How to furnish a home office on a budget
When you work from home, having a dedicated workspace is a very powerful asset. You need to have a spot where you can stay away from distractions and focus solely on your work. How you design and furnish this space is very important. Decorating a home office on a budget can seem tough, but it's a perfectly doable task. Here's how you do it.
Define your workspace
A home office is more of a label than anything else. You can turn just about any room into a home office. As long as it has four walls and you have a desk to spare, it will do the job just fine. Don’t go around trying to turn your bathroom into one, as it won’t end well.
If you’re fortunate to have a spare room standing around, this would be the most ideal choice for a home office location. You can mould the room into your ideal productive office space and add any decorations that you feel would improve your focus. When choosing your ideal home office, you should pay attention to a few details.
It should allow lots of natural light inside. This means having windows that are oriented in such a way that the sun doesn’t get in your eyes while you work, but it still lights up the room. Also, you’ll want some good ventilation so that it doesn’t get too stuffy in the room itself.
If you don’t have a room to spare, working in an existing room is feasible with a few adjustments. Make sure it’s not too noisy or close to the commotion in your home. It should be relatively quiet and calm. You will also want to choose a room you can freely decorate, so make sure your family agrees with the decision.
Make a floor plan
When furnishing a room as important as a home office, you'll want to have a plan ready beforehand. People often decorate and renovate their rooms spontaneously, without having a well-thought-out plan, and this can lead to delays and complications. What if it turns out that a piece of furniture can't fit when there's another one in the way?
Create a basic floor plan of your office. This will allow you to take measurements and figure out which piece of furniture can go where. It’s also going to make it a lot easier to work on other pieces of the décor. This will make the process go a lot faster, and more importantly, it will be a smooth process.
Build your own desk
If you’re on a tight budget, desk shopping is going to be a lot more difficult than you might have thought. These simple pieces of furniture are surprisingly expensive. If you don’t want a simple piece of plywood holding your work materials, you’ll have to shell out a hefty sum.
On the other hand, you could always make a desk of your own. It’s a lot simpler than it seems. A single quality board placed between two upright elements makes for a good desk. Still, you’ll want to create something more organized. Consider getting rudimentary parts and creating a desk nearly from scratch. All it takes is a few nails and a hammer. You could even go for glue and resin adherence, as it’s going to work for most materials.
Make your own version of a minimalistic IKEA desk with wooden boards and some screws. You can customize it to your heart’s delight and you’re sure to be satisfied with the price.
Get a bargain
The great thing about home office furniture is that there’s nobody telling you what you can and can’t include. If you want to include tons of plants and make it feel like a jungle, there’s no one around to tell you “no”. However, you’ll still want to get some basic furniture and elements to make doing your job easier and more comfortable.
Things like desk lamps and ergonomic chairs are a necessity, but they tend to be on the more expensive side. At least, this happens when you go shopping for brand-new retail items. Your better option would be to check the flea markets and look for some bargain. There are lots of very useful pieces of office material that are thrown away during business relocations, so you’ll run into quality stuff if you look hard enough. You might be able to furnish most of your home office if you put in some dedication.
The best part is that you can transform them as you please. Everything from desks, through chairs, and even bookshelves can be repainted and made to match your desired office aesthetic. This won’t cost you much either, but you’ll have to put in some extra work into moulding them.
Make an inspirational environment
Every office is decorated with a specific purpose in mind. A worker needs to be energized and motivated enough to get their work done. A big part of this is creating the right kind of environment. Motivation should be the key to your furniture and décor choices. How you achieve this depends quite a bit on your personal preferences, but there are a few things that every home office needs.
Art has always played an integral part in offices. Your home office should be decorated with art that fits your taste. Make sure to keep it colourful and simple enough so that it doesn’t distract you. Introducing some wall art to your home office will be easy enough, as there are tons of examples of wall art online that you can use. There’s no shortage of unique and stimulating pieces of art, so you can go all out and pick what suits you.
Include some things that give you some personal motivation. People often have small photos of their family members to keep their actual office desks cozy, but you aren’t limited to small details in your home office. You can add any photograph or symbolic item that you like. As long as it doesn’t clutter your desk too much to work, it’s free game. Keep it inspirational and your work quality will reflect this.
Keep it ergonomic
There’s nothing more important in an office than ergonomics. Your comfort and motivation are absolute priorities when working, especially when you’re working from home. People often think that being too comfortable in your home office will lead to laziness, but the exact opposite is true. You just don’t want to introduce a leisurely kind of comfort. Instead, you want practical and useful choices.
Your chair should be comfortable enough so that you don't really think about it. No chafing is allowed, as it will distract you significantly, even if you might not notice. Your office desk is the most important element. It should be placed at an ideal height so that you can work on your papers or laptop with ease and without straining your neck. Speaking of, if your desk computer has a monitor, you will need one that is adjustable. It's going to make moving around a lot easier, and you'll be able to change it depending on how you feel like sitting on some days.
Conclusion
Furnishing your home office isn’t too difficult of a task. You just need to have a solid plan and a keen eye for details. Even if you don’t have either of these things, the internet can help you make the right choices for your home office. As long as you’re introducing the right kind of furniture, you should be able to work with optimal efficiency.
