How To Create The Perfect Home Office For You
Posted by Clare on Jul 05, 2021
Working from home is becoming more and more the norm, as it’s been revealed that record numbers of people are choosing to work from the comfort of their home. There’s around 1.5 million people in the UK who have their home as their primary base for working, and a staggering 4.2 million who work partially from home. So if your home is your office, it’s important that it is organised and fits the way you work perfectly. But the question is, how to create the perfect home office that's exactly right for you?
At the heart of the office is the office furniture, which must be sturdy and stand the test of time. Solid wooden furniture is great for a home office and oak furniture for example, should last you a long time if it is treated well. Flat pack furniture is usually made from particleboard, so isn’t as durable and long lasting as solid wood. If you’re working from home and looking for new office furniture, or you’re about to embark on a working from home lifestyle, we’ve put together some practical advice and ideas on creating the perfect home working environment that works for you.
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Create the perfect workstation
Your desk is the most important piece of furniture in your home office. As you spend most of your time working at your desk, it’s important that you find the right one that works for you. Office workers spend around 65% to 75% of their working hours sitting at their desks, so not only is it crucial your desk is suitable for your needs, but it’s also wise to take regular breaks from prolonged periods of sitting.
The British Chiropractic Association (BCA) found that 82% of people spend six hours or more sitting in front of a computer. Whilst working at a desk is the only option for some people, you can help reduce the risk of poor posture and back problems by making sure you’re positioned directly in front of your computer with both legs parallel and feet flat on the floor. You should also make sure you change position every 20 to 30 minutes, ideally by walking a little or standing up to stretch.
Your workstation should have plenty of space to reduce clutter to help increase your productivity. Our Mobel Oak Twin Pedestal desk is solidly constructed in a stylish light oak and has three drawers, one large suspension filing drawer and a cupboard which conveniently hides away a tower unit, so you can have as much office supplies as you need, conveniently stored away.
File away
A good sturdy filing cabinet is a must in any home office. Studies have found that the average person wastes 4.3 hours per week sifting through messy, unorganised paperwork, which can increase stress. So to create a more organised and stress-free working environment, make sure you have a filing cabinet in your home office.
Our Mayan Walnut filing cabinet has three drawers, which are perfect for filing away your important documents and paperwork, whilst looking appealing in your home. It comes in a beautiful walnut wood, which is known for being a strong and stable wood so it’s more long lasting and durable compared to metal cabinets.
How to create the perfect layout
The layout of your home office is just as important as the furniture in your office. As you can spend around 37 hours a week working in your office, a layout that works for you can really help with your productivity.
Many people have been applying feng shui to their home office to improve productivity and mental wellbeing whilst working. Feng shui is an ancient art and science which developed over 3000 years ago in China. It is based upon the idea of a body of knowledge that teaches how to balance energies in a space in order to assure good fortune for people inhabiting it.
The position of your desk is important in feng shui. The commanding position is that you face the door or a window whilst working at your desk, so you’re aware of who enters your office. Natural lighting is very important in your home office and it has been found in a study that test participants working in an office with windows got 46 minutes more sleep per night than their counterparts who worked in offices with little natural light.
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Organisation tips
Once you have your furniture in a layout that suits your working lifestyle, it’s important to keep your office supplies, paperwork and other bit and bats organised well so you know where everything is.
Organisation is one of the key elements to a stress free working life, as it has been revealed that 11.7 million working days the UK economy were lost to stress in 2015/16. Being stressed at work can occur if you work from home too, so keeping your files, stationery and documents organised can help reduce this.
A great way of keeping your home office organised is by adding drawer dividers into your desk or workstation drawers. By adding dividers, this helps create a space for all of your stationery and other small bits and bats, meaning you don’t have to sift through unorganised drawers looking for the piece of stationery you need.
We all have those small items that we just don’t know what to do with or where to store the so they end up in a messy pile somewhere. Cardboard or decorative storage boxes are a useful solution to keeping your small items neatly and securely stored away. They can be stored on your bookcase, shelving unit or on your desk. If they ones you purchase don’t have labels to easily identify the contents, why not create your own?