Planning Your Home Office Space

Article by Molli Carlson at makespace.com

So you’ve decided to kiss office life goodbye and work full-time from home. Or maybe you set up a home office to pursue your new side hustle. Good for you!

Working from home gives you complete control of your schedule. And if you play your cards right, you can skip out early anytime.

But you can’t just flop onto your couch with your laptop and expect to be productive. It’s important to establish an office or workspace within your home. Without it, you’re bound to get distracted, fall behind, and pretty soon, your home won’t feel so comfortable anymore.

The good news is setting up and organizing a home office is easy. Simply follow the tips below and you’ll have an efficient, organized home office setup in no time.

How To Find Space For A Home Office

1. Ask yourself these important questions

Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

Before you dive into any sort of redecorating, pause and consider a couple of things.

Jo Heinz, president of the Dallas design firm Staffelbach, offers a great checklist in Entrepreneur. It all boils down to asking yourself these nine questions:

1. What will you be doing in the space?

2. What type of work needs to be done?

3. Will clients ever visit the space?

4. Will colleagues visit for work?

5. What type of materials will you store?

6. What kind of equipment do you need?

7. When will you be doing most of your work?

8. Will you make conference calls?

9. Will you ever video conference?

All of these questions will help you determine and visualize what kind of setup you require.

2. Look for windows

Having a window in your home office is key for two reasons:

1. It lets in a lot of light, which you’ll need to illuminate your files, phone, or keyboard.

2. Natural lighting is crucial.

Think about the last time you did any work in a windowless room. It was unpleasant, right?

Having a window will keep you in a healthy, productive headspace. Just as long as you don’t spend all day staring out of it.

3. Assess the noise level inside and outside your home

Obviously, you want to work in a relaxed environment where you can focus. So avoid the loudest part of your home.

Pick a space where your neighbors’ music, the construction down the block, or the birds chirping outside are the dullest.

And if you still need to muffle some ambient noise, take advice from Amanda Thomas, AKA the Domestic CEO, and cue up some calming background music on Spotify.