Studiolo
Studiolo · Private studies & workrooms

A room builtaround the work.

One study in north London, filmed from bare plaster to lights on. Scroll to build it.

Days 2–8 · Joinery

Joinery goes in first.

A 5.4 metre walnut credenza and two open shelving frames, scribed to the walls on site. Everything else in the room is measured off them.

Days 9–11 · Floor

Oak, laid by hand.

Herringbone over an acoustic underlay, so the room below never hears your chair. Then a flat-woven wool rug, rolled out once the oil is dry.

Days 12–15 · Desk

One desk, for one person.

A 2.4 metre walnut top on blackened steel frames, with a drawer pedestal hung either side. Built to your elbow height, not a catalogue's.

Days 16–21 · Objects

Then the things that make it yours.

Your books, your lamp, a plant that likes a north window. We place them with you, and leave a third of every shelf empty on purpose.

Days 22–24 · Light

Light last.

A brass pendant over the desk and warm LED in the ceiling coffer and under every shelf, set once there is something worth lighting.

StudioloA small London studio that designs and builds private studies, libraries and workrooms. Since 2019.

Most home offices are a desk pushed against whichever wall was free. We build the room around the work instead: joinery first, light last, and nothing in between that you did not ask for.

Order of works

Seven steps, in this order

The order is the method. Each trade builds on a surface the last one finished, so nothing gets cut twice.

An empty room with white plaster walls, a tall window and a coffered ceilingDay 1

01Shell

We survey, strip and skim. You start with plaster, one window and a ceiling coffer.

Dark walnut credenza and two open shelving frames fixed along the back wallDays 2–8

02Joinery

Credenza and shelving frames are made in our workshop and scribed to the walls on site.

Oak herringbone floor laid in front of the credenza, a rug rolled up beside itDays 9–11

03Floor

Oak herringbone on acoustic underlay, oiled twice. The rug waits until the oil is dry.

A long walnut desk top being lowered onto blackened steel legsDays 12–14

04Desk

Steel frames first, levelled to the floor, then the walnut top and two drawer pedestals.

A mesh task chair set behind the desk while a lamp is placed on the shelfDay 15

05Chair

Chosen after a sitting, not a brochure. We bring three to your old desk and you pick.

Books, vases, a lamp, plants and a screen now on the shelves and deskDays 16–21

06Objects

Your books go back in, plus what the shelves still need. A third of each shelf stays empty.

The finished study with a brass pendant lit and warm light glowing under the shelvesDays 22–24

07Light

Pendant, coffer and shelf lighting on three dimmable circuits, commissioned last.

Four materials, nothing else

A short list, so every room ages the same way: darker, softer, and better for being used.

Walnut desk pedestal and credenza doors with a visible straight grain

American black walnut

Every door, drawer and desk top comes from one batch of boards, so the grain and colour match across the room. Finished in hard wax oil you can refresh with a cloth.

  • Used forCredenza, shelves, desk top
  • Thickness38 mm solid tops
  • FinishHard wax oil, matt

Day one, day twenty-four

Same room, same window, twenty-four working days apart. Drag across it to see what changed.

Day one: the empty plastered room Day twenty-four: the finished study with its lights on Day 24Day 01

How we keep it to twenty-four days

24dayson site, shell to lights on, fixed before we start
6tradesunder one site lead, who is there every day
41roomsfinished in London since 2019
0overrunspast the agreed handover date so far
I stopped working at the kitchen table on a Monday. Five weeks later I had a room with a door that shuts, and I have not opened my laptop in the kitchen since.
Harriet Oyelaran, literary translator, Highbury
The brass pendant lit above the desk, warm light along the shelves

Start with a site visit.

Tell us the size of the room and when you would like it. We measure, sketch and give you a fixed price and a fixed handover date. The visit is free inside the M25.

Size of room
Start on site
Book a visit for a box room · Spring 2027 Box room from £24,000 · fixed price after the visit