If you work at home like I do, then you probably have a room you use for an office, or at least a space you use as office space.
You probably don’t want a drab or blah office. The best way to take care of that is to decorate your home office and make it more personal and welcoming.
How you decorate your home office depends on your personal tastes, on the amount of space you have, and on your budget. The most important thing is to keep function and style in mind to make the most of your work space.
Use your wall space for framed inspirational quotes, photos of loved ones, printable calendars, cork boards for notes, etc. Decorate boxes to use as storage boxes for your desk or bookshelf. Personalize frames, boxes, and borders with your favorite colors or patterns to match curtains, blinds, chairs, etc.
Before you invest in any major purchases such as office furniture, measure your floor space and make a solid decorating floor plan. You want to make sure there is plenty of room for the big things like desks, room to walk around, pull out draws, and push chairs back.
There’s nothing worse than working in a cramped office. After all, you have to do actually work there. If you’re like me, that means you’ll be using your home office or home office space a lot.
You want to be sure your home office is set up as comfortable as possible so that you’ll be motivated to stay and get your work done.
The one thing for your home office that you really shouldn’t skimp on is your desk chair. If you sit at your desk for any length of time, you want to ensure you have a good chair that’s comfortable to sit in for long periods of time.
A kitchen chair will just not do if you’re spending more than a couple of hours at your desk each day. And if you work at home, most likely you’re spending 8 hours or more a day in that chair! So make sure it’s a good one!
You don’t have to choose the most expensive desk chair model with all the bells and whistles, but you do want to make sure you have the proper support you need.
You also want to make sure your desk is ergonomically suited to your desktop computer or laptop.
If you use a desktop, you might need to get a monitor stand or adjust the keyboard tray. The top of your monitor should be about 2″-3″ above your eye level. You might need a monitor stand if you need to adjust the level.
If you use a laptop, be sure the desk is the right height to comfortably type on your laptop keyboard, since you won’t be using a keyboard tray with a laptop.
Be sure you have proper space for your printers and other office equipment. It helps to make a list of everything that will be in your office, so you can plan your furniture around the contents.
If you have limited space, an upright shelf or cabinet might serve well to store all your equipment in one place. Taller furniture can store just as much as wider, shorter furniture, but it takes up less floor space.
You might also consider choosing overhead cabinets that go above your desk. Using the wall space makes things easy to reach and leaves more floor space available.
It’s a good idea to keep things out of your home office that aren’t work related (except your wall decor). Added distractions can cause you to be unable to work. Of course, if you’re a person who doesn’t get easily distracted, then this doesn’t apply.
Your home office can be decorated to your personal tastes, yet also be so much more efficient if you keep it as uncluttered as possible and keep your work space dedicated to working only so that you be most productive.
