Pop-up Office

Since COVID, the world is moving to a remote work environment. With that, we are all seeking additional workspace.

Both my husband and I have jobs that allow us to be completely remote. As we came to the point of over staying our welcome in our living room and knowing that working from home would become our new norm, I needed to take action and create a workspace. Creating an office in a house that was “fully” occupied became a great, but wanted challenge. 

The first question I asked myself was, “is there an area of the house where we are not using its full potential?” The answer was yes; our basement. 

Our basement consists mostly of storage. Storage of items that we haven’t used in years. There was an area with stacked boxes and tubs and I thought, what a great space to create a pop-up office. 

The pop-up office goal was to be affordable, to use existing materials we already owned and a space that could easily break down. The challenge was to create a space with materials and not structure.

In my master bedroom I used peel and stick wallpaper and I loved it. It has been up for over five years and still looks great. With our basement being concrete slabs, I wanted to use peel and stick wallpaper to dress it up and brighten the space.

I took a scrap piece from my bedroom and placed it on the wall to see if it would hold. I left it up for about five days and it worked perfect.

Next we needed a work table. I had a large table top that usually sits on saw horses that was used for home improvement projects. This was a great solution. I added legs at counter height so we can sit on a stool or it could used as a standing desk. 

Another challenge with the space was not being able to hang items on the walls (aside from the peel and stick wallpaper) so I took to the rafters. I used spare table legs that I made and by drilling them into the rafters, I was able to have a hanging shelf for both my husband and myself.

To help keep the space warm, I found two areas rugs that would complement the peel and stick paper. Then I hung string lights over the workstation to give some softness to the space. 

Pro tip: as I worked on building the space, I came across challenges and had to pivot in new directions. I believe that with items not working out as planned or by making mistakes, your design can become  stronger and can push you to find creative solutions. 

A great example was when I ran out of peel and stick paper and the company was out of stock. I thought to myself, “what else can work here?” What about a chalk board? And guess what–you can purchase peel and stick chalk paper. This was a great solution to cover the concrete wall and provide a new space for brainstorming and sticky notes.

Overall this was a really fun challenge and a reminder that you can turn any space into a functional space.