Home Office Ideas – Create Your Ideal Workspace

With more and more people starting to work remotely, great home office ideas to create an effective home office space has never been more important. It may seem like just another room in the house, but the look and feel of your home office can have a profound impact on the way you work.

Much research has been done into the optimum space for the average office worker. Whether it’s concepts that send us psychological cues or practical elements that will make your life easier, there’s tons of information out there about making a work environment that’s perfect for you. Luckily, you can easily recreate a functional and effective workspace in the comfort of your very own home. Here are a few ideas to consider when setting up your ideal home office.

Create Space And Light

A light and spacious room is essential in helping you concentrate on the task at hand. Natural light has been shown to increase worker satisfaction and productivity, helping to regulate the body’s circadian rhythms and reduce eye strain and fatigue. To reap the benefits of natural light in your home office, there are a few things you can do.

Placing a mirror opposite or next to a window will effectively double the amount of light by reflecting it around the room, and will also create the illusion of space. If you don’t have the wall space, you could even incorporate mirror doors onto shelving, both maximising the natural light and helping to hide your office clutter.

If you don’t get a lot of natural light, try not to place items in front of your windows as they will only obstruct it. You may even want to consider removing blinds and curtains from the windows in your office to let in as much light as you can. Finally, for any supplemental artificial light, make sure you opt for a full-spectrum bulb. These help to simulate natural light, filtering out the yellow cast you normally find with their standard incandescent counterparts.

Bring The Outside In

Humans have an inherent desire to connect with nature, but despite this, we spend much of our working lives sitting inside, stripped of our connection with the natural environment. An easy way to remedy this is to incorporate plants into your home office decor. Not only do they have an aesthetic appeal, but having plants inside your home office can also do wonders for your mood and wellbeing. Some studies have shown that plants can increase positive feelings and even reduce sickness in the workplace.

Certain plants, like aloe vera and snake plants, also help to purify the air, helping to remove harmful toxins and raising humidity levels. If you don’t have much experience with plants, you could start off with something hardy like a succulent. These plants are especially good at retaining water, so are naturally low-maintenance and suited to life indoors.

Another way to bring the outside in is to hang nature-themed photos or prints on the walls of your home office. Scenes of vast blue oceans, sunsets or trees have a calming and rejuvenating effect and help create a sense of tranquillity that will permeate your office space.

Declutter

If your workspace is covered in clutter, you may find it harder to get things done. Not only does mess present more opportunities for distraction, but research shows that it can have a negative effect on our stress and anxiety levels. A clean workspace also has practical benefits. Think how much time you’ll save without having to search the room for the papers you need or having to clear your desk each day before you even sit down to work. Maintaining a clean and tidy home office is easier said than done, but there are a few things you can do to keep on top of the clutter.

A key part of keeping your home office clutter-free is ensuring that you have enough storage. After all, if you’ve got nowhere to put your things, it’s no surprise that the mess builds up fast. Consider adding a wall shelf or shelving unit. If you’re short on space, you might prefer to add extra storage under your desk.

When it comes to the desktop itself, try and stick to the essential items. If you’ve got a bowl of paperclips you never use or more pens than you know what to do with, then it’s time to get rid of them. Once you have a clear and clutter-free workspace, you’ll have all the more headspace to deal with your work effectively.

Keeping your home office ideas tidy may also tie into the way you are working. If you frequently find yourself drowning in paperwork, consider if there are any parts of your workflow you can digitise. There’s a whole host of websites and apps out there that can help you with everything from creating invoices to organising your day’s to-dos. If you prefer to work the old fashioned way, a cork or whiteboard can be a great visual reminder of what you have to do without taking up precious space on your desk.

A Personal Touch

While there are many things you can do to recreate an ideal working environment, it’s important that your home office ideas still reflects your style and personality. Don’t feel bound by the clean lines and muted colours of traditional office aesthetics. If you prefer a more vintage look, take a look around second-hand shops to find some pieces that speak to you. If art makes you feel inspired, find some prints from your favourite artists and hang them up on your office wall.

With that being said, it’s beneficial for your home office to have a different feel to other rooms of the house. When you’re working from home, it can be hard to separate business and leisure, sometimes making it hard to switch off at the end of the day. Creating a room with its own unique aesthetic can serve as a psychological cue that once you’re inside it’s time to start working. This makes sure that the rest of your home is a place where you can sit back and unwind after a long day in the office.

The general consensus may be to avoid clutter, but having a few key personal items can bring a bit of joy into your working day. Whether it’s a family photo, travel souvenir or a special keepsake, having something meaningful around can help give your office a personal feel and brighten up days when things just aren’t going your way.

Choose Your Colours

It’s been well documented that colour has the ability to influence our mood, emotions and even our behaviour. Given how much time is spent sitting at our desks, it’s important that the colours we choose for our home offices reflect how we want to feel in them. While this partly comes down to personal preference, there are a few good rules of thumb you can follow.

If you work in a creative field, you might want to introduce some shades of yellow to the room. Yellow is often associated with energy and optimism and is believed to help trigger innovation. If you would like to boost your productivity, green and blue will not only help improve your efficiency but also promote your overall sense of wellbeing. Red, on the other hand, promotes emotion and excitement, great for those who work in active or high-pressure roles

They may be typical office colours, but white, grey and beige have been shown to induce feelings of sadness and depression. Whichever colour speaks to you, remember you needn’t go all out. Try introducing a few items in your chosen colour and see how it makes you feel. You might be pleasantly surprised by the difference.

Conclusion for Home Office Ideas

We hope that these home office ideas have inspired you to create a home office space that will help you get the best out of every working day, whether you would like to increase your productivity, reduce stress or simply be more organised while working from home. As we hope you’ll agree, it doesn’t require too much effort to transform your home office into a place where you can get your head down and get work done.

While these concepts work for many home workers, what matters ultimately is how your home office feels to you. Don’t be afraid to experiment with layout, light and colour until you find the ideal set up. It’s well worth the trial and error to get the very best out of you and your work.