Designing a Home Office: Part 1

Welcome back, everyone. I am excited to share a project I worked on in college with you today. I can’t remember the mark I received for this project but I graduated with honours. So I guess the mark I got doesn’t matter as much as the amount of fun I had while completing the project. I chose to share it with you today because I think a lot of us can relate to the topic. Either now or during the pandemic we were trying to create the perfect home office.

The project I was given was to create the ideal home office with specific conditions and criteria to write about. I also had to look at expenses for all of this along with adding some of my own topics. I am super excited to introduce this 12-part series to you called “Designing a Home Office”. Without further adieu, Welcome to my first series.

Introduction

Sooooooo, you want us to build a home office. Another silver lining to the pandemic is that I have been doing so over the past 18 months at least. March before the pandemic is when I decided to go back to school. I was literally at the college a week before everything shut down. I was inquiring if there was any way possible to get my credentials online from my home rather than going to school on a daily basis. It just fit into my life and my personal needs so much more smoothly. And still allowed me to spend as much time with my child as possible while still attending.

My home office has had its very own little evolution. It started as one of those utility shelves that usually go in garages. I had my much older laptop and a couple of notebooks and some pens. After standing for just short hours while doing work, I realized this wouldn’t do me well through the entirety of school. I asked my dad for help building a small simple desk. So simple it was a slab of wood and wooden supports drilled into the wall. This was nice for a bit. Each season I would change its look. Starting with a new tablecloth to wrap the piece of wood each time it was reorganized. I genuinely loved the tablecloth feature. It was festive and allowed me to keep it super clean.

This did well until one of the supports broke. For the rest of the semester, my desk was supported by one of my trolleys with books stacked on top. Before going into the second semester, I needed an actual desk. And I needed it badly. I got a wonderful desk from IKEA. But it didn’t fit my space the way I wanted it to. So, then I moved my former living room around. I decided I didn’t like that floor plan either. I turned the largest portion of the basement into the new “Living room”.

There has been so much more that went along with this evolution of my office. Through this, I have learned some great lessons and tips for setting up a thriving home office.

Quickly, I learned that there are so many things to consider when designing a home office that suits your needs. I have been able to create an amazing setup for myself that works great for what I need currently. I can also revamp as needed. I’ve been able to encompass a great number of things in my small space. I have tons and tons of storage space and supplies, and equipment stored within them as well as ample privacy during working hours.

The first topic I am going to talk about today is choosing a dedicated area for your home office and some things to consider when doing so.

Choosing a dedicated area for your Home Office.

Choosing a dedicated area is pertinent to the success of your home office. You want to thrive while working. The first thing to consider is the location.

You want it to be in a more private area away from noise and distractions. You want to have some separation. So that you can mentally take your work hat off for the day and put your home hat back on when you’re done. Setting up a space that helps you feel motivated and inspired will help with that. Treat the setup of your home office as you would if you were working in the office.

Along with the privacy, you’ll need you will also want good lighting.

Good lighting is important so you’re not straining your eyes during long hours of work. It’s also helpful to be seen during zoom calls, and you know what? It’s kind of depressing to work in the dark all day. Having natural light through a window with a view will help you enjoy your long days a little more. If you’re unable to find natural lighting for your office that I would advise you to invest in a SAD lamp. they’re great for smaller and darker spaces and aim to copy natural lighting. I have natural lighting in my office but not as much as I would like so I purchased one from Amazon. This isn’t the exact one I purchased. Apparently, it isn’t available at the time of writing this post but this one is extremely similar.

Once you have decided more on the key fundamentals of a home office like the location, there is still more you can do to make your dedicated workplace your very own sanctuary.

Decorations, plants. colours, candles, diffusers and so many other things are a good way to spruce up your home office.

In my home office, since I am in the basement for now, plants don’t do well down here. I have fake Ivy vines along my ceiling and some of them drape down into my desk area. Even though they’re fake ivy they really do help to create a welcoming and calming ambiance.

I also have a couple of other fake plants for now. I’ve picked up most of mine from my local dollar store or places like Urban Planet and I have gotten a couple of beautiful ones from Winners and HomeSense. Fake plants are really good for home offices that don’t have a lot of natural lighting. They’re also really great if you have a habit of forgetting to water your plants. they don’t need soil or grow either so you don’t have to worry about added mess or repotting them.

Since my home office also doubles as my cozy little living room I have quite a bit of storage and room for decorations. I like to keep seasonal decorations to switch throughout the seasons and holidays. Adding seasonal decorations to the Ivy arrangement is a cute way I like to spruce things up. I also like to sprinkle my shelves with a bit of seasonal cheer and so I have some small decorations on each of the shelves. For Privacy, I have a door that closes off from the upstairs during work hours. This helps section off the hecticness of the top of the house some days. For separation from the rest of my downstairs, I have a bunch of Wall linens I guess you could call them. Or thin tapestry sheets. These are used to section my Office off from the rest of my space downstairs.

The colours I chose for my office are like “modern boss babe”. I have lots of pinks, paired with navy, white, silver and gold, The Navy I thought would add a nice professional depth to the palette. These are colours and things I love and remind me of when I was blogging full-time years ago before becoming a mom. The colours help inspire me to be fun, young, creative, and courageous throughout all my workdays.

Usually, there is a candle that sits on my desk. I have not lit it in a while so to remove clutter I moved it to another room for a bit. I have an air purifier in the basement as well as a humidifier with an oil compartment for essential oil diffusing. Having my own section where I am free to do what I want while working and thrive while working is an important part of choosing my dedicated workspace.

This concludes Part 1 of my new series I hope you guys enjoyed reading it! Please don’t forget to hit that follow button so you can stick around for parts 2 through 12. If you liked what you read check out one of my latest posts! And if you want more on the inside scoop don’t forget to follow my Instagram and Twitter. In truth, this is where the birth of Rachelpedia all began. The next chapter of life for me. Welcome to it!

What do you consider when choosing a dedicated area? Let me know in the comment section below.