Back To School: Home Office Ideas To Encourage Productivity

Growing up, the fall meant fresh notebooks, pencils, binders, and other collegiate musts. Nowadays, we still feel the same sentiment – walking a fine line between excitement and anxiety with our home studies. Whether you work from home all the time, have the spare room to use as an office, or have created a little work corner in your space, there’s never a wrong time to revamp those cozy quarters. You’d be surprised how much productivity is increased when you take pleasure in the space where all the magic happens!

Here are a few quick fixes to get those creative juices going and have you sighing with relief after a hard day’s work!

Meet Me Halfway:

If walls could talk (and grow), we’d ask them to just to give us a little more elbow room at our desk. When versatile walls aren’t an option, create an optical illusion. By priming a clear divider with two contrasting colors, the eyes tend to be so fixated on that point that they can no longer tell where a space begins (at the bottom) or ends.

Lighter Than Air:

So maybe the walls do give….when you’d like to opt out of buying a desk (that will sit there 24/7) create a temporary one. These floating shelves are the perfect space savers. Shown in the picture above, Architectural Digest included an Ellwood-Lomax drop-front desk shown in the living room of Malibu’s Steinman House. The slab used as a desk can be put away when your work’s done. If you’ve ever felt like the balance between work was blurred – say goodbye with these makeshift work stations.

Here’s another example of being space efficient without forfeiting an organized work space.

Bring the Outdoors-In:

A desk flanked by two outdoor facing windows is the epitome of bliss. If you enjoy a contrast between work and play and enjoy the wild life’s natural tunes, this is the quintessential office space for you.

Layered Look:

When the layout does not permit for an extra room – create a space within a space. Create a nook by adding cabinets around the perimeter of the space you choose for a study. Painting that new wall a different color really makes it stand out amongst the room – offering the feeling of a different space of its own. The new space creates cozy quarters that make you feel separated from the rest of the home, thus increasing focus and productivity for the day.

Energy Level:

Those who believe in Feng Shui, believe that the energy plays a big part of how we decorate. That sigh of relief that lets out when everything looks organized and in its place can be felt by making a simple change: facing the desk against the wall as opposed to towards it. This gives you a bird’s eye view of the whole space, and the comfort you feel from seeing everything laid out before you, allows for a peace, and tranquil setting, right before shifting into that work mode gear.

Center Stage:

Keeping spatial and visual comfort in mind, setting your work zone in the middle of the room, creates a space that’s pivotal and used to bring all other decorative elements of the room together.  This type of study is ideal for those who like to pace around while having conference calls, or bring their laptop over to a different corner for a second (perhaps better wifi?) would rather read-on-a-couch-than-chair type of folk. Some call it fickle, I call functional!

Statement Space:

For those studio apartments that just can’t afford another inch to spare, it’s a matter of working with what you have. By carefully selecting pieces that juxtapose against each other – a lucite chair, a furry cushion, a pink lamp, and loud-print wall covering – you now create a world all its own that should be taken just as seriously as your work! Be bold. Defy the laws of physics and create a space larger than life, even in close quarters.

 

If you aren’t too fond of bold prints or colors, having one area that stands out will make the room pop in an otherwise minimal space. In this picture, the colorful yellow rug ties the room together.

In Your Face:

Some people need visual reminders. For those that do, no need to forfeit style for function. With these organizational aids, you will achieve both!

Here they used the wall area as a calendar.

Below are a few more fun organizational tools to make your life a bit easier.

Plum Papers – Customizable Planners