We have had a high rise here in Chicago that has been using our Magiglide bifolds to conceal a home office option in the main living room. Many tenants are switching over to this style of layout upon moving in, and utilizing our door to do so. Since our bifold closets are all custom sized, it allows for this type of flexibility within a space. As you can see from the picture, the desk doesn’t reach the opening start, it ends prior to the drywall. That allows for room for the chair to be pushed in, and for the doors to close without a hitch. How nice would it be to work for the day, then simply close the doors for that clean aesthetic everyone works so hard to achieve.

Take a look below at some additional ways to hide that home office. Now more than ever, people are searching for a home office that is both functional but aesthetically pleasing in their living space. We will take a look at pros and cons for 6 different ways to hide that home office.

1. Fold Up Desk

The fold up desk seems to be a good idea, in theory. Practicality wise, for a day in and day out usage factor, it is not actually a good idea. The reason? Its difficult to always having to clear everything off of the work station in order to clear it. Also, once the fold up desk is closed to save space, you have a large wooden rectangle floating on your wall.

The only way I would choose this option is if the underside of the desk had artwork, a white board, or chalkboard attached to it and if the desk space was only used once in a while. The first thing I think of when I see this option, is it falling off of the wall due to my inability to sit up without resting on my elbows.

2. Curtain Concealed Desk

A good way to hide a desk in a common area, may seem to just hide it with a curtain. This will allow you to put everything away behind the curtain at the end of your work day to forget about it. A curtain is a very inexpensive way to hide the clutter behind an opening, as you may only need a spring form rod in at the top, a curtain, and a curtain hook for when the office is in use.The main downside with using a curtain in a doorway like this to conceal a work desk, is aesthetics. Many times, a curtain is synonymous with a college student, who may not have any other choice since many dorms do not even place closet doors in them anymore.

3. Closet behind a pre-hung door

Hiding an office space behind a closet door is a step in the right direction in terms of longevity of the space. When the door is closed, it will look like normal to the living room/kitchen, where ever it is located. When the door is open, business hours are open. As you can see from this picture, typical swing doors like the one shown are always either 30 or 36 inches wide by 80 inches tall. If you are sitting at your office right now, let’s think about that really quickly. A 30 or 36 inch width, would be a very tight opening. This would make a person feel very cramed while working. Again, this may be a good option to use once in a while, a homework area maybe thats a few hours a day. Anything over that, would be very difficult to feel comfortable at.

4. Barn Door hiding a desk

Barn Doors are all the craze lately in terms of the new “hot” closet door for a space. As closet door experts, we like the look of barn doors, but always urge customers to think about acoustics when it comes to barn doors. These types of doors are new and modern, however they do not have any sort of sound barrier since they do not seal closed anywhere. For an office use like this one, the barn door would work fairly well. The door will probably be open when in use, so this sound issue would not be a problem at all.

Barn doors largest issue is that they require quite a lot of surface area on the outside of the door. If the opening is a 36” wide opening, then there needs to be about 40 inches off to the left or the right of the office opening to have dead drywall space. It would be difficult to hang anything decorative here, as the door would knock it down when opening and closing. Many times, especially in an open area, drywall space is all well utilized.

5. Office hidden behind a double pivot closet door

A double pivot closet door system, seems to give this office space the amount of space that it needs. At Landquist and Son, we manufacture custom pivot closet doors that can reach spans of up to 30” for a 1 panel, therefore a 60” opening for a 2panel pivot like the one shown. 60 inches would be a nice wide opening, for ample space to work. When closed, pivot closet doors emulate a prehung closet. They would look nice and finished when closed in any main area of living. Pivot closet doors would however be problematic possibly when open. Like prehung closets, they are free, nothing is locking them in place while open. A double door stop, may fix this issue so that the doors aren’t repeatedly closing while you are trying to get your work done.

6. Using Bifold Closet doors to hide an at home office

In our opinion, bifold closet doors are one of the BEST ways to hide an office at home. These types of doors will remain in the open position while you are working. They can also easily be closed to make the space look aesthetically pleasing. As shown in the picture, our Magiglide bifold closet in particular is a great option. If you have a 4 panel bifold closet door, which is what the picture is showing (only the right set is shown) then the desk has the capability at being up to 96 inches wide! A 96 inch wide fully usable desk makes much more sense, than a standard 30 or 36 inch width closet door opening. Our doors can also be finished in primed paintable as well, which allows the tenant to paint the doors any color they choose. Here, you can see the inside of the closet matches the outside drywalls, as well as the closet doors. Magiglide closet doors are made to blend into the wall, and this is an excellent example of that.

Do yourself a favor, next time you are designing apartments, throw in a work from home office area, concealed by our Magiglide bifold closet doors. Your owner’s will thank you!