Home Office Ideas For Freelancers Working from Home

28 Apr Home Office Ideas For Freelancers Working from Home

Home Office Ideas For Freelancers Working from Home in 2020

An office is the most crucial thing for an individual’s level of work ethic and productivity. A freelancers level of productivity could come down to the practicality of their home office design.

There is a broad range of DIY home office ideas which freelancers, as well as anyone who works from home, should take into consideration to build the most appropriate working environment.

When someone discusses a home office layout, they tend to immediately think of the furniture which will be placed inside the room itself.

However, the layout is the arrangement of the furniture in the room, combined with the available space on the floor actually to place the furniture.

This will purely be to create the most efficient space for a freelancer or anyone working from home, to increase their level of productivity and work effort.

In this article, I will predominantly inform you about the extensive range of home office ideas that freelancers, or anyone working from home, should consider as a way of choosing and designing the most appropriate work environment.

Top Home office ideas for freelancers

In particular, anyone who works from home is less likely to require a complex studio layout, since in most cases they don’t have much personnel, and so the office equipment needed is usually not a lot.

When choosing the best home office equipment, freelancers have to consider the cost and the efficiency of their workspace design.

Freelancers will have a more fixed amount they can afford to spend on a home office budget, as compared to large companies who can afford to provide furniture for their many employees. For this reason, freelancers should look to get the best for their money.

When a freelancer works from home and is considering designing a home office setup, they can be sure that it’s easy to convert pretty much any part or any room of their house into a workspace.

The basic requirements that one needs to create a home office are a comfortable chair, a cabinet or a shelf, and a desk, which one can buy for not a lot of money. A freelancer on a tight budget could consider buying second-hand furniture.

Second-hand office equipment can often look as good as new, and with a personal touch, it can make it feel like new.

One thing that is particularly common to do is to convert the home basement into an office. Because let’s face it, what else is one’s basement being used for?

A basement home office setup provides a freelancer with a closed layout design, which is out of the way from the rest of the home.

Using the basement for a workspace ensures that one doesn’t need to shift the living room or spare room into an office. As a result, the living areas can be kept to its usual self.

For one who wishes to spend little money on some home office ideas, an old dining table and a set of shelves can be combined to make a two-person workstation, for next to nothing.

Turning a small part of the bedroom is also a common way of creating a home office setup for a freelancer. But it often depends on how small or large your bedroom is.

If one’s bedroom doesn’t have much available floor spacing, then a bedroom wouldn’t be the best idea because of the furniture, as well as the office furniture, needs to fit in the small space.

With that being said, a relatively small desk can take centre stage, while the bedroom closet can be turned into a reading nook, so not much furniture is needed to create a reasonable home studio.

For decoration purposes, stunning wallpapers and a tufted leather loveseat can be added to provide an atmosphere to the home office. Storing file boxes high on the shelves also frees up a lot of floor space and makes the room look even bigger.

Pictures and other simple decoratives such as plants and lamps can ensure to give the freelancers home office that final touch to making it complete.

For homes where the rooms have fairly big closets, it is always possible to carve out space for an ample workstation.

Even the smallest bit of house space can be turned into fantastic home office ideas. With a few well-placed wood shelves and a sleek chair, a functional office can be created. Keeping everything in the office neatly organised makes the room look even more spacious than it is.

It is also practical in having a tidy and organised workspace because it increases an individual’s level of productivity. For this type of office, one can add draperies as a way of keeping all business matters entirely out of view when work time is over.

The home office ideas that would be considered the most idealistic are using the less-used rooms in the house as a home/work environment.

For example, a guest room can be turned into a multipurpose room, making it a guest room and office combination. Guests will only occasionally be staying in the guest room, so rather than giving the room no purpose when guests aren’t staying around, instead make it a home office!

An excellent idea for home office equipment is custom shelving, as well as custom desks, which can provide plenty of space to spread out while working.

A less used room also provides a conducive environment for working, since there are no interruptions from other home matters while working.

Furthermore, freelancers or anyone who works from home can operate from small office spaces, since they’re more than likely only working alone.

With this in mind, the small space which they need will allow them to design the office to their advantage, as a way of making the room intimate and comfortable for themselves.

Designing an office is something that a freelancer can do alone, keeping the price down. A home office idea for a freelancer or small business only needs a simple network plan, since few employees are involved.

As already mentioned, there are some instances where a freelancer can create an office out of old dining room tables or shelves which they already owned.

Next, all is left to do is just decorate and personalise the space – as well as pick any accessories for it, such as plants or artwork.

When freelancers are looking to creating home office ideas, they should consider a simple, closed office layout, since it enables one to efficiently handle their clients that come into the studio to discuss work matters.

The layout should allow just enough space to hold at least two clients in the office at the same time. This means that the workstation should have more than one chair for the clients to sit on.

The arrangement of the office equipment is also crucial since it highly determines one’s impression of the business. Home-based offices are simple to make for freelancers.

Closed office layouts are the most suitable when it comes to small businesses working from home or freelancers themselves working from home.

It is also seen that in choosing an ideal office layout, one has to consider the cost-effectiveness and the space available.

This is regarding the price and size of office furniture. Freelancers are less likely to have a lot of money and space when it comes to designing an office, as compared to large businesses, and this is something that needs to be carefully considered to choose the best office design.

Above all, it is often just nice for freelancers to feel proud and happy with the space that they work in, and by putting a personalised stamp on the home office can make work fun, keeping one motivated and creative.

How to Create a Productive Home Office Setup

Whether you work in a separate building or from a spare bedroom, your workplace design influences the quality and speed of your work. This is especially true when it comes to tasks which require focus.

Studies examining productivity have shown that the physical space in which people work has the most impact on their ability to focus.

In addition to this, improving workplace design can increase productivity by 20 per cent. Unfortunately, many people simply do not put much thought into the layout of their workspace.

However, if you were going to design or redesign your workplace with productivity in mind, here are a few things that you could try.

Use Colour Wisely

It’s been proven that different colours have different effects on our state of mind. For example, yellow has a relaxing effect, while blue has been shown to result in increased productivity and to create the impression of professionalism.

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that all of the walls in your office should be blue, but it wouldn’t hurt to include blue in your overall colour scheme. Of course, if you work in your own space, you have many more options.

You don’t have to rely on studies to tell you which colours you should use. Instead, you can depend on your tastes and experience to select colours that you find to be energising, and that lift your mood.

Use of Lighting Should be a Significant Factor

Unfortunately, when most home offices are designed, light is one of the last things to be given consideration. This is true when it comes to both design priority and budget.

This is why many office spaces are lit with harsh lighting. The results of bad lighting can be headaches, difficulties with visibility, and poor mood. Poor lighting design can also result in shadowy spaces.

If you can make changes to the lighting in your home office, try to use bulbs that mimic natural lighting. Then, provide each area with its source of light that can be adjusted for both brightness and placement. Finally, if they are available, encourage open blinds to let in natural light whenever possible.

Find Ways to Mitigate Noise

For some reason, the trend in small offices seems to be to put everybody in bullpen style areas with no way for anybody to block out the noise that other people are making. While this design may be budget-friendly, it certainly isn’t conducive to productivity.

It can be nearly impossible to start an effective work session with a bunch of conversations and other noise happening around you.

If you are designing a working space, and cannot afford to provide everybody with an enclosed workspace, consider adding a few private work areas for yourself or other employees that are working on tasks that require focus.

If you are working from a home office, consider purchasing a machine that produces white noise or wearing noise-cancelling headphones to cut out distracting sounds while you work.

Air Quality Should be Considered Part of The Design Process

Poor air quality can result in stuffy, stale air. That creates an uncomfortable work environment for anybody, but it can be particularly hard for people who are asthmatic or prone to upper respiratory infections.

Poor air quality is directly attributed to increased amounts of sick time being used and lower levels of productivity. Fortunately, fans, air filters, and open windows can help a lot.

If windows cannot be opened, then it might be a good idea to invest in an air filtration system that works as part of the HVAC system.

Another option that works well in an office building or home office is to use live plants as a way to clean the air and produce oxygen.

Individual Work Areas Should be Comfortable and Customisable

One of the most important considerations when designing a personal or company work environment is providing tables and chairs that are comfortable for you and everybody else in your office.

Of course, the only way to accomplish this is to provide adjustable chairs to accommodate personal preferences and varying heights and weights.

If possible, also have desks or tables that can be adjusted for height and allow employees to have a say in how their workstations are configured.

For example, some employees may be willing to sacrifice drawer space to have more space to move around and work. Others may wish to have their computers positioned so that they can look out a window.

If you are working on your personal office space, remember to follow the tips on ergonomics that are located here. You might also consider investing in wrist rests and other tools to make work areas more comfortable.

Do Your Best to Keep The Room at a Comfortable Temperature

If you only have yourself to consider, this isn’t much of a concern.

Simply purchase fans, heaters, or in-room air conditioners if need be, to keep your home office at a temperature that is optimal for your productivity.

Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to maintain a comfortable temperature in an office with multiple people. However, you might want to experiment with turning up the thermostat if you’ve made a habit of keeping it below 70 Fahrenheit. In many cases, warmer rooms increase productivity.

Keep Clutter to a Minimum

Too much clutter creates a kind of visual pollution that many people find to be distracting. This is so bothersome to some people that they find it nearly impossible to work productively in a messy environment. That’s not the only problem.

In a workplace with several people, the presence of clutter can also create resentment when those who keep neat work areas and contain their possessions to their work areas become irritated with those who do not. To some extent, problems with clutter can be mitigated with policy.

However, it is also vital to create a work area for each individual that provides them with plenty of storage space.

It may also help to create segregated work areas so that departments that tend to produce a lot of clutter, e.g., marketing departments aren’t mixed in with departments that tend to be more involved in heads-down tasks such as data entry.

Use Smells to Boost Mood and Increase Productivity

Because it is too difficult to determine which smells are universally appealing, and which are offensive to others, it isn’t a good idea to use scents in a shared office space.

However, if you work from home, or have an enclosed office space, you can use scents such as citrus, pine, and cinnamon to improve focus, alertness, and to help prevent you from feeling sleepy.

Peppermint and lavender can be used to improve your mood and relieve stress.

If you don’t like the smoke that is produced from burning candles or incense, you might want to consider options such as scented wax melts, sachets of dried herbs, or essential oils.

Provide Varying Work Areas For Productivity And Morale

There is simply no single workspace that is appropriate for every task that you or any of your employees is going to undertake.

The ideal space for collaboration is not going to be a functional space for individual work requiring high levels of concentration. Because of this, it is a good idea to provide a variety of work areas.

For example, you might want to create a couple of open areas with big tables for collaborations, a few smaller enclosed conference rooms, and quiet work areas for people who are working on tasks that require focus and concentration.

For some home office ideas, have a few alternative work locations in your home, or even outside of your home at local cafes or parks.

It is also a good idea to provide some variety to keep yourself and others feeling upbeat and motivated.

Why not add a few couches or even an outdoor work area for people who might like to spend a bit of time working outside during beautiful weather.

In addition to this, consider adding kitchen areas, break rooms, and other similar spaces. This will give people the chance to physically get away from their work areas during breaks and lunchtimes.

It will also make it fast and easy for employees to get a quick bite to eat or drink without having to leave the building.

Conclusion

Focusing on these home office ideas is no waste of time.

If you create a well-designed workspace for yourself and the people who work for you, the result is happier, healthier, and more productive employees.

If you have a home office setup, don’t discount the importance of a comfortable work environment as well. Your health and morale are vitally important.

Top 10 Essential Home Office Ideas

Contributor: Diana Beyer is an experienced creative director who is passionate about writing. Her purpose is to share some value among interested people. Apart from work, Diana likes travelling and reading. Personal motto: “Do one thing every day that scares you”. You can contact her through Twitter.

Last update on 2020-04-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API