Crafting Your Small Home Office Or Study Space In Four Steps

“The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.” – William Morris

Loving what you do has to be one of the key ingredients to a happy life. Loving where you do it? Well, we think that’s just as important.

As the world shifted towards working-from-home patterns, a new love of our houses was born. Our spaces, which always provide moments of sanctuary and security, are now also sites of productivity. So, if you’re looking for a couple of easy ways to make your home office or study space into a haven for uplifting, joyous work, read on!

Set The Right Tone With A Feature Wall

Whether you’re facing a wall or flanked by one, these are your biggest opportunity to create something beautiful. For work focus, we think you should choose something subtle, calming and reassuring.

We’ve chosen Borage in our Sunflower colourway. Its warm, rustic tones permeate a positive energy in your space to help you through challenging tasks at work. The intricate and spirited floral pattern was inspired by the namesake plant, known for attracting bees with a gentle hum in the summer months.

Tip: A wallpaper-paint pairing is a match made in heaven. Our Sunflower wallpaper colourway is colour-matched with the Sunflower paint hue from our Morris & Co. Paint range.

Finding The Right Light

Not just useful for resisting the dreaded eye strain, a good light can envelop a space, helping to create a cosy atmosphere conducive to producing your best work. The size and style of lamp will, of course, depend on how you’ve decorated the desk and surrounding area, but we think a desktop lamp always does the trick.

We’ve got hundreds of lamps and size combinations over on our friends’ site, Pooky. Again, it's important to select a pattern that speaks to you, that encourages you to bathe in its light. That’s why we chose the Willow Boughs pattern. Originally from 1887, the willow was a motif William Morris returned to numerous times in his life, expressing the vitality of nature.

Read more about William Morris and his love of willows here.

Put Your Feet Up

Whether its at the end of a long day, or the beginning of one, a footstool adds a much-needed element of comfort to your work experience. Treat your feet, and your eye, by upholstering yours in a pattern you just love.

Footstools are a great option for layering patterns, too. As they’re small, mobile and below eye level, you can play with pattern without overwhelming the eye. For ours, we’ve gone for something special: the Flowers By May design.

Created by William Morris’s daughter, May, beguiling, jewel-like colours bring to life a startling array of meadow flowers set against a deep midnight indigo. Flowers By May originally adorned the seat of 17th-century chair which once stood in the library of William Morris. 

Natural Finishes

One of the best lessons of William Morris’s life was to never let your work, whatever it may be, alienate you from nature. Whilst that sounds like a grand statement, small steps in your own environment can help you stay connected.

Natural finishes, such as a sprig or stem here and there, can make a world of difference. If you’re questing for something a little more statemental, Morris & Co. have teamed up with Next to produce these stunning and deliverable bouquets of flowers. With arrangements inspired by the florals in our archive designs, we like to think the bouquets help to bring our designs to life.

A keen flower fan? Discover our garden at the 2022 RHS Chelsea Flower Show here.