Work From Home
Every person in the world right now, is feeling a range of difficult and negative emotions from fear, uncertainty, and loneliness, as COVID19 has gripped the world and changed our lifestyles and how we work, possibly forever. The need to work from home and create a beautiful, functional home office is all of sudden, absolutely critical.
The most immediate change has been to our environment with many people now house bound either due to self-isolation or working from home.
I believe interior design can support your move to working from home and I wanted to share my top tips for creating a beautiful, functional, productive workplace at home.
Find a Designated Space
Some spaces in your house can be multifunctional for example an open plan living area can used for a multitude of functions such as a dining table being used for eating, folding laundry while watching TV, and kids doing homework, but for a home office to be successful you actually need a designated space.
It doesn’t have to big or elaborate but it needs to be a space that you can work from without distractions. A space that is quiet for you to be as productive as possible and can shut the door on when you leave so that you’re not enticed to work after hours.
A closed off designated space is so important so that you can maintain your work life balance and achieve optimum productivity.
Quality Comfortable Furniture
A second must have for a home office is quality comfortable ergonomic furniture, don’t be tempted to use a dining chair as your desk chair, you will be cause neck, back and shoulder strain. Your HR department maybe able to give you ergonomic guidelines but there are many online.
I recently reviewed my work space and bought a foot stool from Kmart which does the trick. You may want to invest in a sit/stand work-station. There are a variety of furniture options and it’s important to choose well and be comfortable to ensure you do a good job and don’t injure yourself.
Office Style
The beauty of working from home is you get to choose what your space looks like.
So don’t rush out to Officeworks to pick a desk and chair, get creative and create a space that suits you and your style. We can certainly help you with that through an online consultation and we can even design your home office online.
Think of colours, plants, candles, essences, storage options, gorgeous stationery, the world is your oyster when it comes to styling your home office.
Work Style
Just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you should let go of set work hours or set breaks. Create a daily routine that ensures you stay connected to actual people, take your breaks and eat well and communicate boundaries with your family and friends about your work hours to avoid distractions, and pop ins.
It’s also really important to get dressed for work and not stumble out of bed and sit at your desk in your PJs. Getting dressed for work sets the right mind set for a productive day with purpose.
Know Yourself
Successfully working from home requires a certain amount of self-awareness and self-discipline. You might for example be a very social person that thrives in a team environment so, make sure you set up your home office to be able to access colleagues easily and/or schedule your usual morning or afternoon coffee breaks via Zoom/Skype etc.
You might have other sticking points like distractions or procrastination, knowing this about yourself means you and your manager can create some strategies to deal with this in a home office environment.
Personally, I love working from home, I’m lucky enough have a large designated space at the front of the house to work from. With art around me, samples I need for interior design work, a notice board with my vision and goals for 2020.
I have a sofa and coffee table to take my breaks, rather than sneak into the living room and get distracted. I have everything I need, it’s quiet, beautiful and I love spending time in my home-office and I believe with a beautiful interior design you could too.
Overall COVID19 has rocked us all and the future is suddenly unknown and the only way to through is to support each other, emotionally and financially if you can. Stay safe and keep well.