3 Tips in Creating a Comfortable Home Office

If you work from home, full or part-time, you can become much more efficient if you have a clean, practical and comfortable place to work.

Follow these three tips which will make you want to leap out of bed every morning and race to your desk.

Clean and Organised

If your desk is covered with stacks of papers, toys that the kids have discarded and a sundry collection of items that you didn’t know what else to do with, then you probably aren’t working in the most efficient way possible. The first step is to purchase some storage, whether that is a filing cabinet or just some box files to keep things organised.

Have a major de-clutter and throw away any paperwork that you don’t actually need and find homes for all the non-work related items that have found their way into the room.  Once your desk and shelving areas are free from clutter, wipe them down and create an organised system. When you have one box file, where you keep all your receipts, it will be much easier when tax return time rolls around.

Comfortable Ergonomic Furniture

If you work from home full-time then you are going to spend a lot of time sitting at your desk. Ensure that your chair is set at a comfortable height and that your PC screen is in alignment with your eye level, so that you aren’t continually looking down and straining your neck. 

You can often purchase better quality, ergonomic furniture by going down the second hand route. You can shop at online marketplaces and local thrift or charity stores to see if there is anything suitable. If you find furniture that has seen better days you can always sand it down and give it a new lease of life with wax or varnish.

Warmth and Light

Always make sure you have good lighting in the room so that you don’t strain your eyes. The best option is to have at least a couple of lamps, including a desk lamp and a floor-standing lamp, as this gives you the widest choice of options depending what you are working on.

A fireplace also adds a level of comfort to the room, especially if it is a real flame fire. Most of us wouldn’t even consider adding a fire to a study or a home office as we would be put off by the perceived mess or expense. However, the range of bio ethanol fires now available makes it extremely easy to do so. These fires can be installed pretty much anywhere, don’t need a chimney and are safe, efficient and clean burning. To see the full range available please click here.

Once your home office is clean, light, organised and warm it will be a far more appealing place to spend your time. You will also be more efficient when you can find everything easily and when you aren’t continually moving stacks of paper around. Improved efficiency is good for your state of mind and even better for the impact it will have on your pay cheque every month.