room of one’s own
Short on space? Moran clues us in on how to fashion an office in any part of the home.
STEP INTO MY...
If an extra bedroom is not available, I often recommend that a large closet be used. First, remove the hanging rod, and then paint the interior a contrasting color from the room, attach a desktop to one wall, add a file cabinet, and voilà—an office!
CAMOUFLAGE COYLY
If you must work in the living room or bedroom, try to make your office blend in with the design of the room. Instead of a traditional desk, use a small dining table. Replace an ordinary desk lamp with a lovely shaded lamp.
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CAN BE A GOOD THING
Use a sleek, good-looking laptop. For those of us who need a desktop computer, flat-panel monitors are the way to go. They are more refined and take up much less space.