Home office design obviously became a trending topic when we were all asked to work from home. Suddenly, we were asked to find a space in our houses to work effectively without the cat on the keyboard and the kid crying in the corner. With the current trends suggesting that few companies are going back to the office full-time, favouring a hybrid approach, setting up your workspace in the right way becomes even more important.
Here we offer some tips and hints to help you design the most effective space to work in.
Before you start
You will be tempted to run to the shop and get all the funky kit – the stuff your boss always refused to get for you in the office. Yet, realistically, you will have to know something about the space you have before you get started.
First, where are you going to set up the office in your house? The size and shape of this space will dictate a lot about the way you design the home office.
You also need to consider what work you will be doing and what you will do to effectively fulfil this work. Furthermore, consider the typical day you will spend in the home office and make this comfortable.
Most obviously, the home office needs to be a place where you can work without disruption or interruption. It might be that this fact alone limits where your space can be and, therefore, what you can buy.
Things to avoid
You will be tempted to break free of some of the shackles placed on you by your company. However, there are things to avoid that can seriously scupper your ability to do your job. For instance, you may think this means you can watch TV while you work or have your personal phone out all the time. The problem is that these are real distractions, and this is what you need to cleanse from your home office.
You will always be reluctant to ignore all things practical. Boring, right? Well, yes, but necessary. For instance, you need storage. Your life will get cluttered quickly without it. And get some wire tidies, as the last thing you want is a health and safety hazard from your bathroom to your computer.
You might also want to avoid choosing the smallest room in the house. You might see this as the right thing, preserving as much of your home life as possible. However, you could be spending up to eight hours in this room – so go for somewhere where you will have enough space.
The essentials
The place to start is with your essentials. You will need a strong and roomy desk, an ergonomic chair to support you properly, your computer, an extra monitor to make it easy to organise your day, fast Wifi and some stationery and peripherals. You should invest good money in these basics of an office, as they will bring you comfort and pride in the space.
These essentials will take up a good bit of space, so you will need to optimise to help it all fit. So, you might want to get things that offer double function – such as a desk with drawers to offer storage. Equally, you might have a cupboard for your second monitor that gives you a place to store the printer, stationery, and the like.
Lighting and decoration
You are going to be spending a lot of time in this room. Artificial light is really hard on our mental health and our eyes. So, try to have a room that gets bathed in natural light – and where there is some distance to your view. Remember when positioning your desk to take account of screen glare, which will give you headaches. If you need lighting, go for LED and choose bulbs that mimic the effects of natural light.
Then, add the bits that will help you enjoy the space. You want to feel comfortable and engaged in this home office. A clock is essential, as is a simple and uncluttered design that won’t get in the way of the function of the space. However, you need to add those personal items that will make you smile.
The last consideration is colour. There has been much study of psychology and colour – calming colour promote tranquillity – great for a stressful job. However, if your job is high energy and creative, you want to go for warm colours like yellow or red. Mostly, though, this is all about personal choice and feeling comfortable.
