As many of you know, now is the time to have a functional home office. For almost three months, I’ve been on maternity leave. Now I will return to work and it’s required to work from home until 2021 at a minimum. I wanted to share some home office decor that helps your productivity!
Time to “Make Home Warm”
When I started my Instagram and Blog two years ago, I chose the handle “Make Home Warm” because I believe warmth is a perfect descriptive word for an ideal environment. Moreover, “make” is a verb that means “to bring about,” which means this is within your control. So, let’s just pause for a minute and think about what you need to make working from home warm too. Here are five tips:
- Have a Set Schedule.
- Find Good Lighting.
- Assess Your Home Desk.
- Organize.
- Stay Moving.
- Keep it Simple.
How to ensure productivity? Check out this blog for a more inward view at productivity mindsets.
Have a Set Schedule
Is your life as crazy as mine? Currently, my husband works a desk job from home 40 hours a week, my schedule is 25-35 hours per work, and we have two kids until the age of three. The schedule is the foundational aspect of a successful work from home environment.
Set boundaries between work and home! When you work from home, its easier to let your customers, suppliers, managers, and colleagues suck the life out of you. Set your hours and stick to them. Your team will know when they can rely on you. You will have time for yourself. Everyone will be happier.
Get buy in! It may take a lot of negotiation or re-working. You may feel like you’re playing a personal (and maybe emotional) game of schedule tetris. Make sure all invested parties accept the schedule. Communication is going to be really important for reducing the amount of stress on a schedule like this.
Print it off. While I did schedule tetris, I made an aesthetically pleasing version of the schedule through Canva. Then when it was finished and agreed to by all parties, I ordered an 11×14 print off from Amazon. I didn’t even realize that Amazon did prints, but with the pandemic, it sure made it easier than pick-up somewhere else.
Check out my two kid schedule post, if you need help with balancing children in the mix.
Good Lighting
Natural lighting is preferred. Open up your blinds and your windows to let the sunlight come in. Try to adjust your schedule to allow your working hours during sunlight hours.
Sometimes natural light or sun hours aren’t an option. My preference is to have a beautiful lamp that inspires! I love this hanging glass shade lamp. Also consider a lamp with multiple brightness levels. This lamp on amazon has 25 different brightness settings and is compact enough for a small desk.
Assess Your Home Desk
This may be the most crucial aspect of your home office. Personally, I will be working from home until early 2021 at a minimum. Thankfully, we had a custom-designed desk in the process starting in late 2019. The most important aspect of your desk will be the ergonomic dimensions. The below image from Mayo Clinic is important when determining the dimensions you personally need.
Consider a Custom Desk. Don’t forget to check out my blog about designing a custom desk for productivity
Organization is Heavenly
Organization is very personal but there are some key tips to help you get organized and stay organized. This takes time to think about it beforehand. Don’t be afraid to throw things away. As a matter of fact, set a goal.
- Make the time to brainstorm your practical work day and needs. Assess what is most prevalent in your home office. Consider the papers, supplies, books, computer monitors.
- Minimize office supplies. Somehow we ended up with 3,452,567 pens and 80% of them were dried up or broken. It took time to go through each one and test them, but I recruited my toddler to help. So it was a fun project that freed up a ton of space.
- Strategize your purchases. Don’t go broke to make a home office, especially if it’s only temporary. Only purchase items you need. Only make purchases in the following categories and order.
- Organization needs for must-have office and working supplies
- Ergonomic additions to support the dimensions above (i.e. chair, footstool, monitor stand, etc.)
- Lighting support
- Lastly, aesthetic items to create the mood you need
- Put the rarely used office supplies out of sight.
- Contain the wires. One of the most distracting things can be wires everywhere. So be sure to have a charging game plan.
Stay Moving
Work from home is convenient. Convenience may lead to lenience. So, get ahead of it and find assess the best time of day for meals and exercise.
Determine your chronotype. Maybe the chronotype test will help you determine if intermittent fasting and these small exercise routines are helpful. I’m a bear, which makes total sense for me. this means:
- Needs 8 hours of sleep
- Drinks coffee in the morning
- Drinks tea before bed
- Wakes with the sun
Build a fitness routine. Whether it’s stretching/yoga first thing in the morning or an evening walk/run, find what works for you to keep your limbs moving.
Keep everyone in the house active. As a mama, I know it’s important to give my kids sunlight and an opportunity to run around. As adults, we aren’t much different. We just have more responsibilities and let the simple things fade away.
Lastly, Keep it Simple.
All of this will only work if you can maintain it. Be sure to give it the thought it requires. Don’t do what works for someone else! Do what works for you! Most importantly the home decor that helps your productivity will be personal to you!
Take a look at current home decor trends to incorporate some of my favorite home decor trends.
