Rethink Your Workspace: How to Find a Work-From-Home Area in Your House

There are definitely perks to working from home, as many of us have realized over these past months. Access to a pantry for constant stress snacking, a private bathroom where you can freely dispose of said snacks without the fear of awkward conversations over handwashing, and the ability to dress yourself from only the waist up, for starters. But if you’re shoved in a corner of your bedroom, hunched over the kitchen counter, or plopped on the couch all day, slowly sinking into the crevices like lose change, those perks may be feeling less “perky” after a while.

If you relate and are getting weary of your work-at-home setup, perhaps its time to rethink your workspace and relocate down the hall or at least, off the couch. Even in the smallest of homes, creative WFH solutions can be found with a little reconfiguring and outside-the-box thinking. Lucky for you, we’ve done some of that thinking and have some tips to share to get you into a more comfortable, functional, and motivating environment.

1. Examine the space and function of each room and what that space provides you.
Pretend you’re a new home-buyer/renter and that you’re walking into this home for the first time. You have a critical eye and a mental list of what you need from this new space. Imagine it empty, and take notice of the size of the room, where the light is coming from, where the outlets are located, and what the natural traffic pattern is. Take notes if you need to and be on the lookout for any part of the room that might be overlooked, like an alcove, closet, or awkward corner. Those spots may just be the small space you need to set up shop. Ask, “What does this room have to offer?” and do your best to answer the question according to the function it CAN provide, not necessarily the function that it is currently serving. For example; a kitchen with a breakfast nook AND a bar with stools may be providing the function of a large serving/eating space for a family, but you may only use the bar area the majority of the time, leaving the breakfast nook free to function in another way.

2. Critically evaluate how each space is currently being used.
Again, look at your space and put on your critical-thinking hat. Ask yourself how each area within the room is being used and be honest and realistic with your answers. This is tough as we all tend to want to “hope” a room is used in a certain way, when often in reality, it is not. The prime example of this is dining rooms. Dining rooms are notorious for becoming homework spots, mail holders, play areas, or drop stations because as much as we’d all like to think we are going to sit around a well-dressed table every evening, in reality, we eat on the go, grabbing food as we hop through the kitchen, leaving the dining room to function as one giant junk drawer. On a lesser scale, there may be a chair in a corner that never gets sat on. A corner that could house a desk. So, be ruthlessly self-aware of how your family is utilizing each area in your home. Find the neglected spots, whether its a coat closet that never sees a coat (because all the coats pile by the back door), a corner chair missing a butt, or an entire dining room, its there. And its time to put it to actual use.

Closet office by Homemade by Carmona

3. Establish your new workspace.
Congrats. You found your new “home-office”. Now, stake your claim over it and get off the couch. Again, you’re going to need to evaluate your needs; Do you need space for 2 monitors? Do you need a work surface to make things? Do you need a quiet space for zoom’s and phone conferences? Do you need a filing system to keep your forms and documents organized? Do you need a shipping supplies area? You know what you need so make a list and start creating a workspace that will function for those needs. If you need a quiet space for lots of on the phone time, soft textiles will be your best friend and will dampen background noise. Put up a curtain rod and hang drapery that can be shut for privacy and noise control. Add a shaggy rug to the floor, or even invest in some funky felt sound panels that can act as background art in your zoom calls as well as dampen the echo in your space. If worksurfaces are your issue, get a couple folding sawhorses and a big sheet of plywood that you can simply pull out when needed and then tuck away into a closet or under your bed when not in use. Or get some folding shelf supports and install a couple of drop-down table tops on a nearby wall, or even on the inside of a closet door. Floating shelves can fit anywhere for added storage space and dining tables make great desks for those who monitor setup is intense.

4. Create systems elsewhere to keep your workspace from being overtaken.
Once you’re all set up and ready to get to work, you’ll be so excited you might want to skip this step, but don’t. Its important to create systems for the newly displaced items and routines so that your workspace remains a workspace. This means getting the family on board with putting their mail, backpacks, toys, chargers, etc. somewhere else that makes more sense for the newly reconfigured home. Think about what makes sense for your daily routine and make it as easy as possible to stick to that routine by having organization in place. For example, if you took over the breakfast nook for your new office space, move any snacks, garbage cans, or kitchen utensils away from that area and establish them in other parts of the kitchen. Or, if you’re new office is the coat closet, hang hooks by the entry door and put a storage bench below for an easy spot for those items to be dropped that makes sense when you enter. Basically, keep shit out of your office space that is not part of your work.

Now dear reader, go forth. Find your corner and claim it as your own. Because who knows if/when we will be returning to the office and for goodness sake, you deserve a space to thrive and work toward your goals.
For more help in designating and designing your home office space, contact Nest Refresh today.