Creating A Home Office, Part 1

May 19, 2006

With a move to a new apartment quickly arriving in the next few months, I’ve had some time to think about how to set up a new home office. The new apartment has a spare bedroom which I have claimed as the home office. This led me to do some thinking about what makes a good home office. Here’s what I’ve arrived at…

Peace and Quiet

The ability to call your personal workspace an office requires four walls, a ceiling, and a door. Without the ability to isolate yourself from the world for a few hours I don’t think it is possible to get any work done that requires any serious brain power.

The door is crucial when your office is attached to the space you also live in. Without that door there is no physical separation between your living space and your workspace. The door allows you tell the significant other, children, and pets that you are not to be disturbed until the door reopens.

It also helps if the room is reasonably sound proofed and insulated. If the walls are thin I’d suggest a few plants, a rug, and some pictures to help absorb sound.

Cleanliness

Your office must be clean. This differs from person to person, but you should be able to find what you are looking for within 10 seconds of realizing you need it. This means you might have to invest in some file folders and a few cabinets to organize those random piles of stuff. I’d also suggest a trash bag first to filter out the unnecessary things before you begin organizing.

Even if you aren’t naturally an OCD neat freak1 give organization a serious try. You might find yourself becoming more relaxed and more able to concentrate when there is less clutter within your line of sight.

Fresh Air

I feel that a window that opens is necessary for personal sanity. Especially in non-winter months there is something very nice about being able to open a window every once in awhile and get a nice breeze and some sounds of nature. If your window happens to open out on to a busy street then you may want to forego this advice.

Light

Good lighting is fortunately much easier to achieve in a home office than a traditional office building. You don’t have to deal with harsh fluorescent overhead lights and can set up lamps as you need. I prefer a well lit workspace, but I know some people work better in a darker space.

I find two things that work well for me are:

  1. A lamp or two that projects light onto the ceiling or walls to gently illuminate the entire office.
  2. A table lamp that sits either to the side or behind the computer monitor. This will help minimize eye strain by keeping monitor glare down and also making sure the monitor isn’t the only source of light on the desk.

Tools

Make sure you don’t set yourself up for failure by not having the appropriate tools in your office. Spend the extra money a comfortable chair, a large enough desk, and some basic office supplies. Make sure you can work comfortably in your office and not have to constantly search for such basic things as paper, pencils, and a stapler.

Home Office Nirvana

If you’re looking for some inspiration for a good home office, here’s Ryan Irelan’s home office. His home office won Lifehacker.com’s coolest workspace award. It demonstrates every point I’ve made above.

After I do some searching for some office furniture and get my bare bones office assembled I’ll expand upon this series further. As always contact me if you have any questions.

1 Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Neat Freak. I’m one of these to a certain degree. I don’t need to vacuum every day, but I do feel the need to reduce clutter whenever possible.