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The idea of working from home sounds fantastic, the concept of slumping on the sofa in your PJs typing away on your laptop while your dog is snoozing next to you, but sometimes changing up your office can affect how you work.
Making sure your home office is motivating yet comfortable is the key to a healthy work ethic. Typing away in your bed or on the sofa may be comfortable, but ensuring you have a space that you can associate with work makes your brain think that it’s a place of work.
Do you find that when you work from your bed that you get sleepy throughout your workday? Using these top tips can make your ’at home office’ professional and comfortable.
Lighting
Lighting is a big part of your working environment; often in industrial offices, you’ll find LED lighting; this is the most effective way of getting your mind in that work attitude. There are many benefits of LED office lights, the main reason being that everything is easily visible whilst keeping your mind awake. When working in a dimmed room, maybe with a lamp or warm-toned bulbs make you feel sleepy as your brain automatically associates it with sleeping. When you’ve installed LED lighting, you will see a noticeable difference in your work ethic.
Did you know they are energy-saving too? So you’ll be saving money on your electricity bills, which is always a bonus!
Chairs
As lovely as it is, to be sat comfortably with a blanket on the sofa doing your work, your back and shoulders will suffer for it. Maintaining a straight posture when typing on your computer includes keeping your feet flat on the floor, shoulders relaxed along with having a straight back. You could even invest in a chair that helps the natural curvature of your spine. Something we forget about when sitting with a good posture is that it increases our typing, as we are at a good height with our wrists at a normal position. Besides, it’s an excuse to buy a big cozy cushion and a hot water bottle to make it more comfortable on a wintery day.
Corkboards
Keeping something on your wall that you can stick pictures, ideas, and receipts to is a terrific way of having a mood board that you can refer back to throughout the day. Whether you decide to have a selection of mood boards or maybe a whiteboard for noting down essential reminders. Being able to flick up from your computer screen to grab an idea or a note makes it so much easier for you, making you work smarter not harder.
Stationary
To help your wrists whilst typing, a gel mouse mat will support your posture and take the strain off as you type. A weekly planner that can sit up on your desk which you can flip over every week can help you to keep organized when your planning meetings or view deadlines, it’s excellent for when you’re on the phone and only have one hand to see when you’re free.
Built-in accessories
Adding built-in USB slots and plug sockets will be the best thing you’ll ever do. They are assembled into your desk to keep your space free of loose cables that get in the way of your workspace. It also makes it so much easier to plug your devices in when you’re on 1% battery, so you don’t lose your work. Investing in the original chargers that come with your devices can help prolong the life of your gadgets and they’ll charger quicker too.
Storage
Finding a storage solution that works for you can be difficult because the habit of putting everything in one drawer and coming to it later can cause it to look unorganized and messy. Having a set place for everything which can be easily accessed gives your office a breath of fresh air. Having an intray where you can put loose letters and documents that you need to keep until you have time to file it. Another way is scanning in your files through a scanner or your phone onto your laptop so you can retrieve them whenever you need them.
Coffee machine
Do you find yourselves getting sidetracked when you’re getting coffee on your break? You’re not alone, the feeling of waiting for your coffee to brew, scrolling down your phone, then half an hour has passed. Having a coffee machine in your home office makes it so much easier to grab a beverage throughout your day without taking chunks of your day away. You can get loads of variations of coffee with them that it beats the coffee shop any day while saving you lots of money too!
Fresh air
Changing up your home office so that you’re sitting near a window, keeps your airflow fresh while letting natural light come into the room, giving you a boost of life while you’re working. Having a mix of LED and natural lighting keeps your brain in working mode. In summer, placing a desk fan or having a ceiling fan can push around the fresh air from the window and circulate the room around, making it less stuffy. Plus, sitting by a window means when you lose motivation, you can take a second to breathe and take in the view for a boost.
Plants
Keeping plants throughout your office allows your space to look inviting, and they clean the air along with being low maintenance. Having bright green plants introduce color into a basic room, you can switch up the plant pots to add various colors to coordinate with the rest of the office. They introduce balance and add a zen environment producing a productive work space.
Adding color
When you’re decorating your office at home, adding a feature wall or a block of color can set off your creativity wave and when you’re in a rut, gazing at colors can give you a push. Adding a variety of tones in your room builds an encouraging environment that you come to every day to let those creative energies flow.
Hopefully, with these top ten tips to help your home office work for you and boost your inspiration.
