Office Improvements That Make Working from Home Easier In Miami
For some, remote work has become a way of life -- one with its own problems.
Whether you’re a home office juggernaut or looking to make a homebound workspace temporarily, the concept of being productive in your day-to-day house doesn’t have to mean working from your kitchen table. The answer to an efficient home office is finding items that will make life simpler for your daily grind. And this area should also spark joy as you have to live here, too.
From space-saving desks to Polywood plantation shutters, check out these five quick home improvements that allow you to work from home easier.
Your Home Office Should Be A Defined Space
While lounging on the sofa and opening the laptop may feel nice at first glance, not separating “home mode” from “work mode” can become a damper to your productivity.
If you haven’t yet, create a dedicated work center in your home. This room should be yours, an independent space from your daily activities. This will help you steer clear from interruptions. You don’t need an executive oak desk and a dedicated outside entrance, but at the very least try to dedicate a table and chair as your home office.
Have a small area in the family room that would double as a home office? Create a private office by adding a simple, elegant sliding barn door or panel track as a room divider.
Pick A Desk That Accommodates Your Things
As the majority of your workday is spent in a chair, you need a workspace that gives good posture support while accommodating your desired spatial needs. That means using the perfect desk.
But, beware: don’t go for a “fix for now” desk set-up. A side table that doubles as your workspace during the day will only become annoying. You want a surface that adjusts to your daily workday. If you only use a laptop, a mini office desk or dedicated table will do. But if you’re constantly shuffling paper, or need a dual-screen computer setup, you may need a wider surface.
If you can’t buy a conventional desk, make one from alternative materials. An old door or stained board on top of filing cabinets can serve as a adequate work surface. The more you can make your workspace fit your needs, the easier work from home becomes in Miami.
Adjust Natural Sunlight By Choosing The Right Window Treatments
Balanced lighting can make or break your next video conference. Too little light and you’re shrowded in shadow, but try to talk while dealing with sun glare, and you’re flushed out. The amount of natural light can also be the difference between a good workday, and one that finds you making many trips to the soda fridge.
To make work at home easier, you’ll want a window treatment that can handle sun glare. Plantation shutters, for one, have large louvers that can be angled so that your workspace always has the correct level of outside light without harsh sun glare. They can muffle outside sounds, like traffic or lawnmowers. And your chosen interior shutters are made of Polywood®, they’re also energy-efficient.
Luckily, interior shutters are an aesthetically wonderful window treatment for your work space, not to mention they are a snap to clean and operate.
Change Out Your Seat From That Uncomfortable Chair
Once you have some time in your new and improved work space, you start to realize that working from that stiff kitchen chair just isn’t doing it.
Try an an actual office chair to help you become more productive, or enhance your current seat with a back support insert to make it last until you decide on your next chair. Then again, you can always get a standing desk, and then your kitchen seat might work.
It’s OK To Experiment
One of the advantages of telecommuting is that you are able to organize the room outside the usual office configuration. However, sometimes figuring out the ideal set-up takes time and some trials. And sometimes it takes thinking from beyond the cube.
Keep asking yourself about what the best way to set up the office. You might need two computer screens instead of an underpowered 15-inch screen. Maybe you want three. Or maybe you perform best when using a keyboard and one or two oversized screens hung on the wall. From standing desks to overstuffed armchairs -- it’s how you like it. And if that doesn't work out, go ahead and change it out without having to go through an expense report.