home office

5 Of Our Best Home Office Design Tips

~ Naomi Pederson

Every day, more and more people are working from home. With Covid, global unrest and amazing technology, working from home are becoming more and more desirable. Even if you don’t have a job that requires you to work from home, everyone should have one (or more) little corners set aside in their home for creating, working, and dreaming.  This can be a reclaimed secretary that holds pride-of-place in your living room, or a small desk tucked under a window at the end of a hall.  It can even be a space that you have to share with others and other functions from time to time, like part of the dining room table or a counter in the laundry room.  

All of us have correspondence we need to take care of and having a place and system for mail, bills etc is crucial to our people of mind.  If your house lacks a formal office, you might find that your bedroom offers you the peace and isolation you need for creative writing.  By casting a critical eye over each area of your home, you will likely find spots that will work for your family. In limited space, you could use a fold-down desk or a rolling table.  Bookshelves are great in almost any room, not only for favorite reading material but to help keep records, files, and current projects all in one place.

These spaces help your home function as it should by creating a place for you to do your work, whatever it may be, in private.

To design your perfect office space, first take stock of your home and the spaces you have available to you. Do you have a spare bedroom, and little used mud room or even larger than normal laundry room. In one of my sisters home, she turned her walk-in Pantry into a small family office and it works great.

If you are having a hard time deciding where to put your home office, give Showhome furniture a call. We offer a free one hour consultation with our amazing top designers to help you with your toughest designing questions. We can do the meeting over zoom so distance is not an issue.

Once you have decided on your space, think about the style and feel you want your office to feel. Do you want it to have a cozy old fashion den feel, or more airy light country feel. Starting off with a clear vision of the space and how you want the end results to be makes designing a whole lot easier. It helps you narrow your purchases and maximize your space and money better.

Now think about the furniture and what it needs to do. If your space is small, be careful in choosing furniture that can double up as storage as well.

Use bookcases, or wall storage shelves. Not only are very helpful but they take up a lot of wall space but little floor space.

Lastly accessorize thoughtfully! Walls decor is an excellent way of adding interest while taking up no floor space.

Even if you’re not a super-organized person, you probably like a measure of order so that you don’t become a stressed-out disaster.  Choosing furniture pieces that are both beautiful and functional (and scaled to your space) will ensure your office space meets your needs.  If you liven it up with favorite finds and eclectic decor pieces, you’ll find yourself enjoying being there even if you don’t enjoy what you have to do.  

The Home Office!

~ Naomi Pederson

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Recently, a staff member at Showhome Furniture in Calgary read that in 2010 there were about 3.6 million people in Canada were lucky enough to work from home.

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From someone who has a family business, Showhome Furniture knows how important a space set aside specifically for work is to home workers.  I remember keenly the day my husband moved off the couch of our small rented house and into an old RV he bought to be his office.  The kids thought it was a hoot and I may have rolled my eyes a bit when my sweetheart gave me the tour.  It was small and there were none of the gorgeous desks or decor that we carry in our Calgary furniture store to brighten up the space.  My husband got it for a deal, and it was close to home so we were both happy.

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I am sure this ‘new office’ had nothing to do with the fact we had 2 young kids at the time, and I was about 7 months pregnant with twins.  Or with the fact that my pregnant sister with her 2 young kids were sharing the house with us.  Well, I am actually pretty sure this was the main motivator to my husbands ‘move out’ but it probably was a wise move.

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Now we are no longer renting, and as we renovated our new house we made sure there was lots of room for a home office.

As we designed our home office, and have helped countless of clients with designing theirs,  we came across 4 awesome tips for making your home office work for you!!

Location Matters:  First pick the best location you can think of.  Make it convenient so that it functions well.  We have our home office on the top floor right beside our bedroom.  Most our kids have their bedrooms on the main floor, and so the top floor is the most quiet part of the house.  My brother-in-law has his home office off his theatre room with an outside door for clients to use.  My younger brother has his home office outside on the beach!  So just look at what works for you and go for it.  Don’t worry if your office isn’t conventional it just needs to be convenient.

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Find Beautiful and Functional Furniture:  Next think of the furniture!  At Showhome Furniture we are passionate about helping our clients find the perfect piece for their homes.  A home office deserves as much attention as the rest of the house.  What kind of furniture you need greatly depends on what kind of business you are running.   The most common pieces of furniture pieces are desks, bookcases, and chairs or sofa’s.  You might find that you need a large desk and a small bookcase, or if you are like my sister you will want wall-to-wall bookcases and a small desk.  Think of what you will be doing most in this space and shop accordingly.

Buy A Comfortable Chair:  Picking a good chair is so vital that it has a paragraph of it’s own!  Sometimes people scrimp on the functional furniture and splurge on the showy furniture.  At Showhome we believe that furniture can be both comfortable and functional and suggest that you are extra thoughtful when picking out what you are going to be spending most of your day sitting on.

Decorate:  Once you have a great location, beautiful furniture and a comfortable chair you are ready to paint your office and decorate it!

When my husband was in the RV, I admit, I did nothing to make it look nice.  I was just happy it was close enough for me to send the little ones over while I napped.  This should not be what you do.  Working is hard.  There are a lot of sacrifices you make staying indoors all day.  Treat yourself kindly and make your home office beautiful.

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You might want to make it look more traditional, or modern.  There are a ton of different styles to choose from.  If you are not sure what style you are leaning towards, just pop by Showhome Furniture and our wonderful designers will be happy to help you out for free.

Bring Nature Inside: The last tip that our designers at Showhome Furniture have for you is to bring nature inside!  If possible, I would encourage you to make sure your office has a window.  The bigger the better.  Tons of science supports the notion that nature is a great de stressor.  If you are going to have to be in doors all day, you might as well make the most of it.

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Opening the window, having some real plants in your office, hanging pictures of nature and having a great view are all ways that you can incorporate nature into your office space.

At Showhome Furniture, we know the value of a great home office.  Working from home, is not a luxury that most people enjoy.  If you happen to be one of lucky few, we hope that these tips will help you design a great place to do work at home.