How to
Design Your Home Office Workspace

Whether your home office takes up a large room or is neatly tucked away in a quiet corner, designing your workspace takes careful planning. You want to get the most out of the available space and create a comfortable work area so you can focus on the task at hand. Design your home office with comfortable work stations, plentiful lighting and abundant storage to keep all of your essential supplies and paperwork in tidy working order. 

What Do You Need?

You can follow every design rule in the book, but if your home office doesn’t suit your work style and keep essential items nearby, you probably won’t love it. Even if you don’t plan to use the office every day, consider the way you work and the items you need to be most productive. Are you always reaching for a pen and pad of paper? Do you wish you could finally hold onto a pair of scissors for more than a week without losing them? Do you need a way to keep incoming and outgoing mail separated? 

Ask yourself these kinds of questions, make a list of your needs, and then set out to actually arrange and shop for office furniture and accessories.

Color Sets the tone

If you work from home full time, odds are good that you are going to spend more time in your home office than in most of the other rooms in your home. Spruce up your space with a fresh coat of paint to boost your mood and stay focused. Choose a color that makes you feel good and pair it with accent colors that balance the room, but aren’t too distracting. For example, while blues and greens set a soothing stage, a pop of yellow can add a little brightness to your office. Likewise, the finish can affect the energy in the room. For example, the sheen of glossy paint encourages high energy while matte, flat paints often create a calmer environment. Take note: flat paints look gorgeous, but they are harder to clean and scuff easily.

A Place for Everything

Whether your home office is large or small, you need to create a streamlined area that flows well and has plenty of integrated storage. Use a combination of vertical and horizontal fixtures to optimize your space. Add vertical storage by hanging floating shelves to accommodate equipment, files, paperwork and decorative accessories. Spread out horizontally with modular office furniture, additional cabinets or side tables that can hold some of your essential office gear. In addition to having a dedicated drawer for files and paperwork, use baskets to hold papers and mail so that the desktop can be clutter-free. 

Get Comfortable

Add a few homey accessories that tie the rest of your home’s decor into the office space and give it a cohesive feel. Invest in a stellar office chair to support your back during long work sessions. Adding a few favorite trinkets can also help keep you motivated and inspired to get in the office and get to work.

Bright Lights, Productive Days (and Nights)

The right lighting doesn’t just setthe tone for the roon. It also helps to minimizes sleepiness and reduce eyestrain and fatigue. Design your home office with layered lighting that helps you stay productive and transitions easily from day to night. Start by arranging your furniture to take advantage of the natural light coming in the windows. Add a ceiling light to establish the base lighting level in the room and provide a decorative touch that works within the office. This can be anything from a simple flushmount ceiling fixture to a sleek pendant light or dramatic chandelier. 

Arrange floor or table lamps as task lighting, placing the light on the opposite side from the hand you write with to reduce shadows. Finish things off with accent lights that fill in dark spaces and add decorative appeal. Finally, you’ve created a space that not only works for you, but that you’ll love – and use – for years to come.