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Converting a closet to a home office is an easy way to maximize the square footage in your home. There is no need to devote an entire room of your house to functioning as your home office if you have a room with a small amount of closet space.

Building your own home office can be fun and affordable, especially if you have experience in do-it-yourself home improvement projects. If you buy pre-cut materials, the only tools you will need are a screwdriver and safety goggles. Otherwise, you will also need a hand saw or a radial saw.

Bedroom closets come in a variety of shapes and sizes. For this project, let's assume that the closet you want to convert is a 30-inch deep, six foot wide space with an eight-foot ceiling and a single horizontal closet rod.

STEP ONE * DEMOLITION AND PAINT

Use your screwdriver (preferably a power screwdriver or drill) to remove the hardware that holds the closet door and door tracks in place. To maximize the space in your closet, discard the closet doors, because they will block the opening to your office and take up valuable space.

If you want to hide the clutter of your home office from view, hang a panel of coordinated fabric in the doorway. A fabric "door" can easily be swept aside to open your office up while you are working and pulled back into place to hide the clutter when you are finished.

Paint the closet walls the color of your choice. A light, neutral color is a good choice. Stay away from dark colors in such a small space. Paint the ceiling a bright white to maximize the reflection of light.

STEP TWO * THE DESKTOP

You will be using a 30" x 72" x 2" rectangular slab as your desktop. You can use an old solid core door, a piece of laminate countertop left from another project, or a wood or press-board shelf cut to size.

Have whoever cuts the slab for you cut a 3" x 3" notch along the back of the door to create a hole for you to run electrical and data cable wires through from you desktop to the source of your electricity. If you are using an old door for your desktop, the doorknob hole will perform this function; be sure to place the door so the hole runs along the back edge of your work surface, not the front.

Unless you are using laminate, you should paint your countertop the color of your choice, or cover it with adhesive shelf paper that is coordinated with the color of your walls and fabric curtain.

Mark a level line around the closet wall 34-1/2" from the floor for a counter height work surface or 27-1/2" for a desk height work

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