How to set up your home office

1. Set up your workspace

A central component of a home office is to set up your workspace. Whether that be centrally located or a corner desk, get the right style! The heart of productivity is your desk space. So instead of using your bed or a sofa to do work, get a set of desks and chairs! You should always separate areas for sleeping, working and eating so you can be in the correct habit and mindset.

There are so many home office desks to choose from:

• Writing desk (a rectangular surface great for writing, can come with a drawer)
• A foldable desk (great if your lacking space), executive desk (comes with lots of storage options- drawers and cabinets)
• Floating desk (wall-fixed, saves space, some can be lowered down so can be used for standing or sitting on a chair)
• Adjustable height desk/standing desk (sitting down for long periods are commonly discussed about its dangers and health risks, so standing desk are meant for standing to combat these issues, they can be raised and lowered or come in a permanent elevated position)
• Secretary desk (ideal for storage as they have a built-in raised storage hutch at the back, ideal for writing, has laptop and keyboard space)
• Computer desk (designed for computer-users, have cubbies and shelves, some come with a hutch for a computer which saves surface space)
• L-shaped desks (practical desks as they have a lot of space, can fit in a side wall, and keep all your papers in arms reach!)

2. Organisers

After you have set up your desk space, organisers on your desk. For example, place a folder and paper organiser to keep your home office free of messy papers and folders.

Place a pencil organiser caddie for all pens, pencils, highlighters etc. (they can come in many small compartments for your pens, pencils etc).

Use drawer organisers so all those mini miscellaneous items are in place and not in a scattered mess- it makes it easy to navigate your work area- this is a real game-changer! Your drawers will be sectioned in separate compartments, making storing erasers, sticky notes, glue sticks, paperclips, mini tapes etc much more visibly pleasing and practically organised.

Get pot holders for pens! Place them on your desk in an easily accessible place.

Think about getting stackable see-through containers to place bits and bobs inside, these are great for storage too as it makes the most of your space without hogging all the surface space.

Cable organisers! There's nothing worse than the unpleasant tangled mess of wires that pile on your floor. Keep your home office in order with your cables off the floor.

3. The essentials of stationary

Pens, pencils, highlighters… the list is endless. When it comes to working from home, you should have all the things that you need: the essentials. Think about getting miniature-sized stationery like mini sticky notes, mini glue sticks and mini erasers. You also need paper pads, folders etc.

A great home-office addition would be having a wall-mounted small whiteboard or chalkboard to plan your work on or display a day-to-day timetable plan. These are great to have when you want to organise your to-do list visually, meet deadlines and get work done overall.

Alternatively, you can get a notice board or a cork board to display pictures, posters and sticky notes using push pins!

Get a laptop stand that can be raised or lowered- these are ideal for laptop workers. Depending on your height of preferability, you can pair your laptop with a wireless keyboard and mouse to make things easier, and to create a more prestigious home-office set-up.

Instead of an adjustable laptop stand, you can get a normal laptop stand that is flat-surfaced and raised so that a keyboard can slip under it. They can also come in useful storage compartments to hold your items in too!

4. Lighting

Lighting is key.

Use task lighting to make day-to-day tasks easier. This means adding lamps to your work set-up. Place them on the side of the desk or have a pair on both sides. Think about getting an adjustable lamp so it can be adjusted to where light is needed more. To save space on your home office desk, think about wall-mounted lamps too!

Think about your main source of light…should you install track lighting so you can control the direction of light, or should you use dimmers to control the amount of light depending on what you need? Whatever lighting you have, it should be effective in terms of intensity and practicality.

5. Touches of greenery

Bring calmness and harmony in your office by adding a spot of greenery and nature.

If you love the plant-mood aesthetic, go for placing a pot of flowers/plants on your desk and in your home-office room to increase productivity and positive, peaceful emotions. If you don't want to use any more desk surface space, use a shelf, a window sill, or use a small-sized plant to not take up too much space.

6. Comfort is key

Yes, working from home is definitely a casual thing. Pyjama attire, a cup of coffee and a warm robe seem to be the working dream!

So give your home office a streak of comfort. But don't overdo it: remember it's a place of work, not relaxation - it should be comfortable enough to make work enjoyable and comfortable in a productive way, not a dozy, sleep-inducing way!