For the past few years, people have greatly invested in their own work spaces at home. They make it a sacred space, the holy place (if you will) in the more secluded, quiet areas in their homes. A great majority of people have found it to be quite efficient as well as time-saving to invest in their home offices. However, scouring for ideas through the internet can be rather overwhelming with the abundance of tips and tricks one may see in it. Thus, the information laid out in this article will pertain to basic and modern home office ideas that will surely pave the way for you to create the home office that is rightly tailored to your needs.
There are two factors to be highly considered when investing in a home office: style and functionality. In regards to style, one may think that functionality trumps over it. For some cases, this may be true. However, people should not look down on investing in the style of their home offices. Committing to a specific home office style promotes orderliness as well as giving out a sense of harmony in the air.
As clearly stated above, this article will be tackling the realms of what is essential in a home office (gravitating towards style and functionality).
STYLE: 10 Modern Home Office Ideas
1)Stick to a color scheme.
Choosing the room colors is essential in the whole aesthetic of your home office. This will depend on two key factors: the nature of one’s work and your personality. First off, work nature varies. Some companies function in a fast-paced work environment, especially ones that are heavily time-bound and are always following a fixed schedule. Others tend to have a more relaxed work environment.
Your personality, on the other hand, also plays a part in the room colors. Since this is your personal home office, choose colors that are also true to your personality. Should you be an outgoing person, go for colors that add some pop into your room. Consequently, if you’re more on the reserved side, go for colors that are more muted and calming.
What makes choosing a color scheme important is that the colors one surrounds themselves with can greatly affect the energy of the room. When it comes to being in tune with work, the environment in which you place yourself in makes an impact on your work productivity and the colors of the walls, furniture, and office items make a huge difference on that. Therefore, think about those key factors mentioned above and make your decision in what color scheme you want for your home office in regards to those.
2)Should the color scheme permit it, throw in colorful statement items.
Statement items add life into a home office. Sometimes, work can get monotonous and repetitive. A change in the industrial nature of work can ground someone back into their own selves. Think of items such as statement rugs, hanging artworks, and even accent walls. You may even throw in the usual standing globe we all see in movies. Make them colorful, if the color scheme permits it. This is to avoid work burnout as well as keep you on track with your work life.
3)Invest and/or save up for high-quality computer equipment.
High-quality computer equipment aids in better productivity and efficiency. This is most essential for people who work using computers. Research on hard drives, graphics cards, SSDs, CPUs, and the like and what would suit your work needs the best. The usual colors used for computer equipment are metallic gray, black, and white; however, they are not limited to just those three colors.
Thus, it’s okay to explore your color options more in regards to the other computer hardware items. From there, you can also base the colors of your items with reference to your computer equipment.
4)Make sure the windows let natural lighting in.
It is important to let natural lighting in your home office. Oftentimes, we get too tunnel-visioned into work that we start to be unaware of our surroundings. Our peripheral vision starts turning zero in on our computer screens. Letting in natural light will aid us into grounding us back into our surroundings. Additionally, this helps us feel energized and more awake as well as keep our bodies’ need for vitamin D in check. The reduction of electricity bills is also greatly increased because there’s not much need for light when there’s already natural lighting around you.
5)Organize with smart storage for a small home office idea.
When purchasing storage equipment, look for ones that are beneficial to your personal items in your home office. Ask yourself this as well: what kind of storage equipment do I need that can give me nearby access to things I need in my office? Once you’re able to determine what needs storing and whatnot, go ahead and buy some smart storage equipment. The usual colors for smart storage equipment are white, black, gray, brown, and beige (mostly neutral colors). In turn, this allows you more leg room to choose more adventurous colors with your other office items.
6)Invest in comfortable/ergonomic furniture.
This goes hand in hand with #3 and #5. Consider getting comfortable and ergonomic furniture that is able to soothe you while being hard at work and provide you with more functionality. You may bring in a bean bag for those destress moments from work, essentially adding some fun and a laidback nature into your home office. Ergonomic furniture is also ideal for home offices because they essentially help in someone’s productivity when working. They help with posture as well as the prevention of injuries (which are actually more common in workplaces than you think).
7)Bring in some plants.
Just like #2, plants add life into a home office. Plants are widely known to be natural air cleaners and keep the environment fresh, clean, and calm. However, sometimes, taking care of plants in the office may prove to be tedious. To combat that, invest in low-maintenance plants like snake plants, bamboo, and spider plants.
8)Add in a vision board.
Incorporating a vision board into your home office helps you stay on track of your goals in life (e.g., career, family, investing in hobbies). Create a board that will remind you of why you’re working in that job of yours. Think about your goals, what’s important to you, and what you plan to achieve with your current work.
Should you not have the time to create a whole board, you may also opt to add just a few pictures around your room for inspiration and motivation boosters.
9)Cut out noise and distractions for a peaceful work environment.
Situate your home office in a more secluded, quiet area. This helps you keep away from distractions as well as be more productive with work. Moreover, when you cut out things that generate a lot of noise and items that can easily distract you from work, you’re left with an emptier area in your house. This, in turn, paves the way for easier designing in your home office.
10)Design it how you want it.
The ideas mentioned above can prove themselves to be helpful to anyone. However, these are all only subjective and it is up to you on how you want to tailor your home office to your work and personal needs and decorate home office ideas.
STYLE: 3 Interior Design Home Office Ideas
In alignment with #1 above, below are three color schemes that you can incorporate into the general theme of your home office.
11)Grays, blacks, whites, and creams
These four colors are the most common for home offices and the reason being that most computer equipment, office supplies, and the like are in these shades. Should you want a more industrial rustic home office idea kind of look on your home office, you can opt for these colors.
12)Warm colors
Warm colors such as sandy brown, fern green, cream, yellow ochre, and the like creates an environment of comfort. They also do away from the dreariness of work. Should you want a calmer aesthetic in your home office, this color scheme would be right for you.
13)Flashy colors
Flashy and fun colors such as red and pink introduce high energies in a room. They add a bit of playfulness and hustle and bustle into your home office. Should you want something that speaks high energy, these colors may be appropriate.
FUNCTIONALITY: Where to Set Up Your Home Office
14)Bedroom
Some like to set up their home offices in their bedrooms and the reason for this is because our bedrooms promote comfort. In this time and age, we want to be comfortable while working because it helps with productivity as well as work efficiency.
This example is proven by the countless of online video game streamers we usually see online. People who work in the streaming industry (especially ones who are still in school) usually like to set up their home offices in their bedrooms. After waking up, they can get to work (streaming video games for viewers) and still be comfortable.
15)Den
Basically, this is a home office idea for open rooms. Any room that’s empty and can be transformed into whatever room you want can be called a den. A den is one of the most optimal rooms in a house that can give you a lot of room to design your home office to your heart’s content. You have full privacy in that room and you can do whatever you want while you’re working.
16)Basement
Basements are also great areas wherein you can set up your home office. They’re not usually used much anyway. Why not take advantage of that space? In addition to this, it’s quite a distance away from the rest of your family/tenants of your house. One can focus solely on their work and be productive.
Should you not have enough space in any of these rooms (or you do not have the last two at all), that’s perfectly okay. Not everyone has the privilege to have a lot of space in their homes. Small home office ideas would work just fine as well. To reiterate like in #10, design your home offices however you want them to look. That also goes for where you set up your home offices. Organize it in a way that will suit your needs and adjust to your home situation.
FUNCTIONALITY: Home Office Ideas on a Budget
One of the biggest factors to designing your own home office is budget. Sometimes, we do not have the financial means to fully transform our spaces into efficient, space-saving, and functional home offices. We see all these short reels on Instagram or Youtube shorts that show the home office setups of people and, judging from the looks, they can get quite pricey. For some of the time, it is not doable to acquire all these fancy gadgets and smart furniture. Below are a few ideas as well as notes to remember when setting up and organizing our home offices.
17)Categorize your essentials by highest to lowest priority.
Sometimes, we get overwhelmed with the amount of items that we want to put on our home office spaces. We do not know if we want a minimalist look or if we are going for maximalism. We also get tempted to buy knick knacks that do not really serve a functional purpose and that really makes us spend more than we need to.
To be able to create a home office space on a budget, we need to condition our minds to purchase what is essential to our work space. Since we’re working from home, it is essential to invest in great-performing laptops and/or PC builds, strong internet connection, a comfortable chair, a sturdy table, and an area for plugs and wires. Those five things are the essentials in any home office space. Other things than those would already be considered as knick knacks and things to either entertain you or have something pleasing for the eyes to see.
18)Repurpose old furniture and household items.
Making use of old furniture and household items to act as spaces and knick knacks, respectively, for your home office space is a great way to save money and keep yourself from spending more on your space. Things such as unused tables and comfortable dining room chairs can be utilized as makeshift desks and chairs. In addition to this, those old coffee machines at the back of your house can also make its way into your home office space, should you ever want to designate a coffee bar area near your workspace. Keep in mind to look through your house and search for unused items. Maybe you can find something that will benefit your workspace.
19)Set up your workspace in the corner.
Setting up your workspace in the corner helps in utilizing the extra space that corners provide. Corners are often overlooked when it comes to setting up designated spaces in one’s home. People usually see it as a dead-end, not really serving a purpose to a work space. In contrast to this, the solution to this dilemma would be L-shaped desks. Buying an L-shaped desk would put a table that fits in that corner; thereby, giving the homeowner more room to add things on top of the desk or under it.
20)Make use of natural lighting.
Just as mentioned earlier, making use of natural lighting helps to add more life into a workspace. In this section, on the other hand, incorporating natural lighting into your workspace hits two birds with one stone. Not only does it add more life into the workspace, but can also act as a cost-effective aspect for you. You do not have to add more to your electricity bill when using the lamps or chandeliers in your room because natural lighting provides you with sufficient lighting already.
Modern Home Office Idea: The Sum-up
Investing in a home office can do wonders for one’s strive for productivity. Being surrounded with non-distracting colors and aesthetically pleasing items instigates creative flow and productivity; in turn, helps with your overall relationship with your work and career life. A home office idea (like the ones aforementioned) can prove itself to be beneficial to homeowners just like yourself. So, remember: style and functionality are two of the most essential factors to creating a great home office. How you define what is stylish and functional to you will solely depend on you. Moreover, keep in mind that colors, smart storage solutions, ergonomic furniture, plants, and statement items are only a few things that you can incorporate into your home office.
