Many of you may find yourselves suddenly having to create a home office and if you’ve never had to work from home before it can be tough to find the space and peace and quiet needed to carry out your job from home. Here we put together a few tips to help you to create an inspiring, relaxing and functional workspace, regardless of the space you’ve got to work with.
Creating a Home Office Space
Finding the right space to work at home is key to being productive. You’ll want to consider a space where you’ll avoid interruptions so working in your kitchen is a big no-no, unless you’re super organised, live a life without clutter, have a cleaner and nanny and hate eating! With the lure of the fridge, kettle, washing up in the sink, the kitchen is probably the most distracting room in the house.
You don’t need a lot of space for a home office. You can even use a deep window ledge or fit a shelf in the space under your stairs. If you have the luxury of a spare bedroom, outbuilding or even shed, this would obviously be the best choice as you can design a home office of your dreams and shut the door to the rest of the world.
Desks are notorious for collecting clutter so work with the smallest space you can. This will be easier for those who work on just a computer, but for designers needing drawing paraphernalia, samples and visual inspiration it can be tough to find a space big enough.
Home Office Tips for Designers
Utilising space is the most important thing to consider when creating a home office. Don’t forget to look up! Think vertically. Using shelves above a desk can mean that you have everything to hand without needing oodles of desk space. Peg boards and pinboards are also great when it comes to hanging samples or displaying inspirational images and colours. IKEA’s kitchen range can be a great place to find hooks, magnetic strips or other items which can be repurposed in an office.
Office Lighting
As a designer, it’ll also be important to make sure your lighting is sufficient and fit for purpose. You’ll want to be able to see colours in true light which can be difficult if you’re working in a small or dark space. Daylight simulation bulbs are great for designers and artists and help fight Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) which is common amongst home and office workers in Autumn and Winter. You can buy daylight simulation bulbs for almost all light fittings so even if it’s a desk lamp, shedding some ‘natural’ on the subject will help.
Using natural light has a downside if, like most, you work on a laptop or computer. Shielding your screen from daylight can be a pain. Our recent blog on Modern Window Treatments has some great ideas for home offices in any part of the house. Consider plantation shutters or roman blinds to shield you from the sun but still let in enough light to inspire and invigorate.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
You don’t have to be a designer to want to work in an inspiring space. Lovely light, calming colours and beautiful things that help you enjoy spending time at work can all help to make working from home a positive experience. Remember, you may be using this room for a while and, most importantly for interior designers, you’ll be working on lots of different projects over the coming months. Many designers are immersive people and absorb their surroundings into their work. Choose wall coverings or paint shades which reflect the light and which will provide a good neutral backing to whatever you are working on. A pin board, peg board or noticeboard can be constantly changed to keep your current project inspiration front and centre.
Placing a board above your desk can help you to keep your day on track too. You can pin a to-do-list or reminders so that you’re not constantly distracted by your phone.
House plants are also another great idea for a home office. Plants will give you oxygen and a much-needed boost through the day. Even if you don’t have green fingers, low-maintenance plants such as orchids and aloes will help bring a little life and colour into your home office
Inspiring Spaces
You don’t have to be a designer to want to work in an inspiring space. Lovely light, calming colours and beautiful things that help you enjoy spending time at work can all help to make working from home a positive experience. Remember, you may be using this room for a while and, most importantly for interior designers, you’ll be working on lots of different projects over the coming months. Many designers are immersive people and absorb their surroundings into their work. Choose wall coverings or paint shades which reflect the light and which will provide a good neutral backing to whatever you are working on. A pin board, peg board or noticeboard can be constantly changed to keep your current project inspiration front and centre.
Placing a board above your desk can help you to keep your day on track too. You can pin a to-do-list or reminders so that you’re not constantly distracted by your phone.
House plants are also another great idea for a home office. Plants will give you oxygen and a much-needed boost through the day. Even if you don’t have green fingers, low-maintenance plants such as orchids and aloes will help bring a little life and colour into your home office
Are you sitting comfortably?
Choosing the right office chair is so important. Traditional office chairs tend to come in the most bland or horrendous colours that many people tend to put comfort ahead of style. What colour are the chairs in your place of work? If you’re lucky, they are black, but style seems to be late coming to the office supply industry and royal blue and scarlet desk chairs are common in offices around the world. Thankfully, accent chairs are an interior design trend which makes finding the perfect office chair easy. They may not be ergonomic, but they’ll be pretty! You’ll want to choose something with a relatively high back and decent padding so dining chairs are a good option.
Comfortable (and ugly) office chairs were designed at the beginning of the computer age where no guidance was in place for hours spent staring at a monitor. According to the UK’s HSE, taking shorter breaks from your desk more regularly can be better for you than longer breaks every 3 or so hours. Perfect excuse to make a cup of your favourite beverage every 90 minutes to 2 hours. No, we don’t mean it’s ok to mix a quick G&T but a cup of healthy tea or glass of infused water every few hours will also aid your concentration throughout the day.
Be Prepared
One of the most difficult things about working from home is that you’re surrounded by distractions which aren’t usually there in the office. Whether it’s piles of washing, walking the dogs or children wanting your attention, you can always find something which needs doing in your home. Being prepared to sit down and dedicate yourself to your work can make all the difference.
- Get up at your usual time and get all the things done that you’d usually do before work.
- Make sure you have everything you need – a hot drink, water, snacks, notebook and pen – consider everything that you may need as it will stop you getting up and being distracted by everything else around you.
- Sit down to work at the time you’d usually start your commute – you’ll thank yourself for the extra time later!
- Write a ‘to-do’ list for the day or week as soon as you sit down and stick to it!
- Consider a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign and hanging it on the back of your chair or door to warn others in the house that you’re working.
- Take a 15-20 minute break in the morning, eat a proper lunch and have another break in the afternoon. Take a break from your desk
Coming up with ideas for a home office is as easy as looking on Pinterest. You’ll see people who have turned the smallest and most awkward space into the most stunning space to work from home. We’ve created a Pinterest board where you’ll find some great ideas for home offices. We also have a board solely dedicated to Accent Chairs and storage solutions and we will continue to save Pins for all of the topics talked about in this blog and the hottest interior design trends you need in your life. Why not follow our Pinterest page?
If you find that you loved designing a home office, why not take the opportunity to branch out further? Our interior design courses are suitable for beginners and more advanced interior design enthusiasts. You can also study 100% online so your home office renovation will be well worth the time and effort.
