Office-in-a-cupboard

If the house purchase goes through, this will be my office. A step up from the 1.2m x 0.8m desk in the corner of our spare room. Will need gutting and doing from scratch (like every other room) but will be a blank canvas. Pinterest inspiration also attached.

Will be watching this thread to steal other ideas.

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I think this monitor can upscale so it shouldn't matter too much about the ability of your work laptop, at least that's how I understand it

I'm regularly drafting stuff and referencing 3+ documents and emails at a time so it's worth it for me

Subbed, I'm also planning an office-in-a-cupboard, so I'm interested to see where this goes. I think my space is a touch smaller but luckily it has a window. It's not wide enough for dual screens though so I either need to switch to one big screen or have one vertical. I also need to dig out and lay a new floor, which is why I'll probably procrastinate some more and read this thread instead.

nice that's exactly what I'm looking for

also I can't stop internally singing the thread title to the tune of 'girlfriend in a coma'

Subbed. Planning to build my own masturbatory as well.

i also considered an office in the cupboard under the stairs, but ended up with a floating desk in the dining room instead as i didn't want to lose the cupboard storage space and also the idea of working in a cupboard didn't really appeal.
i used this ikea system;
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/svalnaes-wall-mounted-workspace-combination-bamboo-s09184448/
also went with a 32" monitor that doubles up as a TV for the dining room

masturbatoreum is the preferred nomenclature, if you please

man that looks like a lovely space

I found this pretty interesting.
https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/history/glasgow-tenement-history-tiles-cornice-18254251

Do you reckon your new masturbatoreum used to be a box bed room?

Make sure you check for house elves and wizards before redecorating.

yep, there are slots in the door frame which could be where the bed was attached. Will post pics later on

tenement history is cool, i found a mezuzah mark on each doorway in the house, and also raunchy WWII era pencil graffiti underneath old wallpaper when we moved in here last year

that looks nice but I think i like the idea of something custom better, particulary given my particular dimensions etc

I'm coming round to the idea of sanding and painting the walls in here (and still keeping pegboard over one of them). Otherwise it'll just annoy me that I didn't 'do it right' from the beginning.

yeah, fair enough! obviously the ikea bamboo version is not quite as nice as the teak shelved original that it's referencing (/ blatantly ripping off) but $$$ etc.
https://www.vinterior.co/furniture/storage/shelves/poul-cadovius-modular-storage-system-1960s

the thing i liked about it is that it's off the shelf, but also semi-customisable with varying shelf depths / cupboards / desk unit
i trimmed the length of the shelves on mine to fit into an alcove.

come to think of it, it would be easy to put some pegboard in-between the uprights - might do that at some point!

That's cool to see the kitchen with the bed in the recess. I knew that used to be a thing but hadn't seen a picture.

Cool project, as @Acliff noted dark wall paper will be a bit gloomy.

I'd really recommend lighter colours with a good amount of reflectance (matt white is around 80%). It doesn't matter how much output your lighting has if it's projecting onto dark surfaces. Also worth thinking about the lightness of your desk finish, this will work as a reflector and put light onto the (hopefully white) ceiling from any downlight. I've not seen the IKEA light panel but you might want to try different positions before committing. Directly above you will give most light onto the task surface but if it's in your eye line may become glarey and the ceiling around it may look dull. I'd probably be looking to mount it on a vertical surface that isn't in my eye line and doesn't reflect onto my screen. That'll put light everywhere and a bright ceiling equals greater perceived brightness.

PS, if you need task light for any non IT stuff, sketching etc I'd recommend a desk light.

^ Dulux do a "light and space" range to help reflect light

@jono84 @Sumo that is super useful.

I'm thinking Birch or maybe Bamboo for desk timber which are both quite light in colour.

The ikea panel has to be wired in which might limit placement options as well as the ability to test positions but I think its quite a diffuse light so hopefully it won't be too glarey wherever it ends up going.

I'll post some pics of the current state of the space later today

If you can, hold off painting until after the lighting has been installed. That Ikea panel is tunable white so you want the shade of white that works best with the cooler (4K+ daytime) hue for working.

That's a good tip. My plan is roughly
electrics>lights>sand/fill/paint/> desk > pegboard/wall mount monitor>cable management > picture hanging

That's interesting, normally you'd just have a mezuzah on the storm door so maybe at some point it was a lodging house. Our flat has marks on the bedroom doors that would indicate that they all locked separately at one point.

What neighbourhood are you in? Here in Pollokshields there are two old closed synagogues nearby (one on Nithsdale Rd, one on Niddrie Rd).

i'm right round the corner from the niddrie rd one - thankfully it has just been listed but it'd be cool to see it in use again, for any purpose!

Never thought about it being a lodging house - will have to inspect the doorframes carefully for evidence!

I've had this paint, and it does make a noticeable difference in gloomier rooms.

@gillies recessed digital photo frame/screen?
A bit more light in the room, as well as somewhere to put live sport when you're trying to avoid work.

Well that was basically the idea with the ikea light panel! Aside from sport part

I thought you were putting that on the ceiling!

Did the door ever have a glazed panel above it? It's a standard detail in Edinburgh tenements for sure. If it did, might be an option to reinstate the glazing to allow some measure of natural light. They sometimes have a hinge at the base of the glazed bit which also allows some air movement.

It's an interesting project and I'd do the same to my boxroom, but I don't like being cooped up (and the boxroom is full of bikes). If I were you I'd leave the door open, or at least form a louvre for ventilation as it will get stuffy.