Home Office Ideas For Super Small Spaces!

Your home is more than just a place to wind down after a hard day’s work. For many of us, it is also the platform from which our careers are forged, and incomes earned.

If you work from a home office, either as an employee or as a business owner then seeing your home as a restful, peaceful place can at times seem like a difficult proposition. As a matter of fact, working from home can be highly distracting.

It’s a recipe for disaster waiting to happen if working from home isn’t approached with the correct mindset.

What you need is a home office that allows you a space to deal with your professional responsibilities.

Now, many of us have limited space in your home, especially in a shared household.

However, with some careful consideration you can find many unique opportunities for making the best of what little space you have. Below we have a few ideas of things you can try to make your home office a place to enjoy!

Creating a small office starts by choosing a space

The first thing that you have to keep in mind about selecting a space for your home office is to avoid high traffic areas or ‘busy’ zones  that are frequented by people time and time again.

For example in the living room or lounge, where family and friends socialise, it would be far more difficult to remain focussed for a whole day than if you were to take up a work residence in the guest bedroom or a utility cupboard.

Pick a space where you are less likely to experience distractions (which are of course inevitable to some degree) without having any negative impact on others in your home.

Try experimenting with a few original ideas and make use of space saving equipment such as foldaway chairs or a collapsible desk upon a bedroom wall.

If a designated space isn’t an option, perhaps simply soundproofing an existing door will do enough to shield you from an otherwise noisy household.

Keep in mind that when grappling with different home office designs, it’s unlikely to ‘click’ straight away. Finding the right design to fit perfectly into your lifestyle will come, it’s just a matter of testing for a few days and seeing what works.

A desk can make or break a small office

The next important pointer for creating the ideal work environment is the home office desk. Choosing the right one has a great influence on how you utilize what small space is available to you.

The ideal option would be a desk that has a slim profile with little to it other than the desktop itself. Old-fashioned and heavy industrial office furniture like an L-shaped desk just don’t make the best use of space in a home office.

Consider three things when looking for a desk that takes up only a small footprint. Flexibility, visual appeal, and durability.

The desk should be easily movable to accommodate your changing interests during working hours or due to immediate needs. For example, if you have guests coming over at need the space to socialize you won’t be prevented from sliding the desk out of sight with ease.

The visual appeal of your desk setup is one of the critical factors for the effectiveness of a home office design. Desk accessories that match the décor of the room should considered, but not so much that they become the defining features.

Finally, you need to choose a desk that can bear the load of essentials you need for your work, like a productivity boosting monitor.

If a desktop computer is needed then the desk better be strong! On the other hand, if you need only a table lamp and a few books handy when operating from a laptop, then your desk doesn’t need to be quite so heavy duty, and perhaps could even be a foldaway desk attached to a wall.

Being organised is essential when small office space is limited

If papers take over your desk, you could find yourself living in a land of frustration. So, it is essential to find measures that keep papers off your desk surface whilst at the same time making them readily available when you need them.

Shelves or a filing cabinet can help you keep all files essential documents off your desk whilst simple paper trays are ideal solutions for keeping your daily use paperwork neat and tidy.

Biohack your work using sunlight by positioning your desk near a window

One of the important aspects of the perfect home office design is access to natural light.

Sunlight is an important requirement for maintaining the circadian rhythm of our mind and body, making us feel awake during daylight hours. In addition, sunlight is a great source of vitamin D that subsequently enriches the feeling of happiness.

Therefore if you can, you should try to find a space for your home office near a window. Indirect sunlight is better than no sunlight at all. 

Sprucing up the office with some potted plants will also benefit from the sun’s rays and oxygenate your home office air.

Potted plants work exceptionally well at removing toxins from the atmosphere such as benzene or formaldehyde, both commonly found indoors.

In addition, potted plants make the home office environment more calm and relaxing, thereby giving you a perfect chance for improving productivity.

Use vertical space as a small office design hack

You don’t have to compromise the amount of floor space available in a room.

Another promising mention among best home office ideas is to make optimal use of vertical space.

For example, drawers stacked beneath your desk and then shelves above it combine to create a substantial amount of storage space.

Do away with messy wires that can cause clutter and distraction

You will unfortunately very likely need electrical connections to operate your home office.

With cables connecting to a WiFi router, printer, monitor, desk lamps and so on and so on, ‘the tangle’ is inevitable.

Try keeping your wires and cables to a minimum and where they are unavoidable line them against walls or attach them to the underside of your desktop.

Zip ties or bread clips can be great options to manage a bundle of wires and cables that run the same route and prevent them from tangling with each other.

Following this tip to make your home office design not only look aesthetically pleasing but also highly manageable.

Although office space may be limited don’t forego the amenities

The two most common necessities while you work are drinking water and a waste bucket.

Water is very important during work as it keeps us hydrated and our brains and bodies in top shape.

Fill a water bottle at the start of each day and keep it visible as you work.

Similarly, as you work you’ll be producing clutter at your desk, and a waste bucket or dustbin is essential.

Getting up to dispose of waste can disrupt the flow of work resulting in wasted time so it is essential to have a bucket within close reach.

Ergonomic furniture is doubly valuable when used in a small office!

You may end up spending more hours in your home office than any other room in the house, especially if you are operating your own business.

Long hours of sitting at your desk are definitely going to inflict certain stresses and strains on your body. Especially if you aren’t aware of what posture you should be aiming for.

If you don’t place importance on ergonomic furniture in your home office setup, then you run the risk of facing both short-term and long-term problems.

Good posture helps in promoting the flow of blood and oxygen in our body, thereby improving cognitive abilities, and one such way to prevent stresses and strains is to adjust your computer monitor or laptop screen to a height that prevents you from looking down all day.  

Are you ready to design your home office now?

Without much hesitation we’re able to say that setting up your home office is a critical task that is often overlooked. 

Creating your perfect home office starts with making use of the space available to you, and this might be a small one but that doesn’t stop you from achieving a productive one. 

Inspiration taken from:

Tips For Creating a Home Office in a Small Space

https://www.realhomes.com/design/small-home-office-ideas

https://www.thezoereport.com/p/how-to-make-a-home-office-in-a-small-space-according-to-designers-15727381