How to Enhance a Small Home Office Space

Not Every Home Office Requires The Same Type of Desk

When you picture the ideal office desk, what’s the first thing you think of? Is it big and oak and weighs around two thousand pounds? Of course, it is! This kind of classic office desk is perfect if you work in an English gentleman’s club, but it’s probably not appropriate for most small home offices.

Thankfully, Lord Byron’s desk isn’t the only option. When choosing the right desk, consider where it’s going to reside and the purpose you expect it to serve. Some clever office spots include under a stairway or in the hallway. These will probably require small, narrow desks. If you need a lot of storage, you’ll want a larger desk with drawers. If your office is sharing space with another room, like a living or dining room, then portability may be a priority.

Take Advantage of Wall Storage 

Walls are great for hanging family photos but don’t forget their capacity for storage as well. When organizing your home office, you’ll probably have a wall or two near your workspace. If so, you have a great opportunity to store some items.

Creating storage space on your walls doesn’t require a remodel. You can make important notes, contact information, and dates readily available by pinning them to a pegboard or bulletin board. By keeping pens, notepads, staplers, and other office supplies in wire baskets fixed to a wall grid, you can preserve room on your desk for more important items.

Adventures in Space

While a small home office can certainly be a productive one, it does you no good if you feel cramped while you’re banging away on your computer keyboard. If you’re unable to add on a new wing just for your office, there are some simple things you can do to make a small office feel roomier.

Repainting the room will instantly make it feel more fresh and clean. If you want it to feel a bit more spacious, it’s best to use a light color palette. Keeping the office mostly monochromatic might seem like a boring choice, but alternating the walls and furniture between white, beige, and eggshell will give your workspace elegant and spacious energy. The right paint color is so important, it’s the first recommendation on a My Domaine blog on home office decorating.

Other things you can do to enlarge your space include adding a mirror or two and replacing the desk lamp with wall-mounted or recessed lighting.

Motivate Yourself

The modern office is a repository of motivational techniques. From team-building exercises to “Hang in There” posters, no office manager wants to miss an opportunity to inspire their employees. If there’s no one in your household you can rely on for a trust fall, there are plenty of things you can do on your own to create a motivational office environment.

Strategically placed houseplants can do wonders for office morale. They can cover up the harsh corners of your small office and breathe life into your daily work routine. Customize the walls to display the kinds of things that inspire you. These may include vacation photos, prints of buildings, or great works of art. The home office is yours to do as you please, so have fun with how you decorate it.

Clean Up Your Act

Having a workspace that’s free of clutter will help you stay organized and focused throughout the day. That’s why it’s so important that you find ways to have adequate storage space.

Before building out your office, think about your storage requirements. With so much work being done on the internet, you might not have to keep a lot of papers around. If, however, you have the kind of job where physical copies are a must, then a file cabinet may be a necessity. If you have the space, you can opt for a custom desk with a built-in filing cabinet. If you’re light on paperwork but heavy on books, plan ahead for ample book storage. Working at a sloppy, disorganized desk might seem fun and eccentric if you’re Albert Einstein, but he’s the exception and not the rule.

Conclusion

Don’t think of a small home office as a limitation -- think of it as an opportunity. There are countless ways to create a work environment that’s conducive to productivity. Just because your home office might be a little short on square footage doesn’t mean it will lack design or function.

Sources

• https://www.mydomaine.com/small-office-ideas-5082389