ONE ROOM RENOVATIONS
Flatpack furniture was the star ting point for a practical workspace
Lydia Elder, a digital content creator (@lydias_lay ton_life), and her husband Peter live with their two young sons in a four-bedroom new-build house in Ebbsfleet, Kent
What prompted you to update?
We’d been living here for 18 months and this was the only room left untouched. As we needed somewhere to deal with household admin and working from home days, we decided to revamp it.
Were there any compromises?
Space was too tight to fit in two separate desks, so we decided on a double one that Peter and I could share. I wanted smart built-in furniture, but the quotes for a bespoke desk and wall storage were beyond our budget. For cost-effective ideas, I turned to Instagram and was inspired to combine Ikea wall-mounted cabinets and floorstanding drawers with a kitchen worktop. Ikea’s online planning tool helped me get the right mix of units to fit the space.
Tell us about the look and style… I love deep, restful tones and opted for green behind the desk. The room is north-facing and the other walls are pale grey, so I chose white furniture to boost light and prevent the room feeling too functional. We added rippled fronts to the wall units, and I found a gorgeous white sideboard for the other side of the room – it’s prettier
