The word “office” is used in a variety of ways. It can refer to the room in which you work, or it can simply be an area of space with a desk, cabinets, and other supplies. It doesn’t have to be a large area for you to call it your office.
The home office can be done with just about anything at all. Even if you don’t have an office setup, you can make something for yourself that functions as one.
The purpose of this article is to provide some ideas for what kinds of items you could use for your home office, and some considerations around the type of space that would work best for you. In this article we cover:
What you will need? What kind of space will work best? What furniture will look good in your space? What hardware will look good with your furniture? How much room do you need? If it’s too small, how much more room do you want?
Does your computer fit in the same place it does at work? Is there a specific location where your computer fits? We also cover how much space it takes up as well as other design considerations like colour/tempera/etc.
What to consider when creating a workspace at home
If you are a freelancer, you probably have very little in the way of home office space. Your work environment is typically your workspace; and if it’s too far away from your desk and not conducive to working, you’re not going to be spending much time there.
There are many advantages and drawbacks to this approach, but what should you consider when creating a workspace at home?
Here are some things we consider when reviewing a new workspace:
- Does it provide enough room for you to create the kind of environment that works for you? For example, if you’re someone who likes being able to sit on the floor or in a chair, furniture type may not be important.
- Is it big enough for all three of your computers/laptops? (This doesn’t mean every piece of furniture needs to be huge — just big enough so that all three computers can fit.)
- Does it provide storage for your work materials and supplies? For example, if your workspace needs more storage space than one of your laptops can provide (for example, if you need room for an external hard drive), consider getting something like this great desk organiser.
The above are some examples of workplace office furniture that could help make your workspace more conducive to working from home. There is no one-size-fits-all answer — but we hope to share some ideas with you that might help make your workspace more productive and enjoyable.
Ideas for a great home office for freelancers
There’s no doubt that the great home office is a result of a number of factors, but we’re going to focus on 3:
- Location. The great home office should be within walking distance to a place where you work (and maybe even with good public transportation).
- Space. There should be enough space for you and your desk, bookshelves, and whatever else you want to do.
- Design. A home office must be designed well in order to give it that nice feeling of space and breathing room. It also needs to fit in well with your style, as if it were furniture in itself.
A final word on design: Don’t buy a cheap office chair if you want to spend some money on an office desk: buy something that feels comfortable (and can take some abuse) so that when you sit down at your desk it makes the most of the space around it.
Just like bedding doesn’t necessarily have to be clean looking, you don’t have to go out of your way for a good home office chair or desk just because it’s beautiful or because it fits in with your personality or surroundings.
How to make your home office work for you
Great home office ideas for freelancers. The home office is often looked on as a goal of middle-aged men, but those in their thirties and forties may not know the best places to set up shop. When you are starting out as a freelancer, it is important to get into the habit of thinking about your own workspace so that you can find something that suits your needs.
This is especially true if you are working from home (or at least don’t have the time to travel to work). If you do have an office in the workplace, then make sure that it works for your needs and does not get in the way of productivity or working with colleagues.
Even if you don’t directly need a specific thing like an extra desk or personal computer, there are still a number of things which your workspace should consider.
If you want to write code on your laptop:
- Consider how well it works with other tools like Photoshop and Illustrator. If it doesn’t work well with those applications, then it will work even less well with other programs like LibreOffice or Google Docs. You may also want to consider using Microsoft Word instead of LibreOffice if writing long documents really takes up too much time (or just use Google Docs instead).
- Think about what kinds of office supplies are available locally and/or online. For example, do you need a table? Can you buy a standing desk? Do you need storage space? Do you need some sort of lighting? These all factor into the cost of buying an office at home.
- Consider how much time and energy it takes to set up an office; do these factors affect whether or not this is worth doing? If so, make sure that they do!
For example: many freelancers choose to use a Mac instead of their own personal computer because it is so easy to use online (using Google Docs) rather than having to go into the desktop version via Windows or OS X (which can be very slow and very clunky). But this only works if there is enough space for them to actually use one computer at home; however, once again quality matters here too!
In addition, some people prefer larger spaces than others; since most people in their twenties (and thirties) already have fairly large homes anyway, remember that larger spaces are generally more expensive than smaller ones — so having a bigger room could be worth considering too!
Tips for creating an efficient and productive home office space
We often hear from our readers that they want to work from home, but they’ve got no idea what to do. We’re here to help.
Home offices are a hot topic at the moment, and people are starting to realise that working from home is a great way to save time and money. If you’re looking for an efficient way to create a home office space for your business, we hope this post will help you find some inspiration!
The best way of creating a home office is by getting inspiration from others. And if you have the means, why not hire someone else as a virtual assistant? As long as it works out well for you, there is no reason not to use an external source of inspiration.