The Cloffice (Closet-Office): Converting the closet in our apartment to a full-time work from home office

Scott and I have been living in the heart of Pittsburgh for over 2 years now. We absolutely LOVE our neighborhood and our apartment however everyone knows downtown living = less space. Usually that wouldnt be a big deal – it’s just the two of us & we have a great sized apartment for a one bedroom – but recently I had a change of career and I am working from home 90%+ of the time (like most of us during COVID) and there wasn’t a space for separating work & play at home.

I wanted to make sure I had a specific place where I knew work would get done and I wouldn’t be distracted & I would be able to remove myself from the hustle and bustle of work life to hang out with Scott at the end of the day.

But where do I put this WFH office?

Like I said, space is at a premium in our 1000 sq foot apartment so I had to get creative. We have a small linen closet at the front of our apartment, away from the living space, that I always felt looked messy anyways – kind of an eyesore – and this was the perfect way to make it into something fabulous that I wouldnt hate looking at.

So I took to the internet to see what other people had done and also to see if maybe I was just absolutely insane to think this little closet would look anything like an office space. And while I wasnt the genius I thought I was for inventing the cloffice, it gave me plenty of inspo to turn this tiny closet into an office. See the ideas and products I pulled above!

Color scheme

Like the rest of our house – shades of pink & blue and accents of gold were the color scheme I landed on. I think it really helps to keep the color palette consistent in a small space for continuity of aesthetic. This is the same palette we have used throughout our house (and at our wedding so I guess I am sensing a theme here but I am nothing if not on brand). The blue wall paper, pink chair, and gold desk accessories tie into the rest of our house (thank G for a husband who lets me decorate everything in pink & blue!)

What we did: Shelves & wallpaper

This has your standard built in track shelves before. We removed those so that we could wallpaper the back wall. I found this wallpaper from Amazon. I measured and found out the square footage I needed with the help of Google and needed 2 rolls.

In all honesty, this wallpaper was really inexpensive and you could tell by the quality. It was very thin and stretched easily making it a little difficult to hang. If this were a long term space for us & something that wasnt going to be covered by shelves and computer screens, I might have bought better quality wallpaper. There are lots of imperfections that show if you look closely. Also – this is the last time I hang wallpaper myself…

What we did: Lighting & electric

This little corner of the apartment is blocked from our natural light so we knew to brighten it us we needed lighting. Once the wallpaper was up, we had a friend install this little chandelier and add an outlet inside the closet for my monitors & a power strip. I also added this awesome gold desk lamp that has a built in phone charging pad & a USB port. This is perfect for any desk! Gives off so much light & it never hurts to have a phone charger around.

Accessories & Decor: Gold & pink

With the blue wallpaper being a focal point I needed to tie in the pink and gold with all of the accessories.

The chair is SO comfortable and really beautiful. A coral-y pink velvet – it brightens up the space a lot. My chair is sold out but here is a similar option. Because it is somewhere I will be sitting a majority of my day I decided to splurge on one that was comfortable and supportive.

I ordered this set of desk accessories to go with the gold aesthetic. It came with a magazine organizer, hanging folder file, sticky note holder, pen cup, & letter sorter. All the things I need!

You’ve seen me use this gold grid as a sunglass organizer but I also use it as a pseudo-bulletin board. I ordered these mini gold binder clips to hang little notes to myself on there!

To pull in even more pink I added this desk pad in a pale pink to match the chair. I use the desk pad & my favorite weekly to do list pad as a mouse pad on the desk (I featured it in my weekly 10 post from a few weeks back and I really do use it every single week!)

I ordered a white & gold cordless mouse to go with me when I travel or move around the apartment.

Other Paper goods: hanging folders, pastel legal pads.