You’re designing and decorating your home office, and you’re looking for industrial ideas. The industrial style is all about efficient use of space, and you need that efficiency when you’re working from home. Plus, let’s be honest, industrial decor looks good. Try some of these Industrial Home Office Ideas to create a clean-cut and efficient office with a design you love to look at.
1) DIY Sewing Machine Desk
One way to design an industrial home office is to modify old equipment and furniture to create vintage industrial pieces. This creates an atmosphere that resembles an old factory office and repurposes something that could’ve been thrown away. If you can find broken or old equipment for free or cheap, all the better! Try making a sewing machine desk like this old from an old sewing table so that you can have a vintage look with a practical and comfortable desk.
2) Wire Shelf
When you think about the industrial style, you probably imagine old warehouses and factories with efficient layouts and equipment. One thing you always see in industrial settings is old wires, ropes, and crates. Try buying this wire shelf from Amazon for your office; it’s a practical and industrial-styled item, with shelves that look like crates with metal wire bottoms. The shelves are also rectangular, so there are no curves and odd-shaped patterns wasting space you could use for books and other shelf items.
3) DIY Hidden Wireless Charging
The industrial style is partly about nostalgia and designing something with only the bare basics, but in a modern home office, you need technologies that might not fit that style. To create an industrial office that still has modern conveniences, try hiding wires. You can use the directions in this video by Brad Rodriguez with Fix This Build That to design hidden wireless charging. Try using similar methods to hide other wires in your computer desk, too. This leads to a simple wood desk with no visible wires that’s perfect for an industrial office.
4) DIY Distress Furniture
A lot of industrial decor is worn or distressed, such as worn brick and exposed rafters. To mimic this look, you can go to flea markets and get cheap, worn furniture, or you can get better quality furniture and distress it. If you already have furniture you want to use, consider using the method in this article by The Painted Hive to distress it. This will give it an industrial look without searching flea markets and antique stores.
5) No Open Beams
If you’ve been exploring the industrial style for a bit, you’ve probably heard of the open beam look and might have considered it in your home or office. While open beams would give a neat industrial appearance to your office, they can also cause problems with heating and might not be as authentic as you think. Check out this article by Lee Wallender from the Spruce to learn more about the pros and cons of an open beam look.
6) Desk With Hooks
You’ll want a practical desk that makes efficient use of space for your industrial office. One way to do this is to provide hanging space at the sides of your desk, so you can use not only the surface space but also the sides of the desk for storage. Try getting a desk like this that has hooks on the sides. This desk is also made from metal, with a rectangular shape and minimalist style that fits the industrial image. Try hanging headphones or office organizers from the hooks.
7) DIY Accent Wall
The industrial style can be minimalist, and it should reflect the design of office buildings and factories without actually imitating it. Rather than designing your office to look like it has peeling paint or brick walls, try this creative accent wall designed by Gbeke Omosebi. The wall is made with trim pieces but reminds one of the massive walls of windows that you often find in industrial spaces. If you choose to do this, make sure to do it on a wall that won’t have large bulletin boards and hangings.
8) Industrial Lamp
Make sure your lighting matches your style. You’ll need overhead lights, but you’ll also want desk lamps for your home office. Try making or buying an industrial-style light like the one in this picture. You can design one by getting a simple light kit from Amazon, or buy one that’s already put together. Think about whether you want a short lamp to light the desk area or a taller lamp to angle light downwards. You can even get a light that clips to the desk.
9) DIY Lightbox
Industrial settings tend to have a lot of lighting, both through windows and through overhead lights. It may be nice to imitate these styles, but you don’t necessarily want that same bright light in your office. Instead, light the office with cool but comfortable light, then use this video to learn how to build a lightbox. The lightbox will resemble an industrial window and give you a place to put decals without affecting your lighting overall, and you can turn it off when you want less light.
10) Industrial Writing Desk
Your desk is a major piece of furniture for your office. After all, many office furnishings are optional, but a desk is essential no matter what work you do. You’ll want to get a desk that fits your industrial decor, like this simple wood writing desk from The Home Depot. This matches the industrial look, and the minimalist design makes the most of your space, making it an efficient use of space, which is another element of industrial design.
11) Use Corner Space
You’ll want to optimize your space to create an efficient industrial design, but chances are you’ll have some wasted corner space if nothing else. Corners are difficult to fill since most furniture isn’t designed to use that space well. Try getting a set of industrial pipe shelves like these to act as both decoration and storage. This is great if you have a wall with hangings but no furniture, or if you have a corner space behind a door that can’t quite fit a desk or file cabinet.
12) Clothespin Magnets
Regardless of your home office theme, you’ll need ways to hang or pin documents and pictures up. This is even more important for an industrial home office, where organization and efficiency are key. You can make clothespin magnets like these easily, and use them to organize documents and get extra space by putting papers on both vertical and horizontal surfaces. If you use a black and white pattern similar to the one Heather used in this craft on Daily DIY LIfe, the magnets will match your industrial decor.
13) Ladder Shelves
Ladders are something you’ll often see in an industrial building, and they can have a place in your industrial home office, too. While you probably don’t have anything in your home office that you need a ladder to reach, you can use ladders to make other furniture. The easiest thing to do is to buy or make a ladder bookshelf like this one from Amazon. This fits the industrial theme, conserves space, and gives you a place to put books or anything else you need to store.
14) DIY Epoxy Resin Art
Epoxy resin art is one of the most versatile art forms when it comes to matching a theme since you can encase almost anything in epoxy. It’s also a great way to make paperweights, making it an excellent choice for a home office. Try making a paperweight like this that looks like somebody smoking a cigarette, or choose another item that makes sense to you for your industrial office. Then, use this video by jedrek29t to build your paperweight or decoration.
15) Desk With Shelving
To make an industrial office, you’ll want to make efficient use of space. One way to do that is to get a desk like this with built-in shelves. The desk is in an industrial style, with no frills and a wood and metal look, so it’ll fit in with your industrial decor while providing places for your computer and office supplies. This desk from Amazon also has a convenient location for a keyboard, making it a comfortable computer desk.
16) Clean Design
No matter what desk, file cabinet, and other furniture you choose, you’ll want to lay it out in a way that matches the industrial style of decorating. One of the important things about industrial decor is that it should be efficient and uncluttered. Make sure to set your computer desk and other office areas up with a clean and efficient design like the one in the picture. This makes it easy to find anything you need and keeps the space uncluttered while maintaining your decorating scheme.
17) Unframed Mirrors
Mirrors are a great way to light your house. While you can rely on a lot of artificial light, mirrors let you bring in natural light that makes it easier to think and tends to make people happier throughout the day. Since the industrial style is somewhat minimalist, you’ll want to get unframed or simple mirrors to hang. Unframed mirrors can be difficult to hang up, so you can use these instructions to hang them properly.
18) DIY License Plate Clock
While license plates have an obvious place in a garage or car-themed man cave, they’re also great for an industrial themed area. A lot of industry involves building cars, so license plates are a fitting decor choice. Since the industrial style is also about efficiency, you can use license plates to create something like this license plate clock that’ll be useful for your home office. You can make this with a clock kit and some old license plates.
19) Industrial Sconces
Your office should have a light for the main area, but you’ll also want a smaller light near your desk for more specific tasks. While you can accomplish this with desk lamps and overhead lights, scones can work for both purposes. They can illuminate an entire room or just the area just beneath them, and you can get industrial-themed sconces like these ones from Amazon. These ones have a swing arm so you can angle the light the way you need to.
20) DIY Pipe Shelf
Pipes are a standard industrial decor material, so you’ll want to include them in your decor. This can mean building furniture using old pipes, but you can also get a kit like this from Walmart and hang floating shelves without hiring somebody to make them or trying to figure out how to do it yourself. These are relatively simple to install, and they’ll give you storage space while matching the industrial appearance and using space efficiently and effectively.
21) Rough Finish
A lot of industrial things have a rough finish, and vintage industrial decorations, in particular, tend to have a rough, scratched-up, or worn look to them. Look for furniture with a distressed look like the piece in the picture. You can get furniture like that from flea markets or new from stores. You can also buy furniture to distress if you’re willing to put in the time and effort. This will make your desk and furnishings look like vintage items that came from an old warehouse.
22) Industrial Bookcase
Any furniture in your office should be industrial-themed, or at least minimalist, so that it doesn’t take away from the industrial decor. If you don’t want to build a bookcase or buy one made from pipe, think about getting a more unique industrial bookcase like this one. This bookshelf is made from wood with some crisscrossed metal braces similar to ones you’d see in a warehouse, making the shelves look industrial while providing a place to put books and other important office items.
23) DIY Concrete Bowl
Concrete is another great way to add to an industrial room. Most industrial decorations will look like wood, metal, concrete, or a combination of those, but it might seem like concrete couldn’t work in an interior setting like your home office. Try making a concrete bowl using the instructions in this video, but instead of turning several bowls into a fountain or outside decoration, use a single bowl as a catchall for miscellaneous items to keep them from cluttering your office.
24) L-Shaped Desk
The industrial style is about efficiency and making the most of space, so you’ll want to use all the space in the corners of your office. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. When you’re looking for a desk, try to get one like this one from Amazon. This L-shaped industrial-style desk uses corner space effectively since there’s a shelf underneath the corner. If you change your mind about how you want to arrange it, it can also be one long, straight desk, too.
25) Industrial Look Overhead Lights
Your office should have lights for the entire room, as well as lights for your workstation or desk. While you might want to stick close to an industrial look, industrial overhead lights are going to be far too bright for a home office. Instead of getting shop lights or something similar, find or build something like the light fixture in this photograph. A fixture like this will still look industrial, but it’ll light your space in a way that works better for a home office.
26) Ergonomic Faux Leather Chair
An office should probably have a good quality office chair. While a vintage industrial office could have a small chair with four legs, you’ll probably want a rolling office chair like this one. This chair is designed to be comfortable, rolls to let you move around the office, and it’s made from suede that’s designed to look like leather so that it’ll still have an industrial appearance. This is great if you work in your home office for long periods of time, since it’s comfortable.
27) DIY Use Filing Cabinets
Filing cabinets are essential if you need to store a lot of important papers or valuables in your office, but you can also use them to increase the efficiency of your home office. Rather than wasting space by placing file cabinets beside your desk, design and build a desk that uses file cabinets as support. Use these directions from Honeybear Lane to create a desk like this that matches the industrial style and has several filing cabinets to use your space effectively.
Did you have a favorite idea? Every office and work situation is different, and we’d love to hear about your office setup. Please tell us about it in the comments below!
