How to Use Your Space to Setup a Home Office

If you are totally honest with yourself, working from home is a big perk you want to keep but is also subject to the downfalls of distraction. 

 

Your kids, the maintenance man, your partner, or even the dog are all responsibilities that can subconsciously pull you away from work because of their close proximity. However, our team was able to create a hybrid schedule that balanced in-office meetings and activities with remote work that increased our productivity and allowed us to streamline our processes. We realized that in order to maximize production and efficiency, how you setup your room to work from home requires you to dedicate a space to working as well as take an in-depth look at your personal work style to learn which home office desk accessories are essential to get the job done.

 

Why You Need a Dedicated Home Office Space to Work From Home

In theory, working from home or even a hybrid work schedule that allows remote work at times sounds great until you realize how difficult it is to focus on work inside your house. Your kitchen is full of the food you want (and none of the month-old unclaimed mystery Tupperware lunches of nameless coworkers) and your perfect bed is mere steps away. It is also an ironic quirk of the universe that as soon as you start to focus on work, someone calls or texts or one of your children lose access to the wifi and needs you to fix it immediately.

 

All of those situations, either good or bad, are distractions. Just like the rooms you have dedicated to sleeping, eating, or having a long soak, to be successful at working from home you need to carve out a space and items that will permanently be attributed to your job. Space can be at a premium when designing a home office but we have some advice based on how much space you have to use for work.

I Have a Small Space for My Office

The home office for a small space is a whole trend. You don’t want to have a skewed work-life balance so naturally your home office doesn’t need to take up a whole room. Perhaps you live in a small house or apartment or even cohabitate with others, leaving real estate inside your home at a premium. Either way, a stretch of empty wall or an unused corner large enough for a narrow desk is ideal.

 

The key is to think small, simple, and remember everything has a place. Ask yourself, “What are my five must-have office accessories for my desk?” Our recommendations include a desk pad or mouse pad, a second display monitor, a great printer with all-in-one functionality so it can make copies and scan documents as well, a planner and/or calendar, and your back will thank you later for a good ergonomic desk chair.

 

It is highly likely that you are using a laptop or desktop to handle all of your daily tasks at work so a lot of extra paper and pens in your workspace is unnecessary. We recommend you keep an uncluttered and sturdy surface for your laptop. That could mean a small desk or as simple as a narrow console table. We like to designate space with our Modern Desk Collection. It includes leather desk accessories such as mouse pads and leather desk pads with non-slip microsuede backing in a variety of sizes, like the Modern Conference Pad just large enough to place laptop or the Extra Long Modern Desk Pad designed for narrow tabletops.

 

Just because we suggested you clear your desk of most paper and pens doesn’t mean get rid of it all. One item that should always have a place on your home office desk is a planner or calendar. These items are great to help visually organize your day and serve as reminders for the tasks ahead. Our Snap 2023 Planner is ready for the next year with pages for to-do lists, events, appointments, and notes along with a built-in pen loop in the cover to keep your favorite writing utensil where you can find it. You can take even more control of your calendar with our Modern Open Dated Planner which is like a blank agenda book so you can choose to write in which months and goals need the most planning.

I Have a Mid-Sized Space for My Office

With more space and a larger desk, comes more opportunities to add time-saving and convenient office accessories. A second display monitor for your laptop or desktop probably makes the top three desk items a corporate office worker will love. A second monitor allows you more visual space to make comparisons or work from multiple windows at once.

 

Have you noticed that not all display monitors are same? For consistent color and capabilities, you will want to choose monitors made by the same brand as your laptop or desktop processing tower and consider when they were made. A display monitor made in 2006 might work with a laptop from 2018 but the technology gap will be wide and you will see a major difference in the image quality. If you are using a laptop, then a second monitor larger than your laptop might be more useful for examining bigger images or more data. For a desktop computer, you should choose a second monitor that is the same size as your original display monitor to allow you to show images and data across the screens more evenly.

 

Another addition that may or may not fit into a small space but should be a mid-sized office space option is a good printer. Specifically for convenience, select a printer that is able to print, copy, and scan, preferably wirelessly so it saves you from the need to keep another cord untangled. High efficiency all-in-one inkjet or laser printers are recommended for good full color printing and quality black and white or color copies with good affordability with cost per page. HP, Epson, Brother, and Canon brands all make some of the best home office printers depending on your needs from professional documents to accurate and rich photo printing.

I Have a Whole Room for My Office

Congrats on being able to create the ultimate home office! The benefits of having a whole room (preferably with a door) for your home office include concentration, plenty of room for organization, and the ability to conduct and participate in meetings or phone calls in a quiet area with privacy. For home office design ideas, the sky is the limit. Create different areas for different uses and make your home office flow with your work style and needs. Some work from home office ideas include dedicating a whole table to the printer and any paper supplies like staplers, hole punching, and paperclips. For jobs like creatives in marketing, put up a white board or bulletin board with push pins to brainstorm campaigns and strategize or place a table near a window for good natural light to sketch your next big idea. Line bookshelves with industry books and manuals for reference and add a third display monitor and a docking station to your large desk to create the ultimate workstation.  

 

Regardless of what industry, lengthy sitting and long hours in front of the computer can take its toll. Invest in a great ergonomic chair to aid in posture and pain relief as well as decrease fatigue. According to New York Times Wirecutter, the best office chair is by Steelcase Gesture because of its durability, comfort and support for your back and arms, and its adjustable seat and arm height. It is also not a bad idea to choose a desk chair that rolls for maneuverability and protects your floor if you decide to get up suddenly. You have to consider that a great desk chair is like purchasing a great mattress for a good night’s sleep. You will spend upwards of 14,000 hours over the next 10 years sitting in the chair, therefore a great chair comes at a price. While the Steelcase Gesture chair will set you back over $1000, there are good office desk chairs that can offer similar durability, adaptability, and body support while being more wallet-friendly if you are thorough in your research for the best home office furniture.

I Have No Space at All

Sometimes there is just no room to create your ideal home office. You might live in a compact space, or you could be traveling for business and need a more mobile option. When you don’t have room for a work from home office setup, this is where you can get creative with the space you do have. Kitchen tables and breakfast bar countertops or a good lap-height coffee table can be used as an informal desk to work in your favor. Choose a surface that allows you to work sitting up straight and try to make sure you are located near a window with plenty of natural light to prevent backaches and fatigued eyes. The vitamin D that indirect sunlight provides can also go far in boosting your mood and wakefulness. In addition to its variety, our Modern Desk Collection offers thoughtfully portable designs that unsnap, flatten, and roll up easily to transport your desk to the next best spot.

 

If there are no table surfaces to be found, a sturdy lap desk pad can transform anywhere you are sitting into your work area. Our Classic Conference and Laptop Pad is a stable leather-covered surface for your laptop during crowded work meetings or on your couch as long as the TV stays off. When you have to get out of the house, you can also put our Classic or Modern Conference Pads to use in quiet coffee shops or cafes during non-peak hours and co-op workspaces for that office feel when you don’t actually have a desk at your job. What you should not do during your space debacle is decide to work in places that might hinder your work ethic or add distractions. This includes trying to work while lying in bed, in busy restaurants, or while watching TV.

 

Whether you are working completely remote or only working from home a few days a week on a hybrid schedule, get the best out of your home office desk setup. Plan ahead and choose the right office furniture and desk accessories for the situation and your work style. With a little effort and forethought, you can maximize your productivity, save yourself from distraction and procrastination, and become the MVP of your office.