Mid-Century Modern Home Office Design

Having a space where you can be your most productive at home is essential, especially if you work from home regularly!

Utilizing mid-century modern design in your home office is a great way to create a calm, distraction-free zone that still shows off your personality.

Many who seek a mid-century modern office were first inspired by Roger Sterling and Don Draper’s offices from Mad Men. Their offices showcase a different direction you can go to capture mid-century modern design – clean and futuristic (Roger) or moody and natural (Don). Despite their distinctive looks, you see those classic mid-century modern design elements within both offices. Streamlined furnishings, contrasting materials, geometric shapes paired with organic ones – all these principles can combine to create a sleek and organized workspace where you can feel comfortable and productive.

The great part about styling mid-century modern offices is that it doesn’t take a lot to achieve the look! The Mad Men office sets are decked out with numerous eye-catching pieces, but the simplicity of mid-century modern design plays in your favor when designing a home workspace. With a few key pieces, you can have a magazine-worthy mid-mod office to do your best work in. The first step to designing any work-from-home space is to determine what pieces you need to accomplish your work.

Choosing a Desk

A desk will most likely be one of the most important pieces of furniture in your office and there are hundreds of mid-century modern-inspired desks to choose from. Keep in mind if you find an original desk from the ‘50s or ‘60s that it may have the look you love, but not the features you need to work efficiently. For instance, many desks made today account for the fact that people will be using them with computers and include handy channels or holes to hide wires.

You also need to consider how you want to use the space in your office. If your office does not have much room, consider a modular wall desk or one with plenty of storage. If you have more room to work with, you can make your desk the focal point by choosing something that can be viewed from all sides and placed standing somewhere in the room instead of up against a wall.

Seating

When choosing a desk chair, you don’t have to go for the bulky, somewhat unsightly desk chairs you see everywhere. Mid-century modern chair designers have been designing ergonomic chairs for decades with curving organic shapes meant to conform to the human body. There are many designs to choose from, just keep in mind that you will be sitting in this chair for extended periods so you want to make sure it is comfortable and supportive.

If space permits, you can make your office feel more inviting and allow yourself some versatility of use if you enhance the space with an accent chair or loveseat. Additional seating will make the room feel more complete and give you a place to sit besides your desk when you need a break. Since this won’t be something you sit on regularly, you can choose something bold and unique to design the rest of the space around.

Lighting

Mid-century modern design is known for having a wide variety of interesting, almost sculptural styles of lighting, from desk lamps to chandeliers. Natural light plays a big role in MCM design, but if your office doesn’t have many windows (or windows at all), you’ll want to make sure you have plenty of light. Vary your light sources – have an overhead light and a desk or floor lamp.

Storage

Keeping your office organized and free from distractions is key, which will require having proper storage. Some MCM desks will have storage built-in, but many are sleek and minimalistic and won’t have any storage at all. The best way to hide away clutter and keep your office looking clean and organized is to opt for closed storage pieces, like credenzas. Full-wall bookshelves are another great storage option and can be used to create an accent wall.

Art

When it comes to art and decorative pieces for your office, remember to keep it simple. Large abstract prints are an excellent way to add color to your workspace that can be carried throughout the room with other accent pieces. If you take video calls often from your office, keep the background in mind. You don’t want it to be too busy or distracting for the people on your call, but you can show off some personality with minimal pieces. On that note, if you plan to take video calls, arrange your office so you have plenty of light in front of you and not coming from behind you.

Use mid-century modern design to achieve the Mad Men office look for a productive office space that is functional and enjoyable!