written by Hannah Ziegler, Homes & Gardens

A collaged look is presented to us via Aggie's office in The Beast in Me, and we can't get enough of the layered, characterful aesthetic.

Let’s be honest: if you work from home, keeping an immaculate office is easier said than done. That’s why we were instantly intrigued by Claire Danes’ character in Netflix’s The Beast in Me, Aggie Wiggs, whose home office perfectly embodies a ‘perfectly imperfect’ way of living.

The space feels lived-in and functional, with full bookshelves, cups brimming with pens, and a lounger layered with soft throw pillows. The key is balance: a home office should look settled without feeling cluttered. When executed well, as it is here, the result is a workspace that’s both characterful and inspiring – a place you actually want to spend time in.

According to design experts, coming up with creative storage solutions is one of the key ways to ensure your space looks curated rather than cluttered.

'To maximize storage in an existing office, carefully consider what you use and recycle items that you don’t need for a streamlined space,' says Philipp Nagel, director at Neatsmith.

'For a new home office, time spent with a designer, going through exactly what use you will have for the space, is key. A lawyer working from home will have different requirements than a broker or musician’s space, so work out the physical requirements, e.g., screens, charging points, camera positions, filing type, bookshelf depth, and make it work with the available space.'

Phillipp says that the best way to organize a home office is to use a filing cabinet system; this two-drawer one from Amazon is a nice pick, and comes in a variety of colors to match the space's existing color palette. Additionally, he recommends thinking about the aesthetics of your bookshelf storage (harkening back to the bookshelf wealth trend).

‘The key considerations for the books themselves were depth of the shelving and the spacing between shelves, with a small element of adjustability,’ he tells us. ‘Other important factors include the seating position relative to the light source, whether natural or from a reading lamp. You also need to think about the finish of the nook itself and the shelving material holding the books – muted and complementary tones are what we would suggest.’

The ability to personalize your home office is what makes this look so appealing, and we’re definitely taking cues from Aggie’s.

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