Draw the line

From the Resene colour inspiration – latest looks gallery

If working from home means sharing a desk, here’s how to make sure your areas stay separate while being together.

Working from home has become a familiar experience for most of us. What has also become a familiar experience is fighting for desk space or squabbling over who’s desk territory is who’s.

This graphic home office design takes the pain and confusion out of desk sharing by literally drawing a line down the room. With saturated earthy hues and a striking black and white contrast, you can make a small space feel open and uniquely yours in any room in the home.

The colours in this room are bold and interesting, but not too bright so as to be distracting form the work at hand. On the left-hand side of the room, green Resene Raptor makes a bold statement, while on the right-hand side of the room, Resene Leather, a tanned brown, provides a touch of warmth with a graphic triangle painted in Resene Rolling Stone. This mossy grey hue is also repeated on the floor of the left-hand side of the room, helping to link the two sides.

Top tip

Create the two geometric murals by drawing, then masking up, your dividing line. You will also want to place down masking tape to outline where you want your two triangles to go. The rest of the process is relatively simple, consisting of painting your triangles, leaving them to dry, moving your masking tape, then repeating the process with the remaining space. Make your two triangles slightly off centre for a look that feels structured but not rigid, geometric but also naturally placed.

Also helping to connect the two sides of the office are repeated shapes, which bring a unique sense of symmetry. A pinboard on the left-hand side of the room is painted in inky black Resene Jaguar with a triangle in sea green Resene Emerge, referencing the triangle on the right-hand side of the room. Two circles, a shape that’s repeated on the walls through the clock and the hypnotic round wall hanging similar to a dart board, are painted on the floor in metallic Resene Blast Grey and softened grey green Resene Half Washed Green and achieve the same dramatic result.

Black and white contrast on the desk and simple chairs prevent the space from appearing too tonal. Equidistant from each other, they also create a wonderful mirror effect. In another repeat, the desk, which is painted in Resene Alabaster (on the left) and Resene Jaguar (on the right), lines up perfectly with the line of the wall – a division that only cements the sense of two working spaces. Create this effect by following the same process as when you were dividing your wall in half, remembering to make sure the table is nice and smooth before you start, especially if it is wood. If there are a few bumps, gently remove them with a piece of sandpaper.

It’s important to bear in mind that not everything needs to have a mirror image of itself – in fact, a certain disharmony, achieved through the mismatched placement of objects in this room, can make the composition even more stunning.

Complete each office look with accessories befitting of the space: organisers, clipboards, pen holders, stationary, notebooks and tech. Match them and a few fun knick knacks to your room’s far-spanning colour palette of greyed and dark blues, muted oranges, khaki greens, blacks and whites for a coordinated look that is packed full of character. You (and someone else in your household) will have places in which to hunker down and work in seamless comfort and style.

Project by Greer Clayton. Images by Bryce Carleton. 2021