How to organise your home office the right way

More and more of us have been working from home over the last few years, and it looks like it’s going to stay that way. So, what can we do about our office space? We spend so much of our time at work, it’s become increasingly important to get a space you can not only function in, but thrive in, and nobody works their best in a cramped and cluttered environment.

There are many things you need in your home office to make sure you can stay organised and comfortable. Your home office should be a place not just for work, but for comfort too.

We get our best work done in positive environments, so how can we create the perfect atmosphere for work? And how do we make the best use of our space, especially if that space is slightly limited? 

Using modular furniture to create the perfect workspace

Despite the size of your office, it truly is amazing what you can achieve with a little bit of forethought. With some clever use of modular furniture, you can seamlessly integrate an office into most rooms without interrupting the decor that you have spent so much time developing.

When figuring out your office, pay attention to your needs and work around those, and our handy guide will help you to achieve those goals, so here we go!

Where do I start? 

The first step is figuring out where your office is going to be. You want to start with a strong foundation, and positioning is one of the most important aspects.

It’s going to dictate so much of the process when it comes to creating the perfect home office space, especially with regards to your furniture. You need to know what’s going to fit (and what isn’t), as well as what else you’re going to need to consider for the space, such as whether the room or area is going to be needed for anything else, or if the office is going to encroach on other features if it isn’t laid out properly.

Taking stock of your space is important too – working in a cluttered environment isn’t only proven to be bad for your productivity, but also your mental health.

Being cooped up in a cluttered room for the majority of your working week or study time is only going to lead to feelings of stress and becoming overwhelmed. But with a plan in place, you’re ready to start making changes to transform or create the home office space you’ve wanted for so long.

Next up – decluttering

You want to make sure you’re keeping things practical in your space. This includes making sure that anything in your space needs to work for you, not against you.

Whether you’re simply deciding if things can move to another space in your home, or creating a big pile of things you intend to get rid of, this decluttering also opens up an opportunity to reorganise any existing possessions, including furniture, to better suit your needs.

Because decluttering doesn’t just mean removing or moving things – it involves adapting your space to more suitably accommodate the things around you, and modular furniture is the perfect way to do just that, amongst countless other things…

What is modular furniture?

Modular furniture is configurable by design.

This means it can be taken apart and restructured to work in your room however you need it to. This is fantastic for a home office, as it adds that extra flexibility to your room which means you can experiment with your layout more freely.

Modular furniture tends to be lightweight, and its adaptable nature makes rebuilding furniture quick and easy. Shelved, a UK-based modular furniture system that gives you access to a huge range of practical solutions, allows you to truly make the most of your space.

The nature of the Shelved system means you can reduce the need for unnecessary items and excess furniture in your room. The entire system boasts a compact footprint, and the diverse variety of different modules means you can create an effective furniture solution with a multi-purpose design, all without sacrificing quality or space.

The advantages of modular furniture 

The biggest advantage of modular furniture is how it can be built to fit your room.

You can use designs that incorporate desks, draws, and shelves into one fluid unit, meaning you can create a multipurpose unit that can provide both an office space, as well as being combined with other features, even a TV stand or clothes storage.

You can also utilise it, particularly the Shelved system, as a divider – you could place a desk on either side for example, creating a handy central 2-person workspace without the need to dedicate masses of floorspace in two separate zones. The possibilities are almost endless, with the only limitation being your creativity.

What’s more, you’re never surrounded by clutter.

With the extra space you can make sure so that every important item can be within arm’s length of you with nothing getting in the way.

Even if you have a slightly odd-shaped room, your modular furniture system can be configured to maximise storage space, so you never feel congested. Modular furniture is also very easy to change and adapt, which allows you to change the space up as and when your work needs change.

What furniture should be in a home office? 

After you have sorted out your workspace and storage, one very important item you should take time to consider is the chair you use.

As something you’ll be spending a considerable amount of time in, getting this right is important. Your health is essential to productivity. A bad chair will give you no end of back problems due to hip pressure and bad posture, which only causes more pain as time goes on.

Ergonomic chairs are designed to alleviate those problems, giving you a comfortable working position which in turn will make you comfortable and productive throughout the day.

It’s also important to have a dedicated space for all your paperwork. The last thing you want is for it to start piling up on your desk – this is the quickest way for clutter to build up over time.

All furniture placed in the room should be there to keep you organised, and this is another reason that modular furniture is perfect for modern offices – it allows you to keep everything, including documents, organised (and out of sight when required).

What else should I think about in my home office? 

Lighting. It may seem like an afterthought for some, but it should be considered. Good lighting in your home office can make it feel more open and improve mood as well as productivity. This is for many reasons, but the main ones are that you can reduce headaches because of eye strain from looking at a screen all day.

If your office is dark, you will be more prone to eye strain which will, in turn, make focusing on your work much harder. If you can, place yourself near natural light from your window. It’s important to make sure the light hitting your workspace is indirect, otherwise, this will cause glare on your screen which ends up causing further eye strain and headaches.   

 

So, there you have it, a short guide on how to think about your home office and how modular furniture can transform it from a simple workspace into a productive, organised and attractive environment that you actually love being in.

Remember the adage: “tidy desk, tidy mind”, and you won’t go wrong.