6 Home Office Setup Ideas For Increased Productivity

How you set up your home office will have a direct impact on your productivity. The more your home office is optimized, the more effectively you’ll be able to work. Factors such as choice of furniture, lighting, airflow, and tidiness all play an essential role and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Keep reading for some of the top home office setup and design tips for increased productivity.

How To Set Up A Home Office For Remote Work?

The ideal home office for remote work involves three things:

• A quiet space
• Comfortable furniture
• The best tools

We’ll go into more detail on each of these, but these are the three fundamental pillars of a good home office. If you don’t have the right space, you’ll be bombarded by distractions and have trouble focusing. If you don’t have the right furniture, you’ll be uncomfortable and can even end up with chronic pain. And if you don’t have the right tools, you won’t be able to work as quickly.

Okay, with that said, now let’s dive into specifics.

1. Find a quiet room to work from home

When working from home, one of the most important steps in setting up your home office is choosing the right room. Ideally, you want a dedicated space that allows you to become disconnected from the rest of the household, especially if you live with family or roommates.

Moreover, the ideal office space should be dedicated solely to work and no other task. The reason behind this is simple: if your brain associates a particular room or space with other activities such as watching TV, gaming, or working out, the chances of you falling victim to distraction become greatly increased. Because of this, you want to choose an area that you know will only be used for work.

Of course, some people might live in a small apartment or house with limited free space, and such a room or area may not be available. In this case, your best bet is to make sure that wherever you decide to set up shop, you dedicate that space to work and nothing else.

2. Buy the right home office furniture and accessories

It’s hard to be productive if you don’t feel comfortable. This is why many of the most successful corporations in the world have spent considerable time and energy investigating how to best balance workplace comfort and productivity. Your home office is just as important.

The Home Office Chair

While there is no universally accepted definition of ‘office comfort,’ most would agree that your chair has a lot to do with it. After all, if you’re going to be sitting on something for eight to ten hours a day, it better be comfortable.

If there is one piece of office furniture that you can justify spending a little extra money on, a quality office chair with lumbar support is a good candidate. Remember, the more comfortable you are, the more productive you’ll be.

Home office desk ideas

After the chair, the desk should be the next item of attention. While most people may consider this a fairly straightforward selection, desk selection isn’t as cut and dry as most would think. When choosing a desk, you need to determine how much space you have to deal with and what type of desk will best allow you to use that space productively.

Computer Desk

Possibly the most common type of desk found in an office environment, a computer desk comes equipped with a flat top and a pull-out tray for the keyboard. More often than not, computer desks also contain a housing unit for the CPU and maybe even a small shelving unit. While this is probably your most inexpensive option, it’s not necessarily the best.

Standing Desk

Some people’s backs don’t respond well to being seated for several hours in a row, a fact that has led to a sharp rise in the popularity of standing desks over the past few years. Standing desks are highly adjustable, meaning they are suitable for people of all heights and don’t take up much space, making them perfect for a small office or work area. What’s more, some standing desks can also double as a standard sitting desk, allowing you to enjoy the best of both worlds.

Writing Desks

A writing desk is as simple as they come - four legs, a flat top, and maybe a drawer or two. If you plan on doing most of your work on your laptop and don’t require a pull-out tray for your keyboard or housing space for a CPU, then a simple writing desk may be the way to go.

One significant advantage to a writing desk is they come in all sizes, meaning no matter how large or small your work area is, finding a simple writing desk to match will be easy.

Other Items To Consider

Even though we live in a primarily digital world, a good collection of stationery supplies will undeniably come in handy and is something you should have close by at all times. Additionally, while most computers come equipped with a blue light filter, not all are overly effective.

If you’re going to be spending a significant amount of time staring at a computer screen, it’s worth buying a monitor that is known to filter out blue light effectively.

3. Invest In The Right Tech For Remote Work

In order to do your job effectively, you need more than just the right place and furniture. You need the right tech.

Your needs will vary depending on your job, but here are some things you should consider using:

• Task management app like Todoist or Things to help you stay on top of tasks and projects
• Chat app, like Slack, for quick communication with teammates
• Video engagement platforms like Livestorm for online meetings, virtual events, and more
• Screen capture app like Vmaker for quickly recording videos
• Website blocking apps like Freedom to help you stay away from distracting websites
• Collaboration tools like Google Workspace

4. Home Office Design Ideas

Not only should your home office be comfortable and stocked with the supplies and equipment you need to do your job, but it should also make you feel like a pro.

When it comes to design, you should avoid the stale and sterile approach that most offices have adopted. Instead, go for a design that makes you feel comfortable and gets you motivated to start work in the morning.

Another item to avoid when setting up your home office is LED and CFL light bulbs and opt for an incandescent light source instead. Not only are they easier on the eyes, but they will give your home office a much more professional look and feel, something which is far more likely to aid in productivity.

Lastly, a home office should have a window. Aside from acting as a natural light source, a window will also increase airflow and keep you feeling fresh, focused, and productive throughout the day.

5. Small Home Office Ideas

Unfortunately, not everyone has a lot of space to work with, and in this case, the only thing to do is make the best out of what you have.

• Put a desk behind your sofa: in most living room layouts, the space directly behind the sofa is unoccupied, making it a great spot to put a small desk.
• Turn A Closet Into A Home Office: If you have a closet you’re not using, and it’s big enough to fit a small desk, consider turning it into your home office.
• Use A Room Divider Curtain: In a pinch, a curtain divider can be used to partition off a section of your living or bedroom to use as your home office.
• Install A Wall Mounted Desk: When space is severely limited, a wall-mounted desk is an excellent option. Not only does it make great use of space, but many can be folded up when not in use.

6. Home Office Ideas On A Budget

Not everyone has the extra money to invest in creating their home office. If you fall into this camp, take some comfort in knowing there are some tricks you can employ to make the process easier on your bank account.

• Look for tax write-offs: There are several write-off opportunities for costs associated with home office or work equipment; you just have to find out which ones you qualify for.
• Look for bargain furniture: Good deals on used office equipment can be found on places like Facebook marketplace, craigslist, and even the thrift store.
• Repurpose items you already own: Most people already own a desk and chair that can serve as their home office setup until they can spend the money on something bigger. In some cases, even the kitchen table can work.

The Bottom Line

When setting up your home office, it’s important to do it in such a way that makes you feel comfortable, motivated, and productive each time you sit down for work. Failure to do so can result in a lack of productivity, which is something we would all like to avoid when possible!