How Home Office Design Affects Productivity
by Leeia Ladipoh on May 9th, 2008
Having an office at home is wonderful. You can be around your family more and you won’t have to travel back and forth, to and from work, especially with gas prices being so high these days.
If you have an extra room that you can make your office, that’s great. If you don’t, you will have to find a space in your home where you can create a home office. This can be any room – even a large closet.
Liven Up Your Space
It is a proven fact that your office affects your productivity. So yours should be lively, not dull. The walls should be colors that inspire you, not simply grey or white.
You should have colorful artwork on the walls and area rugs on the floors. Have a sofa or chair in your office with throw pillows on it. If your office is white or beige and has no life, you will want to spend less time there – and therefore you won’t be very productive.
Save Space
If you are forced to make your closet your office, you need to save space in every way possible. Leave the legs off of your desk and mount the desk top to the wall.
You can use the area underneath the desk as a place for your computer tower, a trashcan, or even a few storage boxes. You can also have a closet system installed with several different shelves so you can stack files, or even stack plastic boxes.
If you are working in a small space, you want to keep the things you use everyday close to your fingertips. You want to make sure it is organized. If you have to waste time looking for something that you can’t find because your office is cluttered, you are not being very productive.
If you have everything organized and you are looking for a certain file, you know exactly where it is – and you can spend the time you would have spent searching for the file working. This will make you more productive and more successful.
Keep Only What You Need
Keeping only the things you need is very important. If you keep all of your files, even after you have finished using them, you may want to consider moving them to a storage shed or attic.
When you are in a small office, you want to maximize as much room as possible. If you are not using something, find another place to put it.
Having a small space takes a bit of creativity but in the end, you will have a functional office that you can be productive in. Begin by learning how to determine what is really needed and what is not.
That will carry throughout the rest of the house – and you can get rid of things that you may have been hanging onto for years but are not using.