Whether COVID-19 has you sheltering in place, or you are a parent who is trying to balance work/life responsibilities while at home, it is likely that you have taken the foray into remote work opportunities. While the convenience is undeniable, the reality is that your productivity and quality of work greatly depends on your environment… just as when you commute into the office.
How can you design your home office to maximize the productivity of your remote work? The following five tips are sure to lead to outstanding results when working from home.
Tip #1: Install Ceiling Panels to Insulate Sound
With remote work comes a plethora of Zoom, Skype, Google Hangout, and other virtual meetings with clients and colleagues, and nothing is more distracting than when your voice echoes, rebounds, or sounds like you are talking from the bottom of a barrel.
The good news is that you do not have to completely remodel your house to attain quality acoustics in your home office.
High performance acoustic ceiling panels can add quality to your virtual meetings through more intimate sound exchange and can sound proof your home office. One of the best ways to get these ceiling panels installed is to contact a full service design studio that can provide professional guidance on getting the panels installed and even provide you with customization options.
Tip #2: Use Sliding Doors to Save on Space
One of the major obstacles in constructing a home office is a lack of dedicated space. And when you have a door that swings into your office, that leaves about 30 inches of space you cannot use–space that could have been productively used for a bookshelf or cabinet.
Instead of being mounted on regular hinges that swing in and out, taking up space, glass pocket doors are mounted on tracks that slide into your walls, essentially making the doors invisible when open.
Not only will these doors provide the professional, intimate atmosphere of a “real” office when closed, but when opened, they make the transition between your office and other rooms of the house seamless.
Tip #3: Install a New Desk
When designing your office, you will want surfaces that not only look elegant and professional, but are durable enough to withstand the wear and tear of a busy work schedule.
If you’re lost on which desk would be right for you or complement the look of your home office, it may be best to contact an interior designer who can suggest a desk or desk surface that will fit the aesthetic and purpose of your home office. There are several different desks that use different designs and materials such as using white solid surfaces as a desk or you could use durable wood materials for a work surface. Right now, the combination of materials such as acrylic, wood, and metal to create a desk is a very popular trend.
Tip #4: Carefully Select Where Your Windows Are Positioned
Everyone would agree that natural lighting and offices with a view are a major plus in making your office a pleasant space, and happy workers are productive workers.
Nonetheless, when laying out your home office, you will want to make sure that any natural light does not shine directly in your eyes or on your computer screen, creating a distracting glare.
If this is simply not possible given the construction of your home, be sure to invest in some window shades to moderate sunlight.
Tip #5: Keep Wires Out of the Way
Try to go as wireless as possible, eliminating as many computer cords and phone cables as possible. If there is no way around them, make sure your desk has a grommet to feed wires through and tape any loose hanging wires snugly so that an inadvertent trip doesn’t disconnect everything and ruin your work day or cause an injury.
Matt Lee is the owner of the Innovative Building Materials blog and a content writer for the building materials industry. He is focused on helping fellow homeowners, contractors, and architects discover materials and methods of construction that save money, improve energy efficiency, and increase property value.