How to transform a smaller space for study or work

It can be difficult to find a bit of free space at home, especially if you want peace and privacy to study or work. Maybe your child is set up in the corner of their bedroom, maybe you have to work remotely under the stairs, in the attic, or maybe you're lucky enough to find a tiny spare room. After a while in these cramped conditions, the family could, understandably, be feeling a little frustrated.

Here are some tips and tricks to transform your small space into a bright and breezy work station.

Magic mirrors

A girl sat doing work at her desk with a mirror hung above it

This is the one tip anyone will tell you when you’re dealing with small spaces – and with good reason. A well-placed mirror will reflect light and brighten your room considerably, which is ideal if you have to deal with a poor light source, such as a small window.

Mirrors also create the illusion of added space, which, illusion or not, can really make the difference when you are spending the best part of the day shut away. If you can place two mirrors on opposing walls, that's even better. Not only will that create an infinity reflection for mindless entertainment, it will also trick your mind into thinking that the space between the two walls is wider!

The less space these mirrors take up, the better, so hanging them on the wall is ideal, but you will find any number of shapes and sizes to fit the space you have.

Lighten up

A boy sat on his bed staring out of an open window on a sunny day

A well-lit room will make it feel more open and spacious. Natural daylight is best, as it’s a real booster for your wellbeing, so have a think about your windows.

Try to avoid putting things on the window sill. The fewer objects that are blocking light from coming into the room, the better. With that in mind, make sure your curtains or blinds are open as wide as possible, or even take them off of the rail during the day if that’s easily achievable. While you’re at the window, open it up and let in a little fresh air (weather permitting). Small, closed spaces can feel stuffy and stale after you’ve been in there for a while, so a good airflow is important too.

If your room doesn’t have a window, you can still make the most of the lighting available to make the room feel more spacious. Try to create as much light as possible, while taking up as little space as possible – for this, spotlights or desk lamps, which only direct light in one specific area, aren’t as good as lamps which spread light over the entire room.

A place for everything…

Some workers thrive in tidiness, others thrive in disorder - that comes down to you as an individual, but, if you are feeling constricted in your working space, taking the time each day to tidy away clutter and mess will help to make it feel a little bigger. Here are some easy ways to help you achieve this.

Firstly, keep a bin nearby so your rubbish isn’t loitering any longer than it needs to. Then, find storage for all of the little things you need for work - like notebooks, stationery, or computer accessories - and try to put them away when you are finished with them. It might only seem like a small thing, but it’s cutting down on visible clutter and giving you a bit more space to stretch out into.

To keep a tidy workspace, you could also try to cut down on paper notes and stick to digital as much as you can; and use trunking or tapes to keep any wires you’re using compact and hidden.

Choose one potted plant

A desk in an airy, window-lit room with a potted plant on top of it

If you have been looking online for interior design inspiration, you may have noticed that it’s particularly fashionable at the moment to fill your home with as many ferns, spider plants and money trees as possible, to create your own mindful ‘green space’.

As tempting as it might be, this isn’t a great idea for a small room- adding multiple small to medium houseplants, even if they’re pretty ones, is still clutter to your subconscious eye! A far better idea is to have one tall houseplant, two at the very most.

Not only will this cut the clutter, the verticality of a tall houseplant draws the eye to the ceiling and helps you to appreciate the full space of your room. A cheese plant, for example, is relatively inexpensive, nice to look at and doesn’t need too much maintenance to grow to a decent size.

Colour is key

So you’ve already de-cluttered your space, you’ve filled it with light and you’ve got a nice breeze coming through – now you need to think about colour.

Here’s some basic interior design advice – lighter colours (white is best) make a room feel airy and spacious, whereas darker colours make it feel close and cosy. For a small working station, you’re going to want to focus on lighter colours to counterbalance the lack of physical space.

If your walls are a darker colour, you may want to consider wallpapering or painting them, especially if you are going to be working in there for the long haul, but, if you’re unable to do so, there are easier ways to keep your space light!

If the floor of your room is dark, you could try a lighter rug, or if you have dark furniture, you could add a nice, bright throw.

That’s not to say darker colours don’t have their place in your space, in small doses – in fact the contrast of a dark object in your lighter room can actually add to the illusion of depth!