A productive home office featuring a Cuckooland Vox Worknest Desk with Slatted Screen (affiliate)
If you work or study from home, you’re going to need a productive home office space. But when it comes to interior design, how can you know you’re doing the right thing and making the best choices to ensure your home is as productive for you (and anyone else who works there) as possible while still being a comfortable place to live when you’re not working?
It might not seem that these two things – comfort and productivity – can go together, and you’ll have to pick one or the other, but the truth is that it is entirely possible to have a productive and comfortable home as long as you plan ahead and think carefully about your interior design. With that in mind, keep reading to find out how to do it.
Bring in as much Natural Light as Possible
Wooden desk from Dunelm (affiliate)
Natural light is one of the most important things you’ll need if you want to create a productive home office, and no matter whether you’re studying for a masters of analytics or you’re already working and want to have a good work-life balance, natural light can really help.
There are many reasons to maximise natural light in your home but one of the most important is the positive effect it can have on your mood and overall wellbeing. It makes sense that it would also positively impact your productivity, so you’ll want to harness the power of natural light in your home.
Start by thinking about where you will position your workspace. Try to put it close to a window if possible – that way, you’ll get the most natural light where you’re working. You can also add some light-coloured (or sheer) curtains, which will let light in but still give you privacy, which could be useful, especially if you hold or attend video meetings, for example.
If the natural light in your room isn’t adequate enough, try adding mirrors. Not only do they look great when it comes to your interior design but they also reflect the natural light around the room, maximising what little you have.
Use Colour Wisely
A home office painted in Benjamin Moore Cascade Mountains 862, River Blue 2057 10, Vapor Trails 1556
Your choice of interior design colours is extremely important when it comes to creating a productive home office. Although you do need to like the colours in your home, there’s a lot more to it than that. Just picking colours because they’re pretty or on trend isn’t the best way to make your decision.
The choice of colour in your interior design can actually make you more (or less) productive, which is why it’s so important to think about this and learn about what’s known as ‘colour psychology’ before you make your final decisions.
Take blue, for example. Blue is known to be a calming and soothing colour, which means it’s an ideal choice for a home office because when you’re less stressed, you’re more productive. Green is another good choice for a home office (and elsewhere, of course), but it’s especially good if you’re creative, as it’s meant to help boost that area of the brain. Yellow is associated with energy and positivity, so if you need some motivation at times, being in a yellow room might work (although be aware that if the colour is too bright, it can be distracting, so make sure you get the tone just right).
Choose Ergonomic Furniture
When it comes to productivity, comfort and ergonomics are vital, and they go together, so if you get one right, you’ve got the other right, too; it’s definitely something you’ll want to think about carefully when you’re designing your productive home office.
If you’re designing a home office or any other kind of workspace, it’s wise to invest in some truly comfortable but also supportive ergonomic office chairs. It’s this combination that makes all the difference and ensures you can sit for long enough periods to get your work done without any negative impacts on your body. Remember that taking breaks is important for your mental health and productivity levels, so make sure you schedule those in, no matter how comfortable your furniture might be.
You’ll also need a desk to work at, and the best kind to get for the most productivity would be an adjustable one. A sit-stand desk is the ideal choice. With proper lighting as well, you can create a gorgeous-looking home that helps you work hard and get more done, meaning you’ll have more time to spend with your family and friends, doing your hobbies, or even just relaxing more.
Focus on Organisation and Storage
Modular home office desk with storage from Shelved (affiliate)
Have you ever heard the saying ‘a tidy sock drawer is a tidy mind’? It might sound funny, but there is certainly a grain of truth – perhaps more than that, actually – when you think about it. If things around you are neat and tidy and everything has its own place, that means there’s less to get distracted by, so you can work more productively and efficiently.
On the other hand, if there are things all over the place and your workspace is terribly cluttered, you’ll always have half an eye on that mess. You might not realize it, but that mess could be making you a lot less productive, even if, on a conscious level, you’re not too worried about it at all.
That’s why it’s best to make sure your interior design contains as much storage as possible so you can be more tidy in your productive home office. On top of that, when you’re organised, and everything has somewhere to be stored, you’ll lose fewer things (and there will be fewer breakages), so you should even save some money once you’ve designed the ideal storage solutions for your home.
Personalise Your Space
Artwork from Desenio hung on an office wall
One final thing that can make your home a more productive space and which your interior design can help with is making it more personal. If you have blank walls and no decorative items around, that might seem like the most productive thing of all – there will be no distractions – but you’ll also be far less motivated because you won’t have anything around to inspire you.
Therefore, you’ll need to draw a fine line between too much and too little personalisation in your home. It could be family photos, old souvenirs from trips, posters and artwork, or anything else that makes you feel good and inspired.
Upgrade Pieces That Are Sorely Lacking
Hay Copenhague CPH90 desk from Nest
Nobody’s suggesting that you should have perfection in every aspect of your home office, but there should be a few standards. If you are currently in a home office that has old technology or an old desktop, it’s worth upgrading things and spending a little money. The good thing here is that there are many options you could go with when it comes to upgrading your workspace. Whether you are working from home or you just want to start a few projects in your study, you deserve to do so in style and with a lot more convenience than you have right now. When it comes to working from home and getting the best out of your time, you need to ensure you have the perfect set for you and you only.