7 Tips for Creating The Perfect Home Office
It’s not uncommon, nowadays, to find small business owners and freelancers working from home.
The increased flexibility and the opportunity to concurrently maintain a healthy work-life balance are a few attractive reasons why people opt for this job option.
Despite choosing to work from home, it’s still essential to have a designated workspace. Your home office should reflect the design and comfort of the rest of your home.
Here are a few secrets to creating a practical workspace at home.
1) Look Around Your Home
The first thing you need to do is take a good look around your home. You should have a room where you can get away from the noise of the rest of the household.
When you have a separate place to run your business, you’ll have a better work and life balance.
Find out which room doesn’t get used that much. It doesn’t have to be massive, but it should be comfortable. A spare bedroom or a garden room shed is a good option.
Just make sure the room you work in has AC and heating.
2) What Do You Need To Work There
The reason why you’re creating an office is that you want a place to do your work. It needs to be functional and practical.
If you want a freestanding desk and a simple design, then you’ll want to make sure the room is functional and practical before doing anything.
Maybe you have many files, and if that’s the case, then you’ll want to buy a desk that will fit all of your files in.
Consider how you will file all your important stuff and then go from there. You can use desk organizers or chalkboards for some stuff, and if that sounds good to you, then you can start looking around for such items.
There are many country-living interior websites out there, so check out a few of them to draw inspiration.
3) Remember Your Workspace Should Be Inspiring
A messy desk will leave you unmotivated, so it’s a good idea to keep it clean and get items that will inspire you.
For example, hanging up small photos of your dream places or add an indoor fountain. A mood board is another option to consider.
Just make sure you don’t go too crazy with your ideas because you want to keep your desk and the rest of your work area as clean as possible.
We know you’d love nothing more than to spend all of your time at home, so go ahead and make your home office feel like home.
For instance, buy a custom desk or have one made by a local craftsman, and feel free to use any old furniture you have or decor.
Use old stuff in the home that has no purpose and repurpose it for your home office, that way it feels a bit like home.
4) Divide Up Space
You might not have extra space for an office. Don’t stress out though because you can just divide up a large room and claim the smaller half as your office.
This area can be in the living room or a spare room. As for how to divide the room up, you can use a room divider or a screen.
If you’re feeling creative, then you can take three panels of MDF and create a divider with it. Feel free to use wallpaper to decorate it.
Also, Wayfair has a few good options for dividers, and they have shelves that you might be interested in.
5) Get Outside
Have a look inside your garden shed and your garage because you might be able to make a home office out of it.
Plus, outdoor offices tend to not allow for many distractions, and you’ll be nearer to nature, which may motivate you.
We have put together a guide on how to create the ultimate garden shed office, so check it out.
6) Try Going Green
There are a number of studies that suggest that through nature, we can create workspaces that convey happiness.
Trees and water can help you reduce feelings of anger and reduce your stress, and they can increase your energy and make you happier.
So, what you can do is install a few bonsai trees or create an indoor herbal garden. If that doesn’t sound appealing, then get wall art that has photos of nature.
7) Think Colors
Blue is the most soothing color, so you can use this color within the decor of your office. Other colors can spark energy and creativity, and this includes colors like orange, yellow and other bright colors.
Just be aware that they may bring out a bit of your nervous side.
Don’t use dark colors because they don’t stimulate the senses and they can actually demotivate you to get work done.
Another thing you can consider doing is painting your office with a shade of pale pastel. This will create a space that is lighter, which may make you more productive, and it may make you feel happier.