Forgetting about style when it comes to home offices is incredibly easy. It’s not a room someone except for us will see or use, so why bother, right? Well, unfortunately, no. As unimportant as it seems, the way your home office looks can affect your work, but also your inspiration, your mood, your time, your efficiency…

Thankfully, like in everything design-related, even the smallest things can make a huge difference. Something as simple as contemporary reading lamps or the colours or patterns on your walls can turn unattractive and abandoned home offices into beautiful pieces of relaxed work environment, making working at home easier, and overall more enjoyable.

Three Things You Could Do to Make a Big Difference

Lighting

The way your home office is lit may affect your work efficiency most. Not only does your eye comfort depend greatly on illumination, not only can bad lighting cause you headaches but it also sets the atmosphere, affecting your mood and it frames the accents of the room.

The best way to ensure the best lightening for comfortable working in your home office is to play with the existing lights and reading lamps. Desk lamps are not only functional, but they can add luxuriousness to your home office. For even more comfort, you can also add a nice light pendant that complements the room design and colours, or change your existing overhead light with it.

The overhead lights are definitely not enough for a comfortable working environment. In fact, it’s best if you can avoid working directly under the glare of the existing overhead lights. The goal is to use artificial and natural light in a way that will illuminate the entire room, with a soft, pleasant light that won’t cast shadows.

For some more ambient lights, to protect yourself from eye-strain caused by constant use of computers, you can add one more table lamp with dimmable lights, or with white or colour ambiance lightbulbs for even softer eye-friendly illumination.

Apart from a dedicated task lamp, a source of focused reading and writing light, a desk lamp can serve as a décor element. Desk lamps come in many shapes, colours and styles, which makes it easier to match it with the rest of your room, or to use it as the accent piece that stands out on its own, as a connecting piece of the different colours and designs.

Walls

The colour of the walls also plays a big part in the lighting of your home office. Light colours can serve as a nice backdrop for the design of the room, but what’s more, they will make the room appear even brighter and wider.

To make your room feel more interesting, but not distracting, you can wallpaper a wall, one wall or the entire room if you want, with soft, non-striking and nondramatic patterns or colours, or you can make an accent wall with an eye-catching wallpaper in contrast of the rest of the room, or a mural for example.

Give your home office some happiness and relaxation provoking wall decorations. Whether it’s motivational messages, favourite posters, framed illustrations, maps hanging art, wall decorative items, a mirror for more light, photographs, or a chalk board, don’t miss an opportunity to avoid making your home office dull, and give it at least a little touch of fun.

To keep you from getting bored, and to give your eyes a break, and yourself a reason to get moving during your breaks, instead of scrolling on your social media, put a dart board, or leave some room where you could stretch, or a place where you can have a cup of coffee while looking out the window, for example. This will also give you a way to distract your mind if you are stuck while doing a task, and focus more easily.

Comfort

Every home office needs quality, stylish, practical, and  comfortable chair  and desk. They are essentially what defines the style of this room dedicated to work, and what will definitely determine if it’s a functional and good home office.

The first most important thing is to know how to choose the right one that will provide you with pain-free comfort while working, without negatively affecting your health.

Choose a desk and a chair according to the style of your room and, more importantly, your comfort. Learn about proper sitting, and learn about the desk and chair heights that are most appropriate for you. Also, to be even more comfortable in your home office, invest in accessories such as a seat cushion, a back pillow, desk leg riser, warmer, etc.

Depending on your needs, try to find the appropriate desk before ordering it. Do you write, work on your laptop or desktop? Do you have a lot of items you need to work? Look for a desk with enough space for everything you use for your job.

Make sure there’s enough space for your desktop computer, with its keyboard, its mouse, its monitor, if you use one, or for your paperwork, books, or anything you are using for your job, your papers, your books, your reading light. However, even if you don’t need that much space, try to find a desk that will allow for some comfort.