Thinking of creating a new home office space in your smaller home? Well, you came to the right place. Fitting a functional workspace into a home with minimal square footage can be a special challenge. Do so also presents some unique opportunities for expressing your personal style. So, how can you get started building a custom small home office that will make you want to work even more? You can start by following these simple steps from start to finish.
Stay on Task by Planning Your Project
Before you start decorating and styling your home office, you need to have an organized plan in place. Proper planning will allow you to better anticipate what supplies and services you need, as well as an anticipated timeline. For example, you may want to leave time to shop for office furniture. Additionally, you may prefer to have built-in desks made for your office. The latter is perfect for tight spaces and allows you to customize to fit your work needs. However, you need to give yourself time to think about these kinds of pros and cons.
If you’re not sure where to start with your home office planning, you can use a project app to map out the details for you. Many of these apps have features that allow you to digitally measure out your room or space. This feature
can be handy when coming up with a plan to fit office furniture into a smaller home.
Include a Project Budget in Your Office Plan
In addition to allowing you to maximize, proper planning will also help you come up with a budget. When budgeting for home improvements, it’s important to think about the scope of your project to help determine costs. Since you are creating a small home office, your project will likely be a smaller scale home improvement.
As long as your chosen home office area does not need any major work, you should be able to keep your project around $1,000. That may seem like quite a bit but it’s really not. This is especially true if you need to purchase any new home office tech. A laptop can come in handy for working at home and on the road. Whereas, having a printer can be useful in a variety of business and personal situations. Do you already have the basic equipment? If so, you can create a home office for $100 that’s both functional and beautiful, even in a smaller home.
Choose An Appropriate Work Area in Your Home
In addition to a budget, you also need to include a location in your home office plan. Since the purpose of a home workspace is to help you concentrate, it’s preferable to find an area of your home that is free from distractions. So, if you have a spare room, use it to create a focus-friendly home office. If you do not have an extra room, you can still fit in a home office, but you may need to be more creative when space is limited. This is where those built-in desks mentioned above can come in handy because you can easily use them to incorporate a workspace into your kitchen if needed.
You can also use shelving to fashion a home office out of an empty closet or corner, or you can set up a workspace in your bedroom. Your limited space does not limit your options at all, so try to think outside the box a bit. Or, think outside your home and set up a workspace in your garage or even a small shed. Prefab sheds are pretty easy to assemble and are perfect for those who need more space to incorporate a studio.
Come Up With a Color Palette for Your New Workspace
You have a plan, space, and a budget all sorted out. Now it’s time to have a little fun with your home office project. While the central focus of your efforts is about maximizing space in your smaller home, you also need to make sure your new office complements your personal style. Selecting the right paint colors can help you do that. Calming shades of blue, gray, and even off-white can all create a cool and collected atmosphere in your new office. Since you are working with a smaller area, you can use these colors to create an accent wall that will help your workspace feel more put together.
Paint is the simplest way to add an accent wall to your home office, but you can up the style by using other materials as well, such as stone or wood. If you want to add some storage to this space, DIY floating shelves can set an organized tone as well. This is an effortless way to create some custom style in your home office while also providing spots to store all of your office essentials.
Know Where to Go to Find Multi-Tasking Furniture
Once the paint is dry and your space is all set up, it’s time to start putting your home office together. Before you begin, you’re going to need at least some basic furniture to make your space functional. If you chose not to go with a built-in desk, you need to look for a desk that will give you space to work without taking up too much space itself. A secretary desk could be a good option, especially when you can easily fold it up to create more space. Most modern secretary desks are made especially for smaller spaces and take up as little room as possible.
Another home office furniture essential you need is a comfortable chair. These fashionable chairs will fit in with any aesthetic and offer comfortable support for your body as you work. You can even use them as extra seating if you have company in your smaller home. Finally, no home office, or room for that matter, is complete without some decor. There are some pretty creative decor options, depending on your personality and taste. Just try to look for decor that’s functional to really maximize the utility of your limited space.
Customizing your new office to fit your smaller space can feel impossible. With the tips above and the right planning though, creating a stylish home office in your smaller apartment or house is actually pretty simple. It can be fun and fulfilling to complete on your own too. If you’re still feeling overwhelmed with your home office project, you can always spring for interior design services too to make your project completely effortless.
More About the Author
Alice Robertson began her career in the home organization industry as a professional house cleaner. After cleaning and organizing her clients’ homes for years, she decided to open her own home organization business. Over the years, she has built an impressive client list, helping to make spaces in homes and businesses more functional. She recently created tidyhome.info as a place to share the great cleaning and organizing advice she has developed over the years.
