Having a home office can offer all kinds of new possibilities. For instance, if you want to earn a secondary income, then having a dedicated working space can go a long way in achieving your financial goals. However, if you have never worked on this kind of task before, then setting up a home office can be quite challenging. For your help, we share a few incredible tips:
Picking the Space
If you have ample space in your home, then you probably don’t need to worry about finding the perfect spot for your home office. However, if space is rather limited, then you have to get creative. For instance, you can convert a modest closet into a functional workspace by getting rid of the clothes pole and installing electrical connections. Otherwise, you can also install a working desk at the top of a staircase. If there is a certain portion in your home that isn’t used frequently, like the dining room or the guest room, then you can use it for your home office too.
Note: Make major upgrades in your home, such as adding or removing certain architectural elements can have an impact on your homeowners insurance cost too (new additions can increase the insurance premium). So, make sure that you consult your insurance provider before you get started.
Seating Arrangement
Since you are going to spend a lot of time in your home office, you need a chair that you can sit in comfortably for hours. To be more specific, you want proper height, cushioning, and back and arm support to accommodate the kind of work you want to do. You can also consider purchasing a small footstool for raising your feet when you work if you want that kind of comfort.
When finalizing the seating arrangement, you also need to pay attention to the ergonomics- installing a slide-out keyboard holder and placing the mouse in an appropriate position along with good cushioning can go a long way in making your work experience a lot better. You can also visit home décor websites to get some new home office design ideas that can help with the seating.
Office Supplies
When it comes to picking the office supplies, then you want as much of them as possible. However, you need to remember that clutter can be quite distracting and bring your productivity down. So, make sure that you keep only those supplies that are indispensable. If storage space is limited in the first place, then you can keep supplies that are required less frequently in a separate area of your home. Going cord-free, using colour coding, and setting up a paper-processing station are some of the other ideas for a neater home office that you can consider.
Visual Appeal
Your home office doesn’t have to be dull or bland like a conventional office. You can add interesting colours to the place to make it more appealing and inviting. For instance, you can pick fancy furniture, go for window treatments, and add touches of your personal décor to the place. You can keep office supplies in cover boxes or decorative baskets that have attractive fabrics, and paint the walls in the region with brighter, warmer colours. Lastly, you can add photos or beautiful art pieces in the office space to make it more personalized.
Lighting
Proper lighting is extremely important for a good home office. There are a few things you need to remember to get it right– bright lighting over the reading area can help in preventing eye strain, adequate distance from the computer screen can keep you more focused and also eliminate the need for reading glasses to read the text on the screen, etc.
Setting up your home office at a spot where there is ample natural light can be a really good idea. For instance, if your windows face south, then you can receive a good amount of natural sunshine which is more important than you think in winters. You can also think about adding accent lights and ambiance lights to create an overall cohesive and productive atmosphere.
Conclusion
As you can see by now, setting up a home office is quite easy when you know what you are doing. Remember- you don’t want to rush the process and risk redoing all the work if your first attempt fails. It can be quite time consuming, and expensive even. So, do your homework and get everything right from the point you start. Good luck!