Copyright (c) 2008 Pat Brill
More and more people are working from home. Businesses are offering telecommunicating as a benefit to joining the company. In addition, individuals are leaving the corporate world to start their own businesses. Whether you are telecommuting or have your business or simply need a place for organize the home, a home office has become a necessary space in many homes.
Where in your house can a home office fit? Take the time to look at every room and see where you can create space to set up an office. You can create an office in the kitchen, convert a closet, double a guest room as an office, or set up a location in your basement. You just need enough space to include all the elements that help you be efficient and productive.
You don't have to spend lots of money to set up a home office. If you have a separate room for your office...great. Most of us can't afford to allocate lots of space for an office or have a professional organizer devise an office system for us. What you do have is your own creativity to carve out the right space for your office. Here are some ideas to stimulate your thinking.
Whatever space you choose, make sure it's a space that can be dedicated to your office, and isn't used by others in the household. You need to set up your office so that you can effectively do your work.
Go through every room and see where you could potentially find space. Be creative here...you can make changes to the d?r of a room. Look at every item in every corner and see if you can remove it and place a desk there. We all are creatures of habit and get use to items being in their place, so be open to change.
Now you have selected a space and it's time to see how you can inexpensively spruce it up and make it conducive to working from home. If the space is in a separate area, a fresh coat of paint can liven up the space. May be you can paint one wall to highlight your space and leave the rest of the room a different color.
Do you have pictures that are hiding in the closet...this may be a good place to create your gallery. Or go to the local home store and purchase inexpensive shelves and brackets and use that wall space to store books, office supplies, or your specific business tools. Though you can still add a picture in between the books to add some design to your area.
Next, look around your house to see what furnishings you can repurpose for your office. Do you have a comfortable chair in your dining room that could work fine as an office chair? If you don't have furniture that works, you can check out unfinished furniture stores, thrift shops or an office supply business to find reasonable pieces of furniture to create your office.
If you need to purchase a desk, you can always get a piece of wood to place on top of two file cabinets. Again, this is a do it yourself job as you get to paint or stain the wood, paint the cabinets to blend with the wood....but you can tailor the size of the desk to your actual office space. If you do decide to paint, know who you are, because some of us are more relaxed with soothing colors. Others like bold colors to stimulate their thinking.
Have you been storing your office "stuff" in different places? Now is the time to reuse the book shelves, filing cabinet, and boxes and organize them in your "space."
It's important to have on hand the right office supplies, so go to your favorite office supply or discount store and stock up on a few needed items and get your space organized.
It doesn't take lots of time or money to create your office space. What it does take is the desire to plan, organize and carve out the time to create your space. Make it a challenge to find the best space in your home for the least amount of money.
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