Home Offices

The home office presents a unique problem in decorating. Newer homes are often designed with a bonus room that can be used for recreation, or a home office. Older homes are not often designed to have workspaces.  One of the first problems in decorating a home office may be figuring out where to put it.  Most of the time, it's the room where everything accumulates.  It has insufficient lighting, and few electrical outlets.  Recently, because of e-commerce, some companies offer their employees options to work out of the comfort of their home. The tranquility of this working environment can be more important than ever. Even if you do not work at home you can benefit from having a home office as a space for all of your paper work, taxes, paying the bills, writing letters or organizing your calendar. I hope that I can provide a few guidelines that will help you get started creating a space that you can benefit from. Even though most of the time a home office will not be seen by anyone with the exception of your family, it should still be cheerful and well organized and a place where you can get things accomplished.

You first need to choose a space. Here are a few questions you need to ask yourself when choosing a space for your office. Is the wiring adequate for all of your electrical equipment? Is there proper lighting? Do you have enough storage space? What size furniture will fit in the home office room? Can your home office be tax deductible? Do you need to provide acoustical privacy? Will clients be coming to your home?  After you think of these important things you can move on and think about a color scheme and office style. 

Some people like to work in their bedrooms, others need to be as far from the bedroom as they can get. In any case an area outside the routine course of household activities works best for a home office.  If you do not have a door you can close, you can locate the office space in an area that is away from other activities. Consider a spare guest bedroom, attic, or basement.  A walk-in closet may be a solution provided it has electrical outlets for adding machines and computers. If you have a small living space you may have to consider using a room as a dual purpose room. You can apply the same strategies for dual use rooms including using bookcases and armoire or other furniture to create a partition or arranging a screen of fabric to conceal the work area.  Since a formal dining room is seldom in constant use, it may be the ideal choice for your home office. A dinning table can be used as a working table. A desk can serve as a sideboard or serving table. Storage units with folding doors can be fully closed to provide a neutral background and the doors take up less space when opened.   A bedroom should be your last choice for a home office. If a be room is large enough that it can allow one person to work while the other sleeps, then using your bedroom might be your only option.  The same goes for any room. Your work should never infringe on others. 

Any office needs storage and countertop space. Storage should be on top of your list in planning a home office. The choice of storage depends on what we have to store and the look we are seeking. If we like the image offered by libraries with books covering the walls and forming a mosaic of colors, we might choose open shelves.  If we want horizontal and vertical lines to stand out, we can choose deep wide shelves or sleek metal shelves.We may choose sliding cabinet doors for a reason other than image. They are ideal for and a must for filing papers. Filing cabinets, or other sources of filing can be easily hidden behind a screen or in a closet in a dual room. You will need sufficient working surfaces as well. L shaped or U shaped areas work best for keeping things close. If your work area is not large, consider keeping the items you use regularly in the work area and storing little used items in another area. You will always need more storage than you think you will need, so always plan for extra storage.

When allowing for countertop space, remember office equipment is always changing. You may want to add a new fax machine, copier, or printer. If you have a large desktop work area to start with, there should be no problem adding additional office equipment. In a dual purpose room, it is important that work can be neatly stored away. If you have a closet in a nearby room, or closet space in a bedroom, you can use it as storage. You will also need to think about how to hide the equipment. Under bed storage works well in a bedroom, and skirted tables or desk can also work effectively in hiding away unsightly equipment and wires.

Furniture style is all a matter of your taste. Practical and comfortable. tables and chairs are two essential element for all work areas.  Getting the furniture with the right look and practicality is not an easy task.  The most important quality of a table or desk is that it is big enough to work on and the right height for you. There are many types of office furniture available from stainless steel contemporary to traditional. There are rolling file cabinets, and elegant leather chairs. You may even choose to decorate with antiques in an office or in a bedroom. It just best to stick with what you have found that you like in the past.  When buying an office chair, it is important to get an adjustable chair that can adjust to a comfortable working height. This will help you maintain correct posture. A chair with arm rest will help with fatigue if you are at the desk most of the day. A swivel chair lets you move from one part of the office to another without having to stand.   If you use a drafting table for your desk, you might consider a stool which can elevate much higher than a chair.

Lighting and wiring are crucial to a home office. In work areas like home offices the aesthetic side of the lighting is somewhat displace by practical considerations.  This does not mean that we forego the decorative influence of lighting, rather the functional aspect takes priority.  When considering light in a home office area, it is best to use natural light when possible. Hunter Douglas has created the best options in window coverings with many options of shutters, blinds and shades. Hunter Douglas offers total room darkening window treatments when you need them and full lighting when you may need additional lighting with the push of a button on a remote control, or a slight pull on a string. With remote control options, Hunter Douglas lets you adjust the glare from outdoor light without ever leaving your desk chair.  Luminatte, by Hunter Douglas also offers an option of filtered light. Good lighting in an office prevents eyestrain and should be a strong consideration when choosing a location. Natural light gives wonderful lighting but can also have its problems with glare on a computer screen. If glare is a problem, invest in window treatments that can be closed certain times of the day, when glare is a problem.  Cast lighting will be needed in the evening or if working at night to prevent eyestrain. These desk lights come in all colors, styles, and can add to the decor of your office. When choosing a desk lamp, make sure that it is adjustable to focus on different areas of your work space. Proper wiring for computers and office equipment can prevent hours of frustration. Separate electrical circuits will give you freedom to add additional luxuries to your office such as a coffee makers or stereos. You will also need a surge protector to protect your computer against electrical surges.  If you want to have your fax machine on at all times, you may also want to have your office wired with a separate telephone line.  Before wiring a home office, make a list of your electronic equipment you have now and what to add in the future. Your fax machine, copier,  printer and even the smaller items such as a coffee pot, television or radio need to have a planned area in your office.

It is not just enough to get all of your office space right; the overall result must be conducive to make your work pleasant and productive. Function, practicality and aesthetic will create a space geared toward ultimate productivity.

* The Linen Locker provides free measuring, and installation of Hunter Douglas shutters, blinds, and shades on the Mississippi, Alabama, and upper Florida western gulf coast.