Working from home can be amazing...but there are usually some challenges!
These days, a lot of us are able to work from home at least part of the time. This has led to an uptick in the number of people who find themselves with the need for a home-office. Keeping your work things organized on the dining room table or the floor of your bedroom just doesn’t work well in the long term; and usually leads to things getting lost or damaged when you need to shuffle them around to make room for others or others’ activities.
This can set you back on work projects or lead to some serious frustration. Creating a dedicated place to organize your work-related things means you can avoid a lot of these frustrations and set-backs. Having this space means you get better function, comfort, and efficiency out of your workday which will, hopefully, make for a calmer and happier day overall.
A dedicated work-space is essential.
If you don’t have an entire room available to use for your office, then you could set off space in another room. And, if you don’t have the space to borrow from an existing room, like a dining room or living room, consider other areas to set up your office.
A little-used closet (or one you can redistribute the stored items from) could be used to install a shelf-style desk and some custom storage to give you the space you need during the day and allow you to close the doors on the “office” when you aren’t using it.
You can get pretty creative with this option since closets often have a surprising amount of room inside!
But even the smallest nooks and corners can be used as an office space!
You could also use a fold-out desk at the top of a stair landing or other tight area where floating shelves will give you the necessary storage you need without taking up floor space or walking space when you tuck the "office" away.
Another option is to use a rolling workstation that can be easily moved from room to room or tucked away out of sight when you have guests; but that would still give you a dedicated desk and storage space for your work-related things.
- 4 Important Things To Plan for in Your Office Space -
Plan for the type of work you're planning to do at your desk
The desk is one of the most important features of your office and it should be built and arranged in a way that will fit your specific needs. It should be comfortable and fit your style, but most importantly, it should be functional. A beautiful desk that is too small or too large or that lacks enough storage will only become a point of frustration over time. You want to be able to perform your work easily, grab what you need and not hate your work by the end of the day.
Plan space for how many and how large the monitors are going to be.
Plan your virtual meeting environment
If you've worked from home, you know that distractions during virtual meetings happen! Kids, phones, deliveries, and a lot of other things can pop up at the worst moments. So, it's important to plan how to make those virtual meetings as professional as possible before they begin.
First, think about how you're going to address the noise and privacy levels around you. If you share space with a partner or have children running around then headphones that cancel out background noise are great. Otherwise communicating a plan with the other people using the space will be necessary to keep the noise levels acceptable.
Next, consider the background that will appear in your virtual meetings. If you don’t like the virtual backgrounds provided by your meeting app, then you can decorate the physical background behind you for a better view. Even if your space is limited, you could set up a decorative folding screen that you can easily stored between meetings.
Lastly, if the light in the room is terrible and you’re required to show your face during the meeting, consider having a ring light, or at least some kind of lamp or window, close by to improve your visibility.
Plan for your lighting needs
If you work exclusively on monitors and keyboards, then a relatively small amount of light will meet your needs. However, if you like to take physical meeting notes, if you need to refer to printed legal documents, sketches, or other paperwork or physical files then you will often need some additional lighting in your office area. Which of the many options you choose will depend on the size of your space; but lighting could include small clip-on lamps, LED strip lighting, ring lights, or floor lamps.
And When You Have Other People That Need You During The Day.....
If you have other people to take care of during your work day, multi-tasking could be your best friend.
If you work at home with kids or elderly parents that you need to care for while you’re working, this can provide a real challenge. It’s difficult to keep an eye on things if you’re working in a separate room. But, you still need to have a space that can store what you need, where you need it. In these cases, consider setting up an “office” or desk space in your coffee table. You can find these with lift-tops to raise them to desk height with available storage space inside for your computer, keyboard, and etcetera. You can also utilize the space under the coffee table for file drawers/baskets and use the sofa as your office chair. This idea can be modified to use in setting up a desk or console table behind a sofa where you can face the area where the kids are playing, watching TV, or working on their homework.
At the end of the day, having a home office that works for you will help you work better too. And, no matter what your situation is - tight spaces, roommates, crazy schedules or extra responsibilities - it truly is possible for you to create a home-office that will meet your needs (and maybe even be comfortable too....)
HAVE FUN CREATING YOUR AMAZING SPACE !
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