Small Home Offices

Space-Saving Ideas for Small Home Offices

This is a guest post that was written by the people at Mr. Blinds in Aukland, New Zealand. They’ve shared some good ideas for making the best of a small home office space. With more and more people working out of their homes, it’s always good to hear and see ideas to make our little home office spaces more pleasant to work in.

Home offices are becoming more and more common in the business world. They save you from renting a studio or office space, cut down travel times (and costs), allow you to work near your family and they’re potentially tax deductible. The problem with home offices is the blurred boundaries between home and the workplace. It can be hard to focus, you can get distracted easily, take too many breaks and spend too much time lounging around. This can be hard to overcome without the right home office design.

Designing a home office becomes particularly hard when you live in a small space. If you have no spare rooms and a crowded living area, how can you create a comfortable home office?

It’s often best to go with a minimalist theme when you’re coming up with small home office ideas. Think about what stationery you really need and don’t bother with the rest, unless you’re stashing it away in a drawer somewhere near. The more clutter you have, the more likely you are to waste time and decrease productivity. Tucking cables away with zip ties or bread clips will help you keep your desk clutter free as well as hazard free.

A good way to start organising your home office is by using wall space. This will ensure you take up as little space as possible. When you know how much storage space and work equipment, you need around you, start building your shelving. Make sure that you set this up vertically rather than horizontally - building up is one of the best space-saving ideas for home offices. You can also stack your drawers and use the space below your desk for storage. You want to keep everything you need nearby, so you don’t walk around the house and get distracted.

If you’re like me and you have spent hours looking around your house for a space to set up an office to no avail, you may be better off dividing a space so it can have multiple uses. You can split apart a kitchen, bedroom, or living room and designate a certain portion of that space to your office. If you’re doing this, I’d recommend you find a way to separate the office from the room, so it feels like you’re in your own area. You can do this with color, wall paint or even furniture design.

If you still can’t find a space to fit your office in but have backyard space available, shipping container offices are a simple and popular option. They’re affordable, easy to set up and customizable for your needs. This is particularly useful for people who prefer to work in private, or need a larger area to work and conduct meetings in.

One thing you shouldn’t throw away in your home office is ergonomics. Maybe skip that chair that looks great with your home but has no back support. Having an ergonomic workspace actually encourages you to work better by increasing blood flow, and of course, by preventing long-term damage to your body.

Home offices are becoming more and more popular, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to set up. On top of finding the right space, you also need to consider ergonomics, cable management, clean designs, and ways to separate the space from the rest of your home in order to optimize productivity. Careful planning and clever buying is the key to setting up a home office that best suits your needs.

Photo Source Unsplash, PxHere, Wikimedia Commons

Image 1 – by Jeff Sheldon via Unsplash

Image 2 – via PXhere

Image 3 – via PXhere

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