Home Office Inspo! 24 Fresh, Modern Spaces for Girl Bosses

I spend a lot of time in my home office. Like a lot, a lot. Trust me when I say that being a full-time work-from-home professional doesn’t entail working any less — burnin’ the midnight oil is kinda my jam these days. And while I started decorating my home office when we first bought this house, it was really more a matter of Band-Aid’ing its sad “before” status. Not surprisingly, now I’m ready for a change, and I’ve turned to Pinterest to find home office inspo for girl bosses like myself.

That’s right. I may be the only person who works in this office, but I’m still the boss of it. Just remember that. I also like to tell myself I’m the boss in my house, but the giant pile of laundry beckoning from the couch begs to differ.

So, a bit of backstory. I could not wait to finally have a home office again. Just prior to buying this house, we lived in a teensy townhome in Downtown Charleston. Don’t get me wrong — I adored living there. We walked everywhere. We drank coffee and picked up fresh produce every Saturday at the Farmers’ Market in Marion Square. The Aquarium became a Sunday ritual.

But as our kids grew, it became clear we needed more space. Oh, did I mention I carved a space out for my “office” (I use that term loosely) in the living room? Did I also mention that the living room and the kitchen were practically the same space? My desk was wedged between the entertainment center and the fridge — the latter of which I made a giant calendar and blog planner out of using masking tape.

I keep telling myself that one day I’ll be a best-selling author and that’ll just be a funny story I get to tell when I’m sitting next to Oprah. One day, you guys. ONE DAY.

Fast forward a minute to the day we bought this home. Because it had five “bedrooms” (again, I use that term loosely since this space is pretty cozy), making one of those rooms my home office proved a no-brainer. Naturally, I picked the smallest of the spaces. This suited me just fine, because it’s the perfect size for what I need. Also, see aforementioned story about previous home office.

I’ll take what I can get.

Here’s the thing, though: the room was electric mustard yellow. The floors? Peel-and-stick parquet.

You know how you see all those lifestyle bloggers with beautiful homes that look like they could/should be on the cover of a magazine? Me, not so much.

Our home is… cozy. It’s the kind of place where we might take a week or two (read: months) to wash the crayon off the walls from an errant toddling artist. It’s the kind of place you come home to all salty and sandy from sunny, surf-kissed days at the beach around the corner and toss your beach towels on a hook in the living room. (No, really, I have wall hooks in my living room that say, “Beach Towels Here.)

It’s lived in, and it is most definitely loved. Much still needs to be done and, at the moment we moved in, much needed to be done just to make it livable.

Thus far, I’ve painted the walls in my home office a lovely pale gray hue called “Quill.” Yes, I’m a writer-slash-dork who picks paint colors partially for their names. I make no apologies.

I’ve also installed floating white wall shelves on one wall. Erm, and I, uh… OK, fine. That’s essentially as far as I’ve gotten. Life is busy, no? I have picked out the flooring I plan to put in here. Although I suppose that’s kind of cheating since it will just be a continuation of the gray-washed, driftwood style flooring we have in our master bedroom.

All of this to say my home office needs help. Since I’ve been on a bit of a home purging streak lately, I find I’m drawn to very bright, simple spaces with pops of color. These beauts are some of my faves: