Post-pandemic, home offices have become increasingly popular. Not only do they add value to your home, but they also help enormously in creating a better work-life balance, allowing you to shut the door (literally) on work at the end of the day.
Whether you’ve worked from home for years, or you’ve just secured your first remote position, here are some of the things you can do to create the perfect home office.
Furniture
For many of us, our home office acts as a multi-functional room. If this is the case and your home office also needs to work as a spare bedroom, then the furniture you include is going to be even more important.
Including some fitted office storage is a good place to start, this way your work equipment can be packed away when needed. Equally, if the room is predominantly used as an office, built-in storage is a good solution for keeping the room free from clutter whilst still being able to store essentials.
Make sure that any furniture in your office has a purpose, that way you don’t overcrowd it with pieces that aren’t adding any value to the room.
Posture
When working from home, it is easy to fall into a pattern of working hunched over on the sofa or even laydown in bed. This is both unproductive and can be incredibly damaging to your posture. Investing in proper ergonomic furniture is an effective way to avoid this problem.
Start by investing in a supportive office chair, and then assess whether anything else would also benefit your posture, this could include a monitor stand, footrest, and cushioned mouse mat.
Do research before buying anything and make sure to read customer reviews to help you make informed purchases.
Lighting
Lighting is a crucial part of any home office. Where warm, low lighting works in creating a cosy atmosphere in other areas of your home, this doesn’t necessarily transfer to your home office. Whilst you don’t want stark clinical lighting, it needs to be bright enough to remain productive.
Utilise natural light where you can, positioning your desk close to a window if possible. Take costs into account when picking your lighting too; investing in LED bulbs will save you money in the long run. You could even buy smart bulbs which will allow you to control the lighting from your phone or smart speaker, perfect if you often forget to turn lights off.
Atmosphere
Finally, when putting together your home office, don’t forget to factor in how you like to work and take this into account. If you are someone who works best in complete silence, then you may want to install some soundproofing to prevent being disturbed by other goings in on your house. If you prefer background noise, then don’t forget to include a speaker in your office.
If you are easily distracted whilst working, remove distractions from the get-go.
