Whether you’ve been working from home or working for yourself, it’s time to dive into crafting the perfect home office! You work hard and deserve a beautiful and functional space that’s uniquely suited to your wants and needs. If you’re going to be spending hours on end in one room it should not only inspire productivity, but bring you comfort as well. Plus, an office that you want to spend time in is an office you’ll accomplish things in. We’ve put together a list on how to design the ultimate home office!
Natural Lighting
If you can help it, pick a room in your house that gets great natural lighting. There are countless health benefits to getting natural sunlight. Among these include lower blood pressure, increased vitamin D, enhanced moods and better sleep. All of which will help you power through and have a productive day at the office.
If natural light isn’t an option for you, don’t worry. Though the sun is incomparable, light therapy lamps are a great alternative when natural light is hard to come by. If your home office is without windows or maybe you just have those winter blues, a SAD (seasonal affective disorder) lamp might be the thing for you. You don’t have to sacrifice style either. Many light therapy lamps aren’t the most exciting design pieces. However, there are options with a little more style like a moon SAD lamp or geometrically shaped SAD lamp from Amazon. Of course if your space calls for a more involved renovation, brand new windows from Castle Windows will surely let plenty of light in!
A comfortable chair
Sure, this is obvious– but it’s super important! You don’t want to be breaking your back when sitting at your desk. It’s likely that half of your day will be spent sitting in this chair, so it’s imperative to make it a good one. And by good, we mean comfortable. If you’re going to get anything done, you’ll need to want to be there. Who jumps at the chance to sit in a back bending, neck craning position?
Ergonomic desk chairs can cost a pretty penny, but it doesn’t have to be fancy to be comfortable. What’s important to remember is that it doesn’t matter how pretty that vintage wooden desk chair looks, your comfort takes precedence. If you want a beautiful looking chair that just so happens to make your butt go numb, put it in the corner so you can look at it from afar in all your ergonomic glory. I don’t care how much you convince yourself it will work, it just won’t. Remember the architect’s saying, “form follows function.” The purpose of this space should be the building blocks of its design. Don’t sacrifice anything that serves your work in exchange for beauty. With the right attitude and proper planning, you can have both!
Make use of shelving and other storage
Shelves are an incredible way to maximize the vertical space you have in your office. A great use of office shelving is by adding built-ins above your desk area. This way, whenever you’re at your workspace, anything you might need is right at arm’s length. Need to reference a book? Just reach up! Having shelves right above your desk can also open up the surface area you have available to you in a bind. No more scattered documents along the floor. This comes in handy for when you just don’t have enough space, but aren’t quite ready to file any of it away yet. Your workflow will thank you for it.
Storage solutions are going to be your best friend during this home office redesign of yours. If everything has a place you can keep organized and stay on task. If you opt to stay with an open shelving plan, invest in some pretty photo boxes to store some of your things. These are an inexpensive and beautiful way to set aside your not-so-beautiful items. And if you decide to mix in some closed storage vessels, we have ideas for that too!
These days there are stylish options for just about any kind of previously clunky office furniture. If you’re not quite full digital and still need a place to keep paper documents, worry not. Bulky metal filing cabinets are a thing of the past! These days, filing drawers blend seamlessly with the rest of your office furniture. Not only is it pleasing to the eye, but it will help make your job easier. These kinds of filing cabinets are especially great if your home office space is somewhere that’s open to the rest of the living spaces. There are filing cabinets that look just like a dresser or buffet, like this one from Wayfair, that will perfectly compliment your newly converted home office.
Add some personality
This is a room you are going to be spending quite a bit of your time in, you simply have to make it unique to you. Pick a color that brings you joy and put it everywhere. Pick three colors, even! There are going to be design elements to your home office space that we just can’t pick out for you. We want you to enjoy the space you’re in, so have fun with it! Hang artwork and family photos. Paint a mural. Surround yourself with the kind of beauty that inspires you. Having a home office means you have total creative license to make it everything you want! No rules. No gray cubicle walls. Just you, your comfort, and your inspiration. You’re going to enjoy getting back to the grind each day when you’re welcomed by a space that is uniquely you. Not just in design, but in function as well. There’s no better person than you, to design an office to function for your needs.
Get to work!
Now that you have all the building blocks to that functional and beautiful home office of your dreams, it’s time to stack them! There’s no better time than the present to invest in your livelihood and your well being. A new home office does both.
Get designing your ultimate home officeand tag us on Instagram @CastleWindows with the finished look!
