Upgrade Your Home Office with these Simple DIYs

Shannon Quinn - February 12, 2022
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Upgrade Your Home Office with these Simple DIYs

Over the past couple years, millions of people have been forced to learn how to work from home. Most likely, you scraped together whatever you could to make it work. It’s time to upgrade your home office to make it more functional. Check out these quick and easy DIY projects that you can use around the office to take it from drab to fab.

Upgrade the look of your metal filing cabinet with a fresh coat of paint. Credit: All Things Thrifty

30. Paint Your Filing Cabinet To Make it as Unique as You

One quick and easy DIY project you can do is to paint your faking cabinet. Normally, metal filing cabinets come in their standard colors like gray and black. But with some metal spray paint, you can get it to match the aesthetic of your room. Use painter’s tape to add borders and design if you like. This light pink cabinet from All Things Thrifty was actually painted with chalk paint, and metallic gold spray paint.

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This DIY helps clear up messy cords underneath the desk. Credit: Buzzfeed Nifty

29. Organize Your Messy Wires With a Cardboard Shipping Tube

There’s nothing more annoying than a bunch of messy wires underneath your desk. Normally, you can’t help it, because they need to be plugged into the power strip on the floor. But what if the power strip was elevated? BuzzFeed Nifty has this idea to buy a large cardboard shipping tube, and cut it apart so that you can insert the power strip inside. Screw the tube under the desk, and you now have a suspended place to plug in your wires.

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A cute wood slat wall hanging. Credit: Brit Co

28. Use Wooden Bed Slats to Create an Organization Wall

This next project is simple and straightforward. All you need is twin size wooden bed slats and some hooks. You can also buy baskets with hooks that will hang on the wall for extra storage. Shower curtain hooks or “s hooks” work just as well for attaching small items like tape and scissors. Keep in mind that this DIY project isn’t exactly cheap. A set of wood slats from Ikea costs $30 apiece. You could buy and assemble the wood slats from Home Depot much cheaper, but the job would be significantly more difficult and time-consuming. For full instructions on how to make this, click here.

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This entire wall has been transformed into a pegboard for additional storage. Credit: Making Manzanita

27. This Gigantic DIY Pegboard Wall Gives You All The Storage Space You’d Ever Need

It’s easy enough to buy a pegboard wall for your home office, but the bloggers at Making Manzanita decided to go one step further by creating their DIY giant pegboard. The idea behind the pegboard was that they wanted to utilize as much space as possible for storage. After building the wall from scratch using sheets of plywood, they gave it a nice coat of paint. For full instructions on how to make the pegboard wall, click here.

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The Golden Glue Gun gave this chair an adorable makeover. Credit: Golden Glue Gun

26. Update Your Desk Chair To Something More Glamorous

Getting tired of your desk chair? Over time, the fabric might start to fade or even rip from sitting in it every day. If this sounds like you, a great DIY may be to give your chair a makeover. A blogger called Golden Glue Gun transformed their standard black office chair into a fabulously feminine faux fur chair. For full instructions on how to do this, click here.

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This piece of wood was transformed into a floating desk. Credit: DIY Passion

25. Make a DIY Built-In Floating Desk to Fit Your Work Anywhere

Sometimes it’s difficult to fit a desk into a small space. This is especially true if the family is forced to work from home or school during lockdown, and there is nowhere to fit a desk. One solution to your issue could potentially be to create a built-in floating desk. Check out the full instructions from the DIY Passion blog.

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These mason jars have been upgraded by a crafty lady. Credit: Frugal Kreations For You

24. These Mason Jar Organization Cups ​​Are a Crafty DIY Project

This next DIY comes from Frugal Kreations For You. They created a set of three Mason jars that have been painted, and they added a bit of rope with a faux pearl bead in the center. Of course, you don’t have to make a DIY that looks exactly like this. Mason jars are versatile, and can be used as a base for many projects. Heck, you could even use plain jars to stash your pens, pencils, and paint brushes.

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Transform a bookshelf into a cute dollhouse. Credit: Tamara Central

23. How Cute Are These DIY Dollhouse Bookcases

Sometimes, you want to think outside of the box when it comes to your office decor. A blogger called Tamara Central took a Billy bookcase from Ikea and transformed it into a little doll house. This could be perfect for a kid’s bedroom, but it can be for adults too. It’s really for anyone who feels young at heart and wants to fill their dollhouse with pictures, mementos, and books.

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These rope containers are easy to make. Credit: Craftsy Hacks

22. DIY Rope Desk Organizers To Fit Your Odds and Ends

If you have a nautical themed office, this next craft could look great on your desk. These containers are great for holding your pens, plants, and whatever else you need to put away in a container. All you need is a string of crafting rope, yarn, scissors, white lace, and hot glue. For full instructions on how to make these, check out the Craftsy Hacks blog here.

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Labeling cords with washi tape helps you identify which one is which. Credit: Simply Spaced

21. Label Your Cords With Colorful Washi Tape

Sometimes, it’s difficult to figure out which cords go to which device. Organizing your cables can be as easy as using colorful washi tape to identify which cord goes with which charger. Washi tape is available at nearly every craft store, and you can also find it online. For more ideas on how to label your office cords, check out this blog post by Simply Spaced.

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Spice racks are great for hanging books and files. Credit: Apartment Therapy

20. Turn Ikea BEKVAM Spice Racks Into Floating Bookshelves

One of the best Ikea Hacks out there is to use the Bekvam spice racks and turn them into floating bookshelves. They only cost $5 each. You can paint them any color, so you can match the decor of the rest of your home office. In the photo above, you can see how someone combined using a pegboard with the floating bookshelves, which is the ultimate organization hub in a home office.

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Giving a bookshelf a makeover is as easy as hanging some wallpaper. Credit: J Petite

19. Give Your Office Bookshelf a Makeover With Fancy Wallpaper

A lot of people buy plain black or white bookshelves from Ikea or Walmart for their home office. At roughly $30 apiece, you can’t go wrong when it comes to giving your office a lot of storage space. However, that can get dull after a while. A great DIY project would be to add some wallpaper to the back of the bookcase. Check out the blog The J Petite to see step-by-step instructions on how they made the bookshelf above.

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Give your cat a little hideaway while you work. Credit: New Swedish Design

18. Give Your Feline Friend a Cute Cat Bookshelf Hideaway

If you have a cat and work from home, then you already know how they like to “help” during the workday. My cat loves to lay under my desk or sit directly next to me at all times. That’s why this cat hideaway bookshelf insert is such a good idea. It’s designed to fit into an Ikea Billy bookcase. So if you already have one in your home office, it just makes sense to give your cat their own little hideaway. If you’d like to buy it, click here.

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This large cork wall is big enough to git all the memos this person could need. Credit: Binti Home

17. Check Out This Entire Wall Made of Cork

A lot of people have a cork board in their office to hang notes, photos and calendars to look at. But what happens when you run out of space? The Binti Home Blog took this one step further by creating a cork board that was so huge, it takes up the entire wall. For instructions on how to make this, click here.

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A clear file organizer was give a DIY upgrade. Credit: Just Destiny Mag

16. Add Colors and Labels to Your Clear File Organizer

This next DIY project assumes that you have already purchased a clear stackable file organizer from The Container Store. However you might have clear acrylic pieces from places like Walmart or Target that are getting a bit old. A great DIY to spice things up is to use colored paper and printable stickers to label what each section is for. To see step-by-step instructions on how to make this, check out Just Destiny Mag.

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Add a bit of boho flare with this cane webbing. Credit: The Hardins

15. This Boho Cane Webbing is the Ultimate Ikea Hack

If you’re trying to make your home office look more bohemian, you might want to consider using cane webbing. This gives off the vibe of vintage wicker furniture used in beach homes back in the 1970’s. Bloggers called The Hardins transformed an Ikea Alex bookshelf into the cute cane webbed piece you see above. For full step-by-step instructions, click here.

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This double desk is big enough for two people to work side by side. Credit: Caitlin Wallace Rowland

14. Check Out This DIY 12-Foot Double Desk

Some of you out there are in a situation where your partner- or maybe the entire family- are not working from home and school. When there is more than one person working, space can be limited. Wouldn’t it be great if you could make a gigantic 12-foot desk that fits two people? A blogger named Caitlin Wallace Rowland did just that. For full instructions on how she pulled this off, click here.

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Desks don’t have to be traditional. Credit: Sanctuary Home Decor

13. Use and Old Kitchen Table as a Desk

When you buy a desk, it doesn’t have to fit the standards of what you see in the home office section of your big box stores. A desk can be made out of any table. For example, I have an old retail table as my desk, and it’s huge. I love it. In the photo above, you can see that designers from Sanctuary Home Decor decided to use an old kitchen table as a desk in their home office. It’s beautiful, and provides a lot more space that your standard desk that you’d find at Ikea or Walmart. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box the next time you go browsing your local thrift store or furniture shop.

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Use paperclips to help organize your wires. Credit: Shutterstock

12. Black Paperclips Work Great as DIY Wire Holders

Do you tend to lose your headphones? Or maybe the cords of your various devices get tangled up on your desk. A quick and easy DIY solution to the problem is to get those large black paper clips, and secure them to the end of your desk. Now you have little clips that will hold your wires in place in a neat organized fashion.

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Martha Stewart suggests holding important documents in a trunk. Credit: Martha Stewart

11. Check Out This Mini Office in a Chest

If your home office is in your bedroom, you already know how that can be a bit chaotic. It takes away your feng shui, and makes it difficult to enjoy your bedroom as a place for peace and relaxation. Martha Stewart came up with a really clever idea on how to keep your office supplies in the bedroom in a more discreet way. Keep it all in a chest at the end of the bed! In the photo, you can see how she keeps all of her files there. But once the chest is closed, you would never know what was inside. It just looks like a normal piece of bedroom furniture.

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A creative solution to storing office supplies. Credit: Redbook Mag

10. Use a Spice Rack for Office Supplies

Those bottles on spinning racks can be used for so much more than your spice collection. Redbook Magazine came up with this cute idea of using your spice rack as a place to keep your office supplies. If you had this sitting on your desktop, finding something would be as easy as rotating the spice rack to find the little container you need. The only downside to this DIY is that it can be a bit pricey. Walmart sells a metal rotating spice rack for around $20, but it doesn’t come with bottles, since they assume you’re putting your purchased spices in there. Sets that come with the empty glass bottles cost anywhere from $40 to $60 apiece.

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This shelf is as easy as assembling crates and stacking. Credit: Make and Do Crew

9. Don’t You Wish You Had This DIY Crate Bookshelf

When you’re creating or updating a home office, you need to ask yourself if it’s providing enough space and privacy. Luckily, you can use bookshelves as a room divider if it’s in the middle of the room. Or, if it’s up against the wall, it provides an ample amount of storage for your home office. One of my favorite DIY bookshelves is to nail together wooden crates. This can be done by up-cycling wooden wine crates, or buy wooden crates from Ikea or Walmart. For step-by-step instructions on how to make the shelves seen above, check out the Make and Do Crew blog.

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Insert divider trays into drawers for maximum organization. Credit: Craftsy Hacks

8. Marie Kondo Would Be Proud of These Divider Trays in Drawers

Anyone who has seen the Netflix series Tidying Up With Marie Kondo will already be familiar with the concept of putting smaller containers into your drawer to keep things organized. So why not follow in the steps to spark joy in your own home office? These containers and drawer inserts are available at Ikea, Target, Walmart, The Container Store, and Amazon. Depending on the brand you buy, it should cost you anywhere from $10 to $20 to complete a quick project like this.

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Write your own labels with chalkboard stickers. Credit: Craftsy Hacks

7. Chalkboard Labels Help to Organize Your Belongings

When you’re organizing your office supplies, it’s always a good idea to label them so that you know where everything is. These little chalkboard labels should be available at most Dollar Tree stores. They even sell chalk board pens in various colors. But if they’re out of stock, you can definitely find it at your local craft store.

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Labels can be a true life saver. Credit: Shop Molly Ellen on Etsy

6. Or Organize With Clear Boxes With Printable Labels

Depending on your line of work, you may have a lot of supplies stashed away in the closet of your home office. Sometimes the best way to organize your stuff is by having clear boxes. Even then, it’s a good idea to print out sticker labels to designate which items are inside of the box. If you don’t have a Cricket or Silhouette machine at home to make these labels, check out the Shop Molly Ellen Etsy shop, where you can buy these stickers.

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Utility carts can be used to carry additional office supplies. Credit: Pinterest

5. This Utility Cart Is Versatile For All Office Supplies

When you’ve been working from home for a while, supplies tend to accumulate. And depending on your work setup, you might want the ability to move your products from one room to another. Rolling utility carts are available in most craft stores, Ikea, and Amazon. They’re usually around $30, which makes it affordable to do a quick DIY project that will give you all the extra storage you may need. Check out some more ideas for rolling carts on Pinterest.

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This bedroom closet space has been turned into a home office. Credit: Lone Fox

4. Transform a Closet Into an Office Nook

Sometimes, if you want to create a home office, you need to get creative in order to fit it into a space space. (Especially if you live in an apartment.) In the photo above, you can see how a closet nook was transformed into an adorable bedroom home office. If you want to see the full video on how this closet was transformed into an office, check out Lone Fox on YouTube.

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Three large soundproofing panels made from white canvas. Credit: Instructables

3. DIY Soundproofing Panels For At-Home Studios

Depending on what you do work for, you should consider soundproofing your home office. Whether you’re recording for a podcast, or just want to cut down on the echo during your zoom meetings, these panels can be a real lifesaver. All you need to do is buy some canvases from the craft store, and sound foam squares online. Glue the sound foam to the back of the canvas. You can choose to keep the paneling plain white, or paint them any color you want. In the photo above, you can see the example from Instructables where they asked their kids to turn the soundproofing panels into works of art. No one would ever know that they were more than just artwork hanging in your office.

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Hanging storage eliminates clutter from forming on the desktop. Credit: Unskinny Boppy

2. Ikea Hanging Storage Just Makes Life a Little Easier

Sometimes, the only way you can get extra storage in your home office is to work with your vertical space. That’s where the Ikea Fintorp comes in. These are floating bars that are technically used for the kitchen, but they work really well in any room of your home. Adding those buckets to the hanging bars gives you plenty of space to store pens, pencils, and so much more. For a step-by-step tutorial on how this was made, check out the Beth Bryan blog.

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Clipboards can be reused as cute memo boards on the wall. Credit: Craftsy Hacks

1. Use Clipboards as Memo Boards in the Office

A lot of people have old clipboards leftover in their house from years ago. Or, you might find them in your local thrift store. These are a great DIY project to upcycle into cute little memo boards. In the picture above, you can see how they even spray painted them gold to match the aesthetic of the rest of the office.

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