Small Home Office Design Ideas
Small Home Office Decorating Ideas! Your Guide to Creating the Home Office of Your Dreams
Small Home Office Design Ideas. Having only a small space to work with has its disadvantages. However, with a bit of focus and forethought, you can design a home office that is not only practical and functional but is also conducive to your style and personality. This holds true when accessorizing any room in your home. The only difference is that when you design a small home office you would want to choose space conservative options as it pertains to a work station, shelving, storage, and lighting.
It obviously would not be practical to purchase large bulky pieces of furniture when creating your perfect small home office. The workstation/desk is the centerpiece, focal point, and most used piece of furniture in any home office.
There are various options to choose from when selecting this important feature. Two of these options include compact and wall-mounted desks. They are both practical for a small home office and each has its pros and cons, which are largely dependent on your unique style and needs.
Compact Desks are wonderfully suited for your small home office if you have ample space for storage furniture such as a file cabinet, bookcase, or an optional room divider. Read also: Home Office Ideas
Wall Desks are ideal if you desire an all-in-one solution that includes space for both your computer system and office supplies.
Designing a Functional Small Home Office
When designing a functional small home office, you would need to consider four essential elements. These include the wall color, lighting, storage, and organizational needs of your small home office.
All these factors are important in creating an ideal workflow that would, in turn, increase productivity.
Setting the Mood of Your Small Home Office with Use of Color
The use of color is essential in the functionality of your home office, as it will help to create a particular “mood” as you enter the space. Will you be seeing clients in your home office? Do you want your home office to be warm and inviting? Do you want your home office to blend in with the rest of your home’s décor? Do you want your office to be stimulating and conducive to creativity or calm and relaxing?
These are just a few of the questions you need to ask yourself before choosing a wall color for your small home office. It is also important to remember that some colors can make the small space appear even more cramped and may not lend to a spacious feel.
According to behr.com, the wall color can lighten the mood and improve productivity in your home office. Here is a rundown of colors on the color wheel and what “mood” you can achieve with their use.
- Cool Colors – greens, blues, and purples are shown to have a calming effect. If you are easily stimulated, it may be helpful to choose a cool wall color to help you relax and “get down to business”.
- Warm Colors – reds, yellows, and oranges give any space a warm, inviting feel. These colors are also invigorating and can help to awaken your creativity. As a word of caution, warm, muted tones should be chosen over bright, bold colors as they tend to be distracting and may not be conducive to productivity.
- Whites – perfect to give your small home office an open spacious feel. However, too much white can be straining on the eyes. A wonderful alternative is to use another wall color, but have white as an accent color or for trim and moldings. This would give your small home office a crisp, clean look.
- Neutrals – earth tones such as charcoal, umber, ochre, and Sienna would be ideal if your small home office is open to other rooms within your home. Neutral wall color would blend perfectly with other surrounding color choices. Neutrals are also not considered distracting and would aid in keeping your mind centered on the “business at hand”.
Meeting the Lighting Needs of Your Small Home Office Read also: Modern Home Office Ideas
There are three ways to light your home office. These include:
Ambient Lighting
Task Lights
Accent Lights
All these play a part in striking the right balance between business and pleasure in your small home office.
Ambient Lighting
Basically, ambient lights provide lighting for the whole room. This can be accomplished through the use of ceiling light fixtures, torchieres, and table lamps. Ambient light fixtures are a necessity in any small home office as they account for the majority of illumination in the space.
Those on a budget can afford stylish ambient lighting for their small home office by purchasing torchieres or floor lamps. There are a plethora of lighting accessories to choose from in either a local furniture store or online. One such online store that provides a wide selection of torchieres, ceiling light fixtures, and table lamps is LampsPlus.com.
Task Lights
Task lights are another home office necessity and provide directional or focused lighting for reading, filling out paperwork, working on the computer, etc. Many task lights come with the added feature of an adjustable base that allows you to direct the light where you need it most. These light fixtures help to avoid eyestrain and headaches, thereby, boosting productivity.
Accent Lights
Unlike ambient and task lights, accent lights are viewed as optional. However, they are useful in adding a decorative element to any space. If you want to showcase a particular object or wall hanging, then accent lights are ideal. The use of accent lights in your small home office may be just what is needed to add a personal touch to your office’s décor.
Storage Furniture in Your Small Home Office
As mentioned previously, if you choose a wall desk, it includes space not only for your computer but additional storage for office supplies. This may alleviate the need for some office furniture. However, you may find that you still need a bookshelf and file cabinet. If your office space doubles as a bedroom or other living area, you may desire to purchase a room divider as well.
Before purchasing additional office furniture, it is important to measure the area to ensure that you buy pieces that accommodate the space in your small home office. This will help to alleviate the hassle of having to return merchandise when you discover that the piece is too large for space.
You would also want to consider the arrangement of your furniture pieces in your small home office. By placing the pieces in an “L” or “U” shape, all supplies would be in easy reach. Some experts purport that arranging your furniture pieces in this fashion would boost your productivity.
Two options that would provide needed storage are modular bookcases and room dividers that have bookcases built right in. The second option serves two purposes in that it lends both privacy and shelving for office supplies, books, etc.
Bookcases are also designed with adjustable shelves, which accommodate oversized books and supplies and those with doors. Those with doors would add a stylish and personalized touch to your home office’s décor.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/864899
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