Need to create a productive space for working from home? With a quiet area, comfortable furniture, smart storage solutions, and an emphasis on setting work-from-home boundaries, you can design a workspace at home that allows you to knock out your daily tasks. Check out these 12 tips for creating a cozy yet focused home office for working remotely!

Set Up an Office in a Spare Room

When setting up your home workstation, it’s best to find an empty space in your home like a spare bedroom, flex room, attic, or basement. Choose a quiet spot that’s free from any distractions so that you can take calls, attend video meetings, and get work done without issue. Don’t have a spare room? Find an out-of-the-way area of your home where you can set up, or work from your kitchen or dining room table. Whatever you do, don’t work in your bedroom or living room, as these areas are intended for rest and relaxation and should be kept as such to help you maintain work-life balance.

Design a Shared Home Office

Have a partner, roommate, or child who also needs to work from home? Created a shared office! Rather than having multiple people working in different areas throughout your home, a shared workspace can keep business (and school) to one room. If you’re worried about getting distracted while sharing your space with another person, look for ways you can set up dividers between workstations or lay out desks away from one another. In addition, make sure you have headphones readily available so that you can tune out any noises, and keep your officemate aware of any upcoming calls or meetings.

Brighten Up Your Workspace

Proper lighting is essential to have for your home workstation so that your eyes don’t get tired or strained while you’re working. Overhead lighting is good, but you can go a step further by adding a desk lamp or a floor lamp near your space. Better yet, when looking for an area in your home for working remotely, try to set up next to a window so that you can have access to natural light. This provides both good office lighting and can improve your focus and general mood while working!

Look for a Comfortable Chair

Comfort is key when investing in office furniture for working from home! Select an office chair that’s the right height and provides good back and arm support for you while working. If you need a faster solution and don’t have time to purchase a new home office chair, look for other chairs in your home that could work for long periods of sitting. Perhaps a dining room chair or a living room accent chair.

Find a Desk that Suits Your Needs

When it comes to home office desks, you’ll want something that’s big enough to fit your computer, store basic office supplies, and allow you to spread out. If you already have a desk that fits these needs, great! If not, you can find tons of desk options from various stores, from standing desks and writing desks to L-shaped desks and small corner desks. Whichever option you go with, be sure it’s a reasonable height for your needs and works with the office chair you have. (Remember, a kitchen or dining table can be a good substitute for a desk, too, if you need to work from home in a pinch!)

Declutter & Organize Your Space

One of the best tips for staying productive during remote work is by keeping your home office organized. First things first, go through your space and remove any items that don’t need to be there—whether it’s furniture, home decor, or even office supplies—and store them in a business storage unit. This will eliminate clutter and help you stay focused. Then, look at ways you can organize the items that you do need in your home office. Separate important documents or files in a secure cabinet or desk drawer with a filing system. Use a desk organizer to keep any pens, highlighters, or sticky notes all in one place. And store big items like books and notebooks on shelve or in labeled storage bins to keep your workspace tidy!

Stay on Track with a Planner

A simple solution for keeping yourself accountable while working at home is to use a calendar, chalkboard, whiteboard, pegboard, or daily planner in your home office for notes and reminders. This makes it easy to stay on top of deadlines, meetings, and tasks while you’re working remotely. At the beginning of each day or week, put together a list of what’s coming up and what you need to tackle so that you can remain focused and productive at home!

Add Shelves for Decor & Storage

Shelves are good to have in a home office. Not only do shelves provide a place for you to store items up and out of the way, which keeps your office organized, but they can also give you room to decorate your home workstation. Opt for floating shelves to display items like pictures, small plants, and other home decor. Or install bookshelves to store binders, books, storage bins, and other office supplies!

Personalize Your Space

Looking to spruce up your workspace? Make your work-from-home office feel more inviting by adding things that showcase your personality or that inspire you to do more creative work! Hang photos or wall art behind your desk. Incorporate cute knick-knacks on shelves that add some pops of color to your space. Or include motivational prints or notepads on your desk to give you a boost when you need it!

Bring Plants Into Your Office

Did you know simply looking at a plant can reduce stress? Working from home can be stressful, so having office plants can be beneficial for your general wellness. Not only do plants add color to your home office, but they can even remove indoor toxins from the space. Flowers and bamboo can help bring a peaceful feeling to your workspace. Want low-maintenance options? Go with succulents instead!

De-Stress During the Workday

Remote work is hard for a lot of people—especially when sharing a home office or also having to take care of children and pets while at home. That’s why it’s important to include some stress relief during your home workday. Maybe it’s lighting a calming scented candle at your desk in the afternoon or opening up the windows to let in some fresh air. It could be setting a timer that reminds you to get up and stretch every few hours. Or perhaps just listening to music while you work. No matter, make the effort to design your workspace and workday in a way that keeps you happy and focused.

Establish Work-Life Boundaries

Because there’s a lack of structure when working from home, it’s easy for work life and home life to start overlapping—and that’s one thing you want to avoid as much as possible. Set firm boundaries for your remote work to keep these areas of your life separate. Determine your office hours, and only work during those hours. Close the door (if you have one) to keep kids or pets from disturbing you while you work. Don’t eat or take breaks in your office. And stick to a set routine to create consistency and help yourself remain productive throughout the day.

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