Design Essentials For Your Home Office That Will Set You Up For Success

(Guest Writer: Ivas Cristian)

You’ve heard people say “you are what you eat?” Well, that same logic applies to your environment too. Have you ever been at home or out somewhere where there was a lot of clutter and just suddenly felt overwhelmed and couldn’t figure out why? You experienced feeling overwhelmed because the environment you were in was too cluttered and filled with distractions. Now, imagine having that feeling if you were on the journey to becoming an entrepreneur and wanted to create a home office to work out of.

A lot of people think that to become an entrepreneur, all you have to do is figure out what you want to sell, purchase a domain name, and boom, you’re in business! Well, you do need to determine what you want to sell and purchase a domain name but there’s so much more to it than that. The actual “meat and potatoes” of starting your own business can’t even begin until you’re in an environment that sets you up for success.

Once your environment is set up for success, you’ll be able to create a home office that will increase productivity. Here are some design elements that will give your home office a new look and all the tools to set you up for success.

First and Foremost: Location, Location, Location…

When it comes to setting up shop for your home office, you MUST pick a location in your home that will allow you to get work done. You can have all the latest gadgets and accessories for your business to be successful but if your office is in a location where you can’t even think, then your home office isn’t going to be successful or serve its purpose.

That reason alone is why it’s so important to pick a location away from the main traffic of your home. So, you want your home office away from the kitchen and the living room. Those are the main areas in your home that will cause the most distraction. Try choosing an area like a bedroom that’s not being used or if the only area in your home is near one of the high traffic areas, try setting up “quiet times” during your working hours for other family members that might be home while you’re home working.

Image © My Reno Diary

Ample Lighting for Productivity

Whether it’s natural light, overhead lighting, or table lamps, you want to make sure you have plenty of light in your office to be able to be productive. You, of course, have the luxury of making your home office as comfortable as you want but you also don’t want your office to be so comfortable that you can’t any work accomplished either, and that’s why ample lighting is very necessary.

Image © ExQsite Interior Design

Proper Storage For Organization

Nothing can create a terrible workspace more than clutter. This reverts back to how your environment can play a crucial role in how productive you are and that applies to whether you’re working from home or physically commuting to an office. Just like everything has a place in your living space, everything has a place in your workspace.

If you have confidential information on clients, those documents need to be placed in a filing cabinet that has a lock for each drawer. Also, you don’t have to worry about getting those ugly metal filing cabinets either. There are now filing cabinets out that have wood finishes and actually go with any office decor you may have.

You may also want to invest in shelving as well. Sometimes too many cabinets can take up too much space in your office. One thing that people tend to forget about is wall space. There are shelving kits that you can install for books and binders that won’t take up much office space when you store them on wall shelves.

Ergonomic Seating for Comfort

If you’re anything like the rest of the population, you work for a living so the majority of your day awake is spent working. Well, if you’re going to be working from home, you at least want to make sure that your desk chair is comfortable, especially being that you’ll be spending most of your day sitting in that chair.

With choosing a chair for comfort, you want to have the same logic in mind as with the lighting. You want to make sure you have a certain level of comfort without that level of comfort making you too comfortable to get any work done.

Chairs aren’t the only office supplies designed ergonomically for comfort either. Some other office products designed with ergonomics in mind are:

• Desks
• Computer
• Mice Keyboards

Workingfromhomeinsider.com states that because today’s world is becoming so digitalized, ergonomics is detrimental to the success of many businesses. People are working longer hours and are sitting longer… with that, having comfortable chairs and office accessories are very important in all industries.

Wall Art For Motivation

Not only can proper lighting, comfortable seating, and proper storage make for a home office full of productivity and success but various types of wall art can be motivational as well. Art is meant to inspire and motivate. Whether it’s a painting of a sunrise or a canvas print that says “follow your dreams,” those pieces of artwork are meant to say something to its viewer.

The great thing about artwork is that it can be interpreted however the person viewing it wants. For example, a painting of a sunset can be interpreted as the chance to start new every day, making each day better than the last. Another person can interpret it as getting closer to your dreams each day.

That’s the great thing about art and however you see the picture, it can be something very inspiring to have in your office and can be the very thing that you look at to keep on pushing to get the job done, even when you feel like giving up.

Image © Eight Design Pte Ltd

All in All…

Everyone wants to be successful when it comes to the work they do, right? Of course, so your location shouldn’t change the outcome of your success. You don’t have to physically go to an office to be successful at work. If you have all the necessary supplies and design elements in your home office, you can be just as successful at home (if not more) as you would in an office building.