Which walls have outlets? I'd situate the desk location near one and then figure out where the shelves and chairs will fit. Will you be getting a rug or do you have any artwork to drive colors you'd like to incorporate in the room?

@Molly thanks for your input!

All walls have outlets so that's not a worry. I added a plan with where the outlets are in, which are marked by blue squares for further clarity. I've also named the walls A-D so we understand which walls we're referring to better as it can get confusing. I'd love more input from you please.

My biggest concern is to get a layout that works with both the current entryway for clients (door from my home's hallway) and the future entryway (where current closet is straight through my home's front door). I want the permanent fixtures to look good to clients through both these angles.

Art & rugs & decorative items:

I am for sure considering getting a rug, also to help with noise reduction as this is an apartment and right under my office the tenants' children are loud. I also want artwork. I love color. Neither art nor rug nor other decorative elements are yet purchased, I wanted to get advice on placement of furniture + accent colors and go from there 🙏🙏 I'd like to avoid blue and aqua only as an accent color as I've already used these colors in many other rooms.

Thoughts on that? need a color that works with floors, oak trims, greige walls and charcoal bookcases. Also thoughts on metallic finishes? I've updated my original post and posted more in comments for more info. Thanks again 🙏🙏🙏

Burnt orange would look great!

Yes to above, and rust (similar to above, but more red), yellow or green. If you like color get a large abstract piece of art with a lot of different colors and keep the rug calm. You can always get a the edges bound on a remnant from a carpet store in a more commercial type pile than home carpeting. I would put the wall unit on the back wall (perpendicular to the window) and put the desk in front of it, facing the door.

I'd put the shelves to the left of the current entry. How long before the entry moves? I'd then put the desk in front of the window with the guest chairs in front of it (so you are facing them). If there is room it would be nice to have the option to use a table or credenza behind you so you can also view out the window when clients are not present. Here are a few rugs (all from the same vendor). I would include some with blue so you can move them around your house.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CarpetsBazaar?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=1316311677&section_id=36875567&page=4#items

Was looking for this kind of lighting for over the desk. West Elm sells one, too.

hello again to all! Wow! super stoked with your input thus far. I do apologize, I think my plans might have added to confusion so deleted them and added a plan to which I named the walls with letters A-D so that I make sure that I properly understand all your wonderful suggestions without confusion as to which walls we are talking about.

So, the door on wall B marked current door is the main entry to my office from my home's hallway. Currently, this is where both I and clients will come into my office from. Eventually, within a year or two, I will still use this door to enter my home office, however clients will come in through the other door, on wall D, the reason being that that way, clients do not enter my home's hallway. They would come in through the front door and my office would be accessible straight away. Ideally, I'm looking to position permanent furniture in a way that looks good from both angles, from both doors if that makes sense.

Other consideration : the feet of the blue velvet chairs (2) for clients are brassy gold. The current lighting fixture is a dark silver pewter and the bookcases are charcoal-metally looking. I am open to changing light fixture. I have matte black and brushed gold elsewhere in my house. Do you think I can mix the pewter color & brassy-gold for metals in my office or do they clash? if they clash, what do you suggest?

I love the rust color many of you mentioned. But will it clash with charcoal-metallic bookcases and other pewter-silvery finishes?

And I love color, so definitely open to that. I'd like to avoid too much blue or aqua though since I've used it elsewhere.

Thanks again everyone!!! 🙏🙏 can't wait to hear your feedback

@einportlandor ouhhh I like that idea! do you think it will match nicely ? please see updated colors in original post. The bookcases are a king of metallic-ish charcoal. Do you think that would clash? Light fixtures are silvery-pewter (can change if necessary) and feet of velvet blue armchairs are brassy-brushed gold. What should I do metal wise and will it marry well with burnt orange? I think burnt orange could be good to go with the honey oak trims and taupey floors too- what do we think?

@kandrewspa thanks for your input! love the color recommendations. Do you think it will match the rest? See additions to original posts re better view of colors. Also what is your opinion on colors for metals that I should use? If I understood correctly, you would put the bookcase on wall A and the desk straight in front of wall A facing the current door (see annotated plan please)?

@Molly please see updated post, I think it will help! Love your suggestions and Yes, I would love to see outside as well. Do you think an L shaped desk might help with one side pointing towards outside? I'll have both a screen and laptop so my screen can be my laptop when I want to move. So shelves on wall B in your opinion (see anotated plan in original post)? Love the rugs! what are your thoughts on colors for metals I should use?

@housegal200 love your ideas! Could you kindly take a look at the updated annotated plan I posted on original post and tell me which wall you are referring to? I want to be sure I'm clearly visualizing the plan you are proposing please (I'm extremely visual lol) Thanks so much!! love love that rug and table as well, but am worried about metals clashing with metallic charcoal bookcases + current silvery-pewter light fixtures (can be changed if necessary). I added more pics of these on my original post as well. I updated the plans in OG post to keep it simple as well, I think it was adding to confusion if anything, unfortunately the big closet with mirrored doors is not part of the office and is accessible only through a complete other section of the home. No closed closet space will exist once the door on wall D becomes the clients' entry point.

Can't wait to get more amazing feedback from you all. Thanks again a thousand times! This is our first apartment, so it's definitely a first in decorating for me, your help is so very appreciated 🙏😄

Based on your new configuration and information where clients come in right away.

--Float your desk with back to the window and two chairs facing your desk. Anchor your desk, desk chair, and two client chairs entirely on a large, patterned rug in a palette of gray, taupe, blue, and a bit of the oak color as suggested. Check out rug tiles at Flor.com, which look great in offices--professional, warm, low , flat pile.

--If bookcase can only fit on the right side as you enter room, then put it there. Consider having it painted a warm white. That gray is very cold with your warm oak trim. Consider painting the room a warm white since the oak trim is so dominant.

--Get a plain white drum shade for your floor lamp if you're keeping it.

--Get lateral file cabinets in warm white/ivory for the closet wall. Have an oak tabletop cut for the top of the file cabinets and stain like oak trim.

--Choose a desk with wheels so you can turn it around for Zoom meetings in front of the bookcase. Ikea has great desktops and wheeled legs. Otherwise your camera will be facing window or dark shades. The bookcase will make a great backdrop.

Sorry, but your existing palette is a bit of a mish mash. You must photograph all four walls for any Design Dilemma questions with shades up and lights on. You keep showing bits and pieces of the room, all these drawings, finishes, etc. I don't know that your greige walls, reddish oak trim, taupe floors harmonize. Warm white would've been beterr. The bright blue Regency chairs with brass legs aren't quite right with traditional oak trim. Hopefully the right rug will pull it altogether. I'm showing this rug for color only since it's too knotted for pushing chairs/desk over it. Taupe blends with floor but is warm enough for all the oak and the blue is minimal. I'm not sure the rug I showed previously works at all with those chairs, which are an ornate style.

BTW, order the smallest version of a rug you like to see if it works so you can easily send it back for a large rug. Make sure it sits nice and flat on the floor so it doesn't bunch up or wrinkle and chairs, desk, etc. glide easily.

No knick knacks whatsover on those bookshelves. Plants only on the bay window shelf.

--

@housegal200 thank you so much for this great info - I really appreciate it. I'm also taking a look at your pictures on here for inspiration. I love love the idea of oak on top of the filing cabinets! Would never have thought of that!

I totally get where you're coming from abotu mixing everything together and will do lots of research to hopefully get a nice rug, side table, light fixture and desk to try and pull everything together. Perhaps more of a boho rust colored with blue small pillows could be a good addition to the chairs to marry everything in together?

Unfortunately this will be my home office after having just finished post-secondary education so I am on a strict budget. Repainting the room and bookcase are unfortunately not options for the moment, but everything else I mentioned is not yet bought and I can try and mix in. I can also change the light fixture but was confused because the current is similar colored to bookcase. What do you think? Maybe some terracotta colored planters for the plants? Would you still go brassy for the client's side table or more oak wood tones as a wink to the bay window? What kind of desk do you think would work best?

By the way noticing again that the pictures on here make my wall color look a lot more gray-cool than in real life. It's actually more taupey (SW Pediment, 61-62 LRV).

A huge thank you once again!! I really appreciate all your much-needed help 🙏🙏

P.S. we're clearing out the room this weekend and I'll make sure to add pictures of all walls!

Get your layout and function figured out first, always the first step, the major step, in design. Color and accessories come last. Clients should not have to deal with chair pillows! Don't concern yourself with brass vs. nickel. Not sure why you need such a big bookcase. Resist the temptation to fill it up with bits of this and that.

Figure out your desk and desk chair. Ikea has desktops you can combine with rolling legs so you can float the desk depending on your needs. Sometimes you might want to face the window while you're working in there. Get something functional with simple lines. Figure out your lighting. The right rug will help a lot in pulling together the space. If you're on a budget, why are you willing to spend so much on adding a new doorway? In the future, please show a room from all four corners with the adjoining space then provide one clear layout. This was a very confusing Dilemma.

@housegal200 thank you for the advice!

For further clarity, we're not creating a new entry. This room used to be a home office with that closet being the entry for clients for a previous owner. To make it easy to reconvert, they put a mirror on the other side of it that's relatively easy to remove. Reason I prefer that on the longer term is the client doesn't need to see or enter the rest of my home.

Apologies for confusion, I will be clearing out room and adding clearer photos of all walls. Thank you very much again

Got it. Good luck with the project.

Fey P. - Where did you find your chairs?

@nhb22 hello! I was lucky enough to get them for a steal on FB Marketplace but the seller told me they are from amazon. I can send you a picture of the bottom that might have a model number or something. They're super comfortable and wonderfully easy to clean too.

Any thoughts on my design dilemma? thanks!

Thank you.

I really do not have much else to add. Other posters have voiced what I would have suggested.

My personal office has Navy walls (SW Naval), burnt orange love seats with a light gray pattern, a light gray and cream rug, yellow & blue & cream patterned ottomans. Plus, I have an acrylic coffee table, a wood table, and two brass tables. My built-in bookshelves are painted white to match the trim in the room. My desk is dark oak with black accents. I have a few black accents in the room and have lots of old oil paintings on the walls. Plus a mirror.

I have two antique lamps that belonged to my parents that are in the celadon green family. I also have a tall standing lamp. All three have goldish looking shades (one a dark gold, and the other two a very light gold silk. The room is very study like with a touch of whimsey!!! Somehow it all comes together. That's why I loved your chairs. I need a low desk chair for myself. I was attracted to the blue with gold legs.

If your hardware does not match the rest of your furniture, consider using Rub n Buff and change some of the finishes. I have used it many times in my house and love it!!!

explore more collections: for your office wall decor