8 Things to remember while designing a Home Office
As the recent budget is about to introduce a brand new ‘work from home allowance’, one must make it what it’s worth. It’s great to get out of those soulless cubicles and work in homely comfort.
However, two days into ‘work from home’ and the fine line between comfort and laziness disappears. This is the alert for you to think of setting up your ‘Home Office’.
Imagine, a wooden shack, a window with a view of fresh white snow, a desk alongside a fireplace, and a brewing hot coffee. Yeah, that might be just an imagination for most of the population working from home, but one can surely make some efforts to make the working area in the house fit the office style.
Want some tips? Let’s start with a quick one first.
Quick Tip – Wall painting is the best and most reasonable way to change the mood completely. You can check online wall paints and DIY renovations.
Let there be a nice view and plenty of light
It is better to set up a desk next to a window with a great view. Also, it’s always better to work in natural and sufficient light.
However, it’s preferred to choose a stagnant view as the affairs outside the window are not supposed to keep you occupied. You can also choose the curtains according to your home paints. They will allow the light in and not the outside affairs.
If not a window, one can mount a painting or an art piece on the wall. It works wonders in providing a great view that offers a good vibe over a blank wall, even if the wall is painted in your favorite colour. Or you can place your chair facing the door.
Quick Tip – Set up your desk facing the source of the light.
Get over the ‘Office Beige’
The paints and colours play a prominent role in creating the temperament in the room. Also, that is the least expensive way to convert the space according to the required style.
You can keep it soothing, just like your office. The perfect Office Beige! But imagine a vibrant texture painted on a wall as an energy source to kickstart your work and break a leg.
Using cool colours like ‘blues’ and ‘greens’ makes the room seem larger and warm colours like ‘yellows’ and ‘reds’ give an intimate look to the larger rooms. Dark shades tend to absorb light, making the room feel smaller. It’s up to you if you want a large lively feel or intimacy to stay focused on your work.
Quick Tip – Asian Paints have plenty of high-quality paint shades available for each feel you want to create. You can buy Asian Paints online and bring the space up to the code.
Beware of your temptations
One has plenty of temptations while working from home. So, It’s better to segregate the office space from the other area of your home to keep these temptations out of your sight and out of your mind.
But, as the brain breaks are important you got to take your eyes off the screen. Considering the decor required for your shelves, the books never go out of trend. Reading is the best option for your brain’s power break. But, don’t let it keep you.
Quick Tip – Rubik’s cube, stress ball and quick snacks are some other short break options. Don’t forget to make room for these little pals.
Declutter while optimising
It is important to utilize the available space to its ultimatum. The corners are the vital parts of your desk. Not every time you get two perfectly perpendicular walls which are the opportunities for the aesthetic dimensions. Add the emotions to those corners with art or lamp or rested notes.
Optimising the place to its ultimatum not only involves utilizing the available place but also decluttering. Deciding between functional and crap is very important. The clutter always recedes the working mind.
Quick Tip – A wall to wall desk with a storage partition in a lower part, adjacent to the window can be a great utilisation of the space for two people working from home or for the kids’ study.
Make some space to hide your mess
It doesn’t take a moment for an arranged pile of work papers to look like a complete mess. An Ideal desk must have a laptop, a monitor(suggested often), some decent desk decor, and nothing more than a coaster for your beverage.
And yet, not every day the laptop is sufficient for one’s work. So to keep the stuff handy one must have several small and some big shelves inbuilt the desk or near the desk.
Quick Tip – Give yourself a space to move around.
Be choosy about your chair
Invest in your comfort. Work from home gives you the luxury of working in homely comfort. But your oh-so-comfortable couch is not a perfect fit for working.
People often suffer from back pain and neck pain due to their sitting postures. As one parks themselves in the chair for flat 7-8 hours, it is important to invest in a good chair to avoid such ergonomic injuries.
Quick Tip – Maintain your body posture at the right angle while working. Your back and neck will thank you.
Be particular about the Desk Accessories
As the home-office desk is already surrounded with comfort, you won’t need to make the effort to add your personality to that space. All you have to do is to list down the mandatory accessories.
The decor can be a combination of both decent and quirky stuff. Attractive pencil stand, quirky mousepad, sticky notes, decent table lamp and some small pot plants. Plants brighten up the room enough to energize the working spirit. Plants overshadow any cute desk accessories and as they grow on their own, they literally stand by the freshness in the space.
Quick Tip – Place the desk lamp to create an isolated space in a dark room with focused and sufficient light.
Avoid being wired with the jumbled wires
The only uncomfortable thing while working from home is the floating network of jumbled wires. You can’t actually decorate them, but you can definitely arrange them in a creative manner.
One can reduce the mess using extensions with multiple ports. Also, hiding them inside a cable box or covering them with fabric covers are a few other options.
Quick Tip – Add a small open compartment to the backside of your desk or a hole behind your monitor for hiding the connections behind or below the desk.
