home office

• Think: coffee/tea mug, notebooks, laptop, monitors, post-its, books, keyboard, mouse

One of the most stressful things about working at a desk is how cluttered it can get with all of our need-to-haves on our desks.

That is why having a large desk to house all our items is so important for our state-of-mind while working. There are awesome desktop organizers that help with desk clutter.

The real goal is to minimize what we need on top of the desk and what can be stored in drawers (or just tossed away forever!).

Recently, my trick that I found works for me is having a paper agenda (in addition to Google Calendar) and put my post it notes in there. Then, at the end of the day, I just close my agenda and it’s a clean look on my desk for the next day.

Here are some home office desk ideas.

• Think: rolling office chair vs. non-rolling office chair, high back vs. low back, and color/pattern of chair

The desk is inarguably the most important component of an amazing work from home office space, but the chair counts equally. 

No matter what, and please take my word for it, choose a chair that you can sit comfortably in for a long duration of time (and think about HOW you sit).

For example, I like to sit criss-cross so I enjoy a chair that gives me space to do that and I also like cushion for muscle support. No one wants a numb tush after clicking away at a keyboard for hours on end. 

Here are some of the best work from home office chairs.

• Think: hanging quotes, inspiring/relaxing artwork

In order to have a clean and cohesive office design, I recommend choosing decor that keeps you relaxed and inspired.

If you have a small home office and you don’t want extra decor, you can create an “inspiration background” for your computer or phone screen.

I use Canva pro for this! You can also use an office board, such as cork or dry erase, to house all of your miscellaneous quotes, photos, and post-its.

I have also found having a dry erase calendar to be extra effective on my productivity since I track a few things there.

In order to get the most out of your small home office decor, it should be functional and cohesive – style-wise. 

Watch my Home Office Makeover to get some decorating ideas!

• Think: a paper or whiteboard to-do list, post-its organizers

In order to have a clean and cohesive design, I recommend choosing unique home office accessories that are useful and cohesive.

Ideally, all your desk accessories will match as this helps your office design feel more cohesive, therefore, less stressful.

Think about how you work in order to decide which accessories you need.

Do you like to write down your priorities for the day or maybe your grocery list as things pop up as you’re working?

Maybe you need a paper planner and a jar for your pens (or a desk with drawers). Maybe you have a lot of video meetings and you need good lighting so you need a desk lamp, etc.

Because I like minimal desk accessories, I have a candle, a stack of books, my lamp, and Google Home device on my desk.

Here are some unique desk accessories.

• Think: lighting all corners of your room for mood/function

Layering your office lighting is your best bet to completely change the vibe of your space, especially if you’re on a budget and can’t splurge on anything else. This is the unexpected home office essentials 2023 part of the list!

Lighting various corners of your room (task lighting, ambient lighting, accent lighting, etc) is a great way to make you feel revitalized without doing any heavy lifting. 

Here are some cute small desk lights.

• Think: camouflaging your cords into the office design

You can have the most beautiful office, but if you have a million black cords dumping out of your desk, then it’s not very easy-on-the-eye. The point of decorating your home office is to make it energizing for you to be productive.

There are a few different ways to hide your cords including running them behind a wall, using wall cable hiders, and also using cable management tabs.

You can also run a power strip and attempt to run all the cords along the legs of your desk (which is a little more manageable than having them hang freely). 

So far, I have my cords tied up with black electrical tape!

Here are some desk cable management ideas.

• Think: TV and/or speaker for background noise

One of the best treats you can give yourself for your home office environment is the option of background noise. We have a google home in each of our rooms to listen to music and it also boosts our wifi-strength.

I personally love listening to coffeehouse playlists on Pandora. I’ve found that having a TV in the office can be a bit distracting BUT if I’m trying to watch how-to videos or inspirational talks, then having the TV is a nice touch to the room.

*Update: I did just get a new desk monitor to help me in my workflow and now I will never add a TV to my office because it would be superfluous. But, I am happy to report that my monitor acts like a little TV and works great for a multitude of reasons!

Here is the Google Home Nest System we use and love to boost our wifi and provide music.

• Think: multi-purpose room, carving out sections, feng-sui

More than ever, people are searching for “how to arrange furniture in a small home office” because many of us now work from home.

REALLY think about your needs and how many times you have already used your home office for those needs.

Do you actually have guests over often enough that the space will indeed benefit from a sleeper sofa for example? Or would it be better to pull out an air mattress, instead?

It’s important to be honest with yourself because at the end of the day – our workspaces are supposed to keep us focused and an overcrowded room can affect the ambiance we need.

You may be wondering if your desk should face a window and personally, I dislike a desk that faces a wall. A lot of people think this is their only option. It’s not. Technically, your desk/chair on a wall takes up the same space if you were to flip it – so try it and feel the difference!

My best advice for your home office layout is to have your desk face the room or the window, but NOT the wall.

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