More and more people work from home these days, whether it’s a full-time remote job or a hybrid position. Having a dedicated place to tackle work tasks is great, but what if you don’t have a spare room for an office?
There are all sorts of ways to carve out a home office setup in other areas, like the kitchen or living room, or by doubling up the guest room. But nobody wants to have their work on display 24/7, so what do you do? How do you maintain an efficient, productive workspace when you have to put it in the middle of everything else?
Well, you get a PAX wardrobe, of course!
Quite a few clever hackers have created a hideaway home office inside a PAX wardrobe. Some of the setups share space with clothes storage, while others serve solely as secret offices behind doors. The latter is how Maurin decided to set up their office, with everything hidden away easily at the end of the workday.
IKEA PAX Home Office Hack: How to Build a Hideaway Fold-Down Desk
Maurin’s main goal was to fashion a workstation that could appear and disappear as needed, fashionably known as a Murphy Desk. They didn’t want a typical desk because they didn’t want the space to always feel like an office or remind them of work.
A PAX wardrobe delivered the perfect solution, opening up the doors (pardon the pun) to a hideaway desk with a slim footprint. Maurin went with the shallow, 13 ¾” deep PAX frame, essentially building a box inside that houses their office, complete with storage.
Looking at this slim cabinet from the outside, you’d never dream it could house an entire workstation. Here are a few key elements that make this hack work so well.
The Fold-Down Hideaway Desk
The key to making this piece work in such a slim frame is the fold-down desk. When you open the doors, a piece of plywood lowers to create an extended worksurface. It’s there when you need it, but out of the way when you don’t, serving as the ultimate space-saver.
A Swing-Out Monitor
Another thing that makes this hack so space-efficient is the swing-out bracket for the monitor. It tucks in nicely when it’s time to close the doors, and you can bring it out when it’s time for work. Plus, mounting the monitor frees up more space on the inner shelf for a laptop and other items.
A Hidden Power Strip
A bunch of cords and wires isn’t a good look for any design, which is why Maurin devised a way to hide them all away. There’s a shelf mounted behind the bottom of the inner box to hold a power strip. Everything plugs into the strip, and cutouts for the power strip cord help keep everything out of sight.
Are You Ready to Make This Secret Office?
Does this hidden office seem like the perfect fit for your space? If so, check out the tutorial for the wardrobe workstation to find everything you need to tackle the project.
Need something a little bigger (or a lot larger?), no problem! The beauty of the PAX is that it comes in different sizes, so you could absolutely adapt this DIY to a larger unit.
You would measure the actual opening of the frame you use, then scale the inner width to your new dimensions. But everything else goes together in a similar way to the original idea.
If you decide to make your own, share your hack so we can see how you did! And if you make any modifications or changes, we’re always excited about seeing how hacks evolve, so tell us all about it. Happy hacking!