So, you’ve decided to work from home. It’s a good move for a lot of people, especially in the post-pandemic situation where many are shunning the traditional office experience in favour of creating a more balanced way of life. To get started, you’ll be looking to set up a home office, so if you’re in Queensland, for example, it means you’re ready to buy home office desks in Brisbane and get working.
But is that all a home office is? Just a desk in a room? No, of course not. There’s a lot more to it than that. If you want to make your home office a truly productive place where you generate success and satisfaction, then here are some tips on kitting it out.
Tip 1: Invest in Quality for Your Desk and Chair
While the desk and your chair aren’t everything, they are certainly a huge part of it since you will be sitting on the chair and at the desk for a huge amount of your time. Therefore, it’s a good thing to invest a bit more money into both items. For the desk, you want something very solid and sturdy. It must have no wobble, so go for heavier desks made from natural wood if you can, and steer clear of flimsy metal frames.
For your chair, you need ample back and lumbar support, as well as a comfortable seat of course. A chair on wheels will help you move to and from your desk more easily, and change working positions more easily too, such as switching from typing at the computer to handwriting in a notebook. Choosing a bad chair can leave you with all kinds of potential problems including poor circulation, lower back pain and worse.
Tip 2: Base Your Home Office Close to Your Router
Having your router in the office will ensure that your laptop and other devices have a strong and stable connection to the Internet, which is critical for when you’re conducting online meetings and video calls. If you’re in some distant room where the signal is weak, you’ll experience interruptions, which is just frustrating and will hold back both your communication and productivity.
Tip 3: Don’t Forget Storage
Storage is another key factor for your home office. You don’t want your desk space getting too cluttered, right? When buying a desk, favour models that come with attached drawers, or that have space for drawer units underneath. You can also augment your desk and storage spaces by placing additional tables and units around your desk to form an “L” or “C” shape. This puts more of your key papers and peripherals in easy reach: client files, printer/copier/fax, landline phone, mini-drawers with stationery…and so on.
Tip 4: Whiteboard
Whatever your business is, hanging a whiteboard (or having a standing whiteboard) in your office is a fantastic addition. Ideally, you can place it within easy view of wherever you sit in your office. A whiteboard may feel like an outmoded tool, but it’s still the best way to brainstorm ideas, write up notes and important information, and to just flesh out your initial ideas and start giving them a bit more shape and form. The space of the whiteboard allows you to be more creative and free with what you write and wear, and gives you space for multiple things. It’s also much easier than keeping thousands of sticky notes everywhere.
Tip 5: Leave Room for Light and Decoration
Hopefully you’ll have plenty of natural light in your home office, but at least furnish it with pleasant and warm lighting to use if and when it gets dark. You should also decorate the space with plants and perhaps some art on the wall, too.
Don’t add anything that will prove too distracting, but these finishing touches will give you added comfort and make your working time all the more enjoyable.
