Over most of last year and the beginning of this year, a lot of people have had to work remotely from home, perhaps something they had never even done before. It can often be difficult settling into a home-working routine as it blends together both a daily work routine with a private home life. With the growing popularity of homeowners taking to DIY and other home decor activities last year, many people were renovating their homes, sprucing up their living spaces, and designing a home office space.
According to Good Housekeeping, one way to make working from home easier is by creating a defined workspace. One of the most important factors is ensuring you are comfortable, so temporarily setting up a laptop in front of the TV is not beneficial in the long run. If home office working is going to be present for much longer, then people may need to consider creating a more permanent space to work in.
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It’s important to ensure that a home office can be efficient for home working to boost productivity and work ethic. But it’s also important to understand the flexibility that people have with an office space that is completely their own. In traditional offices, an employee often only has the flexibility to organise their individual desk space. However, with home office working, people have the freedom to design every aspect to their liking.
Separating your private space from your work space
At the moment there are a few popular home DIY trends for 2021 and constructing a home office is one of them. With many people working remotely in 2020 and for the near future, a lot of people started making the most out of the workspaces at home. While temporary at-home workspaces were created at first, they’re often not feasible options in the long run as an effective way of working.
When creating a home office space, if possible, it is useful to make sure that the private home space and personal work space are kept separate. While working at a desk in your bedroom might be easy to do, it does not separate your productive work environment with your calming sleep environment. Having a separate space can help create a healthy balance where you can also relax at home if you are not working.
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Making sure that you have the right equipment for effective remote working
When working from home it can be useful to have everything you are going to need quite close to you. The last thing you are going to want to do is rush around the house trying to find something you need. Ensure that your work area has plenty of pens, notepads, paperclips, and post-it notes, in case you might need them. A home office is a great chance to be more organised than ever before at work, so you could even have room for your own whiteboard, calendar, or storage shelves.
It might be worth considering whether you need to update your existing equipment to improve efficiency too. Perhaps a second computer monitor, wireless mouse and keyboard, or laptop stand can help improve day to day work. If you don’t want to sit down all day then adjustable standing desks could be a new piece of office furniture to try out this year. It can help break up the time that you spend sitting down in a chair every day.
Making the most out lighting in your home office
Instead of sitting under the usual fluorescent lights at work in a shared office, at home you can adjust the lighting to how you prefer it. Remote workers can also create better home office lighting in their home by decorating work spaces to include a desk lamp to help brighten up the area. It’s important to remember to keep light indirect too to avoid harsh glare on computer screens or light that can cast too many shadows when on a video call.
To beat the working from home boredom, Stylist suggests moving your desk next to a window so that you can look at something other than the computer screen. The added light exposure can help to boost energy levels and concentration. Maximising your view of the outdoors and letting some sunlight in can also help boost your wellbeing and reduce stress levels. Especially when workers cannot get outside during the day, letting more natural light into the home can be very beneficial. Just like with lighting fixtures, it’s useful to also consider any natural light glare that might affect day-to-day work too.
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Revamping the office space with new paint
When creating a home office space, it can also be useful to consider how a colour scheme might affect work productivity too. For example, some colours can affect energy and mood levels in subtle ways. Light greens, violets, and blues are cool colours that can help elicit feelings of relaxation, peace, and help reduce stress when working. Sharp bold colours may be stylish but can be too harsh for a workspace and be too distracting.
Often white or soft grey can be peaceful and versatile colours to use in interior design. They’re not too distracting and can help brighten up a dull office space, especially if there is limited natural lighting in the room. Having a soft colour palette can help workers to concentrate better on their work and can create a productive and mindful workspace.
