Japantown Home Office

** Before I start, I just want to say that I am SO aware how bad these pictures are. With the shadows and blown out whites this is a photographer's nightmare. However, I had been waiting to take these office pictures for 1.5wks before I moved and it was so dark and rainy the entire time that the space was too hard to shoot with natural light. Finally I waited until the last day when I had to start packing up and this was the best I could get. So I am telling myself, "Better this than nothing!" :) **

When I lived in the heart of Downtown San Jose's Japantown I worked from home. It was very important to me to have a comfortable, beautiful, and functional workspace. Since I live in California-extra space for a home office isn't exactly a given. I needed to dedicate some part of my 700sqft apartment to working. The dining room made the most sense-as I wanted to keep my work and bedroom separate and the living room already felt cramped.

I originally bought this West Elm glass dining table to double as a desk when I wasn't hosting. However, I found that it was too big of a surface and allowed me to spread out too much while never feeling organized. Also, it took up a lot of space as soon as you walked in and I when I did actually host most people sat at the counter anyways.

I started looking for a shelving system to help me stay organized but hadn't come across anything that was just right or within my budget. So when my friend, Jessica Doll, offered to gift me these shelves/desk combo from CB2 I was thrilled!

I didn't like a lot of clutter (because that can build up fast in an office) so I kept my papers to minimum and stored them and excess office supplies in a box on the shelves within reach. I liked the minimalism of an all white office while using decor as a means of adding color; I could change out what I liked and rearrange things to fit the seasons or my tastes.

Before and After! What do you think?

My favorite parts of this transformation were how much less room it took up, it provided me with the opportunity to display some of my favorite things and become more organized, and it allowed for more light in the dark space.

Get the Look:

Home Office by theabstractlife

The Abstract Life

Hi, I'm Elisabeth! I am a San Francisco Bay Area based artist, freelance interior decorator, and self proclaimed fashionista. The Abstract Life is a design, life, and style blog following my adventures of living in California. Thanks for stopping by!.