Cloffice: How to Make an Office in a Closet

Do you need a home office, but your space is small?

Then we have the perfect idea for you, a cloffice!

Say what?!

A cloffice, an office in a closet.

In fact, we’ll show you how simple it is to DIY a cloffice in your home.

However if you have a room in your home and are looking for inspiration for an office, check out our cozy home office library.

And for more ideas that add value to your home, take a look at 10 Sensational Home Improvement Ideas on a Budget.

In this post . . .

What is a Cloffice?

Cloffice, a small office in the closet space. Walls are a light blue with white trim and fabric with a grey and blue pattern has been applied above the desk for a pin board. Grey stool for seating at desk. Desk top is a natural wood finish. Painted grey wood file cabinets provide storage under the desk.

A cloffice is a closet or a nook that you can transform into a functional office space.

Or course you don’t need a large walk-in closet to make this happen.

Just add a desk surface, storage area and a chair to a small closet or nook.

When we remodeled our clients home to make a second master suite, we used their current office space for the enlarged bedroom.

Now our clients are both retired and don’t require a large space, just somewhere to sit down and pay the bills and keep their paperwork organized.

However, if you are looking for a space where you did need to work from home, this set up will still work.

The only thing I’d suggest is a more comfortable chair.

So let’s take a look at how we created this office in a 4 1/2′ closet.

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Supplies

Prep the space

Closet area before cloffice was installed.

To begin, we cleared out the closet space, and removed the clothing rod and shelf.

Closet area is prepped for the desk with wall primer.

Next up, the wall was repaired with drywall mud and primed.

The lower portion of the cloffice area is painted charcoal grey and the upper portion is painted light blue.

Finally add a coat of paint.

In our cloffice we painted the wall the same blue a the rest of the room.

Then the lower section of the wall that will be below the desk space is painted the same charcoal grey as the accent wall.

Add a Desk

Grey painted wood file drawers are placed on each side of the cloffice area.

Next up we want to have a good desk surface to work on.

Now of course, you could purchase a desk that will fit your closet or nook area, however I like the idea of it being more of a built-in feature.

So we are installing a floating desk.

Cleats are installed on the 3 walls at the height we want our desk to sit.

We also painted the cleats grey to blend into the wall.

Cloffice area with grey painted wood file cabinets and natural wood floating desk top. Wall painted a light blue, with white trim.

Finally bring in the desk surface.

For our desk surface we purchased a piece of butcher block.

It is stained to match the refinished furniture in the room.

Before staining furniture with a water based stain, checkout our pro tips for applying a water based stain.

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Add Lighting

One very important element you want to add to your cloffice it lighting.

Generally speaking a closet does not have a light.

We had an electrician install a can light in the cloffice area when he was installing lighting for the rest of the room.

If you don’t want to hire an electrician to add lighting, there are options like installing a battery operated puck light.

Add Storage

You don’t want to skimp on storage in your cloffice.

Our client already had two oak filing cabinets.

They were painted the charcoal grey and slide under the desk surface.

Not only does this give them plenty of storage for their important documents, but fits seamlessly into the design.

Vertical Storage

12 cork panels are adhered to the wall above the desk.

When working in a small area like this cloffice, you’ll want to maximize your storage space.

One way to add more storage is with a pin board.

We purchased cork tile squares and mounted them to the wall with 3M tape

Woman's hand holding staple gun, securing blue and grey fabric over the cork board panels.

Then cover the cork tiles with fabric by stapling it to the wall on all four sides.

This is the same fabric that we used to make a pillow for the bed.

Spreading the color and pattern around the room makes it feel cohesive.

Woman's Blue and grey fabric stapled over the cork board panels.

Woman's hand holding brad nailer, attaching trim around pin board.

Finally trim out the pin board with white painted boards on all four sides.

The corners of the boards were cut at a 45° angle.

Then the corners and nail holes were puttied in and painted.

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Floating Shelf Storage

Cleat for floating shelf on the right side of closet is secured in place with nailss at the studs.

Another way to add wall storage in this cloffice is with shelves.

Adding floating shelves will keep the space uncluttered.

We used the molding we secured at the top of the pin board for the cleat along the back.

Then we installed a cleat on the right side into studs.

Cleat for floating shelf on the left side of closet is secured in place with 2 wall anchors.

However, on the left side there was not a stud to secure the cleat to.

So we installed two wall anchors to secure the cleat on the left side.

Shelf is placed over cleats and secured into place with nails. Woman's holding nail gun.

A shelf was then placed on all three cleats and secured with brads.

Woman's hand holding nail gun, securing front molding piece for floating shelf.

To finish off our floating shelf we placed a piece of molding along the front of the shelf and secured it to the shelf with brads.

Finally all of the nail holes are then puttied and all of the boards caulked and painted.

Add a Feature Wall with Fabric

Woman is holding a paint roller applying fabric starch to the wall.

We wanted to create a feature wall along this side of the room with the fabric.

So above the floating shelf, we attached more of this beautiful fabric.

Fbric starch which will be used to apply fabric to wall.

To do this we applied liquid fabric starch to the wall with a small foam roller.

Woman's hand holding small paint roller, applying fabric starch to the fabric on the wall.

Then you’ll take the fabric and place it against the wall.

We found it helpful to place push pins into the fabric along the top and sides.

Then roll more of the liquid fabric starch over the fabric until it is saturated.

Push pins are used to hold fabric in place while the fabric starch dries.

Leave the push pin in place until the liquid fabric starch is dry.

Fabric mounted to the wall with fabric starch.

Finally, remove the push pins and trim excess fabric with an xacto knife.

Cloffice area, floating natural wood desk top with painted grey wood file cabinets. Blue and grey fabric pinboard on wall surface, frames with white wood. White floating shelf accessorized with fabric storage boxes, art etc.

We are thrilled with the way this cloffice turned out.

It’s the perfect place to sit and pay bills and keep the household papers in order.

Floating shelf above desk area, staged with framed art, fabric boxes for storage, flowers, grey fabric magazine boxes and 3 wooden gnomes.

To keep some of the not so pretty items stored we used pretty boxes and files, while adding a bit of decor to the cloffice.

Make it Inspiring

Add a few pieces to your cloffice that inspire you.

A piece of art, a collection, plants, something that will inspire you while working in your office.

Natural wood floating desk. Accessories for sorting files, envelopes, pencils and cards. Pin board has a few invitatins pinned up. Potted plant and white clock sits on desk top.

Thank you for spending a little time with us today.

Another fun idea we added to an unused closet space it a Built In Reading Nook.

It’s the perfect spot to cozy up with a good book!

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We hope you found a little inspiration here today.

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Would this be something that would work in your home?

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Cloffice, an office in a closet. Blue and grey patterned fabric on wall in cloffice make a pin board and decor on the wall. Floating white shelf with art, fabric boxes, flowers. Accessories for holding folders, pens, envelopes etc are on the floating desk surface. Grey file cabinets under desk surface. white and grey patterned chair in forground.

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