There are many advantages of having a home office. As MTD Management says, it’s less expensive than renting or buying an actual office. It’s also a more comfortable way to work and it gives you more freedom over your schedule and over your personal life.
However, all of this is only the case if you design your home office as an actual place of business in which you can accomplish anything you would otherwise accomplish in a corporate office. That’s something you need to prepare for and think about in advance.
A Zone
An office needs to be a separate room but there are homes that can’t accommodate this. The same effect could be achieved by having an office zone, which is a portion of some other room dedicated to your work. It’s important that you make it clearly noticeable in terms of design and style that this zone is separate.
This will accomplish two things. It will let everyone know that this is where you work, but it will also put you in the work state of mind when you enter the zone and you could switch back and forth between your two roles.
Storage Space
There are features of a modern office that are necessary for comfortable work which we take for granted in a corporate office. One of those is definitely storage space and those who work from home start noticing the lack of it as soon as they start.
It’s best to go vertically when it comes to storage space by using wall-mounted cabinets. This gives you enough room to store the office supplies and documents but won’t make your home office feel crowded and small.
Lights
It’s the lighting that will determine the ambiance of your home office more than anything else. The key is to consider how much natural light you have and to use it as much as you can. This is where home offices have an advantage over corporate ones. You will definitely have a window and maybe even a few if you choose to.
It’s still important to make sure the office has enough task lights spread around it if you plan to burn the midnight oil. The light design should always be done based on how you plan to use the office and by accommodating your actual needs.
Color Palette
Choosing a color palette is more than just an aesthetic choice. It will also help create a mood and ambiance to work in. It’s the walls and the carpets that are the largest parts of the home office and this is where you can set the tone.
Have in mind that bright and noticeable colors are better suited to physical labor and that greens are southing by nature. Likewise, it’s the dark blues that are best for contemplative work. In most cases, an office will be used for all of this at one point, but you should figure out how you plan to spend the majority of your time in it.
Meetings
In the end, an office is often a place to hold meetings and discuss important matters with clients. A home office is limiting in this regard. There are two ways to go with this problem. The first is to meet outside the home office – meaning to rent space for it or to use public places.
The second is more costly, and more long-term oriented. It requires you to separate your home office from your home entirely. This could be done by creating a separate entrance and by isolating the office. It’s costly but it gives you more ways to use the office space in the future.
A home office gives you much more comfort and versatility with your work than a corporate one. It, however, needs to be designed and prepared for day-to-day tasks you’ll use it for.
Sometimes this is simple, like purchasing items that will transform a spare room into a place of business, but it might be more complicated and require you to do a paint job or even to install a separate entryway into the office. It’s worth it because it saves you time and allows you to spend more of it with your family.