Now a 5th grader, Henry’s ready for his own study space. Homework on the kitchen table was proving to be even more difficult with two distracting little sisters and zero boundaries…
Henry’s New Workspace
Henry’s room is small. Technically it’s an office (here are some shots of it when we first moved in two years ago). In our old San Francisco apartment he was sharing a room with two year old Edie so when we moved to Oakland he was just so happy to have his own space. Of course it takes forever to work on home projects, and decorating is always an evolving process for children as their needs and interests change overtime.
We had two problems we needed to fix in this space: first we needed shelving for books and storage, and secondly Henry needed his own workspace for homework. We’re happy to have worked on this project with IKEA. Do you remember the playroom refresh we did with them last year? IKEA’s Scandinavian design and affordability can’t be beat.
When I was looking at pieces for this space, I immediately fell in love with IKEA’s SVALNAS wall mounted desk system, and knew it would be perfect. You can customize it in so many ways and add on different things like storage cabinets and this low profile desk we added here. You can even pair two of these together for a larger desk/storage system. So many possibilities here to fit your space. I really love the design of it. There’s virtually no footprint, and it’s simple, modern, and makes the room feel really open. We used to have a dark metal bookcase in this spot and this desk system is a huge improvement.
A few other fun pieces we added was the PUGG wall clock (a favorite IKEA piece of mine), and the SKADIS modern pegboard. You can add all sorts of containers, hooks, and baskets to this pegboard and customize it in so many ways as well. I love how it fits between the shelves of the desk system. The little yellow KRUX desk lamp is so dang cute too (luckily it was Henry approved).
We also added in some SPOTAN magnetic boards for hanging artwork and posters. He loves the ones from the Womens March a couple years ago and insisted on keeping it up. Of course, I had no issue with this! Under the boards, we have a large FLADIS basket for holding toys and other things that don’t fit on the shelves.
Henry really loves (finally) having his own workspace…
…Even if Edie still comes in occasionally and distracts him with stories from her day at school.
IKEA pieces: Desk system/magnetic boards/desk lamp/pegboard system/storage basket
Other favorite pieces here: Green message board from Oh Happy Day party shop/vintage molecular model from Etsy/vintage CA flag from Ebay