How to Spruce up your Home Office

Are you 100% home-based and looking for tips on how to spruce up your home office? I have been working from home for several years and last year I became a full-time home-based and as much as I love my home office, every few months I am always looking to change things up. This is my nature, I like something for a certain period but then want to spruce it up whether I want to and this is why I am not big on painting walls in case tomorrow I don’t like the color of my new wall. This is why I often choose wallpaper over painting and still to styles and designs I could easily switch up when I felt creatively I needed to move things around.

When I was at university, we used to have these *phone booths style reading areas and I loved them because they muffed out all the sounds in a busy and often loud library. I am someone who prefers to have a quiet working space but home offices are a little bit different in that no matter how quiet you want it to be, oftentimes it’s a war zone. From the Amazon delivery guy who knocks loud enough to wake Hades and completely misses the ‘in-your-face-sized doorbell‘ to the loudest traffic there ever was. I have resigned to the fact that I won’t get phone booth-style quietness but I can work with what I have.

*Disclaimer: This is a collaborative post.

How to Spruce up your Home Office

Pre-pandemic, working from home was a luxury dream for many and a privilege for most (and still is for some) but now, it is almost the norm. When I first started working from home, I struggled between wanting to complete my job as best as I could and watching all the trashy daytime TV I could manage. I found myself losing focus pretty easily, I longed for someone to talk to, take coffee breaks with and just have a nice old moan about the British weather. I did not take to working from home like fish to water, it took me many years before I found the right balance and discipline between work and play and it evolved around the types of home office space I created.

Before buying my home, my ‘home office’ was either my kitchen table or my bed and it made it hard to work because one was too hard and the other was too soft. I wanted my perfect Goldilocks location where I could work productively for the entire 9-5 and then retire to either the living room or to bed for the rest of the day. So, if you don’t have a dedicated room to utilize as a home office, then I encourage you to find a dedicated space in your home to make your ‘work area’. I did this by demarcating my living room space, adding a little table and nice comfortable chair, and decorating that space with office essentials that I knew I needed to be productive and efficient.

For those with dedicated working space, this is how to spruce up your home office to make it a space you want to spend your ‘working hours’ in as we are all about balance.

Getting a comfortable chair

One of the major things I miss about going to my old office is the office chairs were some of the most comfortable desk chairs ever so much so that when I first created space in my previous home, I went to work and got one of the spare chairs but sadly had to return it. Since then I have been on the hunt for a good, quality, and most importantly comfortable chair for my home office. We spend a lot of time sitting down, we might as well make sure our workspace desk is as comfortable as it can be.

Add Multi Screens

This is an absolute game changer, as much as I loved working from home, I struggled when I had multiple documents to review and you can only enlarge for so long before you become cross-eyed. The reason I recommend multi-screens is that for me it helps with my productivity, it takes me twice as long to stare at a small screen compared to multiple ‘larger’ screens. Spruce up your home office space with multi-screens and if you are a gamer you can even multi-purpose them.

Get an L-shaped desk (if you have space)

If you have the space to get an L-shaped desk, I highly recommend it because it’s a game changer. I so just as much desk space as I did in my company office. As much as I love a clean desk, I do love to spread out when I am reviewing multiple documents and often I use sticky notes which I paste all over my desk until each idea is either actioned or transferred to my notebook. With my L-shaped desk, I can add more office accessories within reach of me like my printer/scanner and document storage space.

Get a chalkboard calendar

There is something about having a calendar you can physically write on that makes me happy, sure my iPhones are great at reminding me of what activities are happening when but writing them down on the board or paper is a little different for me. I have a chalkboard calendar and I glance at it so many times to make sure I have actually completed activities for that day or look ahead to the future and see what is coming up. I am trying to reduce how much time I spend on my phone hence why I only use my mobile calendar for absolutely important appointments.

Add some plants

Plants are always a great idea in an office space, somehow I feel energized and revitalized when I have plants in my office and also in my bedroom. Not only do the plants add to the decor of your room, they can recycle the air (depending on which you pick) and give the room life. I normally have orchids around my office because once they flower they are the most beautiful but they also preserve for a long time.

Get desk accessories (iPad + iPhone stands)

Whilst these items are not an absolute must-have when you spruce up your home office, they make for the best accessories and keep all my devices in place and not cluttered on my desk. Having a dedicated space for them means I know exactly where they are when I need them and also keep out of my way so I am not easily distracted. Depending on the accessories you choose, it can make or break the office space and whilst I try to keep mine to a minimum, device holders, stationery and mug holders are my absolute must-have accessories on my office desk.

So, how do you spruce up your home office space? Filling it with things that make you happy, will improve your productivity and last but not least – will make the space pop.

Do you have a home office? What decor style do you have?