How To Setup A Home Office In A Small Bedroom?

[aff_disclosure]

Let’s face it…we are really in a crunch of space nowadays…Some are still under lockdown, the kids are home…the elders cannot go out much and if you have your parent with you they would also need their own space…on top of that we have to find space for our home office…

Many times the only option left for you is to setup your office in your bed room…

Also, this may be the only feasible option when you are living in a dorm (kids are very enterprising these days) or you are a bachelor and live in a shared apartment…

If you are in any of these situations and your bedroom size is a standard 8ft by 9ft then how will you fit your home office in that space?

If you can only think of a laptop desk for the bed, then this article will help you out…I have provided 21 different home office setups that can fit in a small bedroom. If that peaked your interest, then read on…

Also, just a note, I’m no architect and the below drawings are not as per scale…I’ve provided it based on my experience of living in a shared space of 5 when I moved to a new city for my job. So, please pardon my drawing skills…however, you will get the idea of how to arrange your space based on the pictures below…

So, let’s set your home office up in your bedroom…

How To Setup A Home Office In A Small Bedroom?

When setting up a home office in a small bedroom, our first impulse is to select a foldable mobile laptop desk cart.

That may seem a feasible option, since a small bedroom, most of the time has a size of 8X9ft or 72 sq. ft…That is not a lot of areas to work with…

On top of that, if you have a roommate, then things canget tricky…

However, the mobile desk is not your only option, as below we have considered all these aspects while coming up with more workable solutions…So, let’s begin…

Setup 1

Small Bedroom Office Setup 1 and 2

In setup 1 this is how you will arrange your furniture

  • Bed at one side of the wall and to the corner as shown in the picture.
  • The Door is on the opposite wall.
  • Considering bed length to be six feet, in this setup, you can accommodate a work desk of a maximum of 3ft wide.
  • That is a decent enough width and you can get good work desks from 32 inches only. Also, they have a lot of hard case storage bags, cable organizers, etc…If you use these kinds of desks, then your overall setup cost will also come down.
  • The chair will be between the door and the work desk.
  • The door will be behind you.
  • All the other furniture can be arranged around the free space available at the side of the best and behind the work desk.

Setup 2

For setup 2, the work desk will be at side of the bed as shown in the picture.

  • Most of the time, a dorm room bed or a bed for a single person is around 3ft to 4ft in width. Considering that it is a 4 feet bed, at the side of the bed, you are left with 4 ft.
  • That is a good amount of space for a 3ft work desk. Also, the chair is behind the desk between the back wall and the wall with the desk.
  • To arrange the rest of the furniture, you have an l-shaped space available.

Setup 3

Bedroom Office Setup 3 and 4

This setup is similar to setup 1 with only a minor difference. In this setup the desk is still near your foot bed but the longer side is parallel to the front wall.

Also, you will be sitting behind the desk with your back towards the wall.

Other than this, the rest of the setup is same. Also, you may find some more space to fit in additional furniture which I’ve left out.

This will again change with the dimension of your room.

Setup 4

Setup 4 is similar to setup 2 the only difference is the table placement.

With this one you are sitting between the desk and the wall with empty pace between desk and the door.

This is a more private setup and the feels are like the corner office. You may find that you have an improved focus only because of the coziness of the setup.

Setup 5

Office in a small bedroom – setup 5 and setup 6

In setup 5, your work desk will be in the same line as your bed, however, you will be facing the wall in this setup…Also, the door will be on your right hand side.

In this setup, probably you will be able to fit in a small chest of drawer or a wardrobe of around 2ft width…

Another nice table or a shoe stand also can fit in there…

However, you will have a lot of space on the other side of the room where you will have an entire wall at your disposal for furniture.

Setup 6

In the next setup the desk to on the side of the bed and towards your head…

However, it is parallel to your bed and you will be facing the wall when you will be working. This will leave you with small space between you and the door to fit a piece of furniture.

However, you may accommodate the rest of the furniture on the wall after the bed. This may not be the most efficient use of your space, and in that way, I would prefer setup 5.

Setup 7

Home Office Bedroom Setup 7 and 8

Setup 7 is similar to setup 5, however, there is only a small difference. In this arrangement, you will be sitting behind the desk and will be overlooking the bed.

Also, you need to allow some space between the piece of furniture and your work desk for easier movement.

Else, you may crawl under your table for accessing the chair. 🙂

Setup 8

Again, this setup is also almost the same as setup 6. However, this one also overlooks the bed while your back is towards the wall.

In this setup also, you need to allow some space between your work desk and your furniture.

To be honest, in this setup, some space is wasted and may not be the best utilization of space.

However, privacy wise, this is a better setup as if someone walks into your room (most of the time in dorm) they cannot peek into the idea you are currently working on and you need not worry about someone stealing it.

Far stretched, but hey this happens…

Setup 9

Setup 9 and 10

This is the first setup that has a double bed. I’m assuming that this bed is a queen size bed. You can have a king size bed but that will be too big.

You may not have any further space to fit any other furniture after placing the work desk.

In this setup, the work desk is towards your footboard and is placed along side the wall. When you will sit down for work, you will be facing the wall. Also, the door is behind you.

You will have some space on the other side of the wall for furniture. Also, you may place one between your work desk and the door. However, I felt that it may restrict your movement, so left it. But you may have some more space and can utilize it better.

Setup 10

This setup is exactly same as the previous one with only one difference. The table is placed parallel to the foot board and you are sitting with the wall behind you.

This will add some privacy to your work and you may also feel more focused in your corner office.

Setup 11

Home office setup 11 and setup 12

In setup 11, your work desk is at the side of the bed towards your headboard. Your back is towards the back wall and you can see the wall behind the work desk when you lift your head up.

Essentially, you are between the desk and the door.

With this setup, one particular problem that you will face is that, the other person living with you in this room may feel disturbed when you work at the time of their sleep.

You have to work out an arrangement so that both of you don’t feel frustrated with this setup.

Setup 12

In setup 12, most of the things are similar to setup 11. The only difference is that, the desk is parallel to the bed and you are sitting between the bed and the desk.

This may solve some of the problems that you faced with the above setup. However, a new one will creep in. Your privacy…you will have much less privacy as your computer screen will be clearly visible from the bed.

To solve that you can go with setup 14.

Setup 13

Setup 13 and 14

This is a setup which is like setup 9 with you sitting in between the bed and the desk.

You desk is adjacent to the wall and all the other arrangements are same as setup 9.

The only concern you may have is your privacy, other than that, since you are not seeing someone’s face or interacting with them, you may have better focus working with this setup.

Setup 14

This is a setup almost same as setup 12. However, here you are sitting behind the desk with your back towards the wall.

In other words, your desk is between you and the bed.

This may be a good setup as it will have a minimal light reflection on the person sleeping on the bed. Also, you will have complete privacy when you are working on your project.

Setup 15

Setup 15, setup 16

In this setup the work desk is at the foot-end of the bed. Your back will be towards the bed and you are facing the wall.

Between the door and desk you can fit a furniture and also you have some space for a furniture between the beds.

One thing though, these setups with two beds will be very clumsy and you will have to deal with space crunch.

But then again, you have a dedicated workspace so no complains…

Setup 16

This setup is similar to setup 15. However, there is only one minor difference.

In this setup, your desk will be up close the wall and you will be facing it when you sit down. Also, the door will be at the back.

Other than than this, this setup will also have the same problems as the previous one.

Setup 17

Setup 17, 18

This is a setup in which you or your roommate is the only person who is working. The work desk is near the foot-end of the bed directly opposite to the door.

Between the desk and the door you have some space to keep a piece of furniture. Also, keep a bit of gap between the furniture and the desk for easy movement.

The beds will be kept parallel to each other with a passage of 2ft width. (We are assuming the width of the beds to be 3ft each).

Also, the wall behind your bed’s headboard, you can keep a piece of furniture between the beds.

Although this is a workable solution, the problem is, you will not have a lot of space to keep your belonging and will have to manage with those two pieces of furniture.

Setup 18

In this setup also, I’m considering that only you or your roommate will be working. The work desk will be near the foot-end of the bed.

The person sitting at the desk will be facing the desk and between the desk and the door, there is a furniture.

This setup is exactly similar to that of the previous one, with only exception being the direction in which the person working at the desk is sitting.

So, the problems and the benefits that I described with the previous option, still remains the same.

Setup 19

Home office bedroom setup 19, 20

This is one of the most less spacious setups in this entire list. However, this will provide you with total privacy and if you love to work from bed, then this may be the home-office bed setups that you will love.

In this setup, the beds will be arranged parallel to each other and a small piece of furniture is placed in the middle adjacent to the wall.

Now you have an empty passage and an empty space to the foot side of the bed. Each of you can setup your offices in one of these empty spaces.

The key to this setup is usage of folding desks. After end of your work, you can fold the tables and store it against the wall alongside the door.

Also, since you will be sitting on your bed, you need not spend money on your chairs. However, ergonomically this may not be good in the long term.

You may also use desks whose legs will slide under the bed. This will help you to move the table around.

The other option for storing such table is under bed. If you have space under your bed, then you can store it there. This way some space will be saved when you are not working.

Setup 20

This is a setup that may provide you with some space in the middle of the room. The entire setup is done in a circular way starting from one side of the door to the other.

Also, both you and your house mate will have two entirely separate setups so both of you will be able to work comfortably without any hinderance.

The arrangement starts with both desks placed against the same wall as the door. Then you have some furniture then both beds.

You could have started the arrangement with the beds as well, however, in that case, the desks would have be placed on the side of any one of you and that would have bothered the sleep of that person.

Also, the person wouldn’t have been able to work comfortably, knowing that her friend is getting bothered.

Setup 21

Home Office Small Bedroom Setup 21

This setup will require a lot of adjusting from you and your roommate. If you observe the pattern of arrangement of furniture it flows in a circular fashion.

It starts from the door and ending at the other end of the door. The first piece of furniture is your work desk.

However, this work desk is also shared by your roommate. Since both of you can work on your projects simultaneously, you have two setups on it. Also, you have two chairs.

In such a setup you should select a desk where you can place two computers back to back.

Otherwise, if you are going for a normal depth, then both of you can have your monitors placed at the side of the desk, while the CPUs can be placed in the center. If you are working on laptops, then also, if both of you sit away from the centerline this problem will be solved.

However, when you are selecting a desk, go for a desk that can support multiple computers’ weight or not.

The rest of the furniture will be arranged in the fashion shown in the picture.

What are the other things that will be a deciding factor for your home office?

The above setups are fine up to a point. However, there are a lot of other guiding factors like:

Budget – This is the important deciding factor when you are setting up your home office. If you are a student and living in a dorm, then probably you will have very little to spend when it comes to your home office setup.

If that is the case, strip down your office appliance and gadget requirements to a minimal. There are 3-4 main things that you should spend your money on.

  • A good laptop or computer depending on the portability you need.
  • An excellent chair. An ergonomic one or a kneeling chair may be a good choice as you will be spending most of your time on the chair. Your back and your whole body will thank you for that.
  • A decent desk. I’ll go for a folding one as it will save space when you will not be working.
  • A backup drive.
  • A backup for your WiFi.

If you have passed your dorm days and have a decent job, you may want to splurge a bit more on your home office setup like a better desk, some indoor desk plants, lamps, etc.

Also, your budget allocation and the potential home office arrangement will change based on the kind of job you are performing. An Youtuber will have a very different setup than a C# developer.

Socket Location

While your laptop will be able to charge everything, it itself needs to be charged…Also, the power sockets will be required by various other devices that you will be using.

The problem is, you will not be able to alter the socket locations at your will. Surely you can use extension cords or power strips but that also has its limitations, especially if you are using a shared space.

Portability

This is another important aspect that you need to consider. Do you need a highly portable setup?

In that case, laptop and hotspot may be a better idea that of a desktop and WiFi…

Door and Window Location

While laying out the setups I’ve considered that the door is toward your foot and on the opposite wall and the window at the side of your bed as this is the setup I’ve.

However, you may not have these placements. In that case, your arrangement will change based on your door and window location.

Cordiality between roommates

That may not seem a huge problem until you are stuck with the person and don’t have talking terms. Plus, you are in a lockdown and cannot change your space immediately or you have other reasons.

Conclusion

By now you should have a fair idea of the kind of desk arrangement that you will be going for. By no means this list of setups are exhaustive. They are just some guidelines that will spark some ideas for you.

If you found this article helpful, please let me know in the comment section below…

Until next time bye bye!

Related Posts

Madhusree Basu
Latest posts by Madhusree Basu (see all)

Leave a Comment