Many people need a workspace in their home, and often just a computer and a desk are not enough. The environment in the room should put you in a working mood and help you concentrate. The best option is to arrange a separate room as an office. But the area of the apartment does not always allow this. If necessary, a work area can be made in the bedroom, on the balcony or loggia. What should you pay attention to?
view album in new window
Separate room for an office
The interior of apartments should be functional and comfortable. The best way to organize your workspace is to allocate a separate room for an office. When decorating a room, you need to consider several recommendations:
view album in new window
- You should choose a strict style. The decor in the room should be businesslike. A large number of personal items and photos will be distracting. To prevent the interior from being too boring, you can hang neutral paintings on the walls.
- Furniture should be comfortable, high quality and functional.
- It is necessary to consider good lighting in the room. However, it should not be redundant.
- Small details and decorative items are acceptable, but in small quantities.
- The office should have all the equipment necessary for work.
view album in new window
Natural light greatly influences productivity. Therefore, you should make sure that a lot of light falls on your workplace. But you should ensure that there is no glare from the sun on the monitor screen, as this will be distracting and reduce visibility. Artificial lighting should be considered no less carefully, since for many people the peak of activity occurs in the evenings. It is better to choose cool light, which improves concentration. Warm lighting has a relaxing effect on a person.
view album in new window
To be productive, you need to take a break sometimes. Therefore, you can provide a relaxation area in the office. You can install upholstered furniture, a small sofa or an armchair with a coffee table in it. It is recommended to consider an additional light source next to them.
view album in new window
Technical ideas and solutions
The design of the work area involves thinking through the location of outlets, their proximity and accessibility. During repairs, arrange your corner taking into account the supply of power sources, stripping the walls, stretching extension cords.
Buy original stationery
Wires should also not be left randomly scattered. There are boxes for wires, and there are also design solutions for placing a bundle of wires under a table or on a wall.
To keep the wires out of the way, you can hide them in a box
Such ideas not only improve the appearance of the work area, but also promote cleaning.
Organize a convenient location for charging cables
How to arrange a workplace using designer lamps is shown in the photo. Lighting design should not be too bright or dim. The work space should be sufficiently lit. Avoid direct light from the lamp shining on your computer monitor.
It is important to combine natural, ceiling and table lighting
Wireless access points help organize your space and reduce the number of wires. You can work with a laptop and tablet computer anywhere in the apartment.
Work area in the bedroom
It is not always possible to allocate a room for an office. In this case, you can arrange a work area in the bedroom. The choice of this particular room is due to the fact that it usually has a minimal amount of furniture. When arranging a work area in the bedroom, you should pay attention to the following recommendations:
view album in new window
- Since natural light is very important for work, the table should be installed next to a window. This option is also convenient because the window sill can be used as additional storage space for working tools.
- You can replace the bedside table with your desk. This option is suitable for rooms with a small area.
- You can visually highlight the work area using arches or partitions, sliding doors, and fabric structures.
- To save space, you can use transformable furniture. An interesting solution is to use a wide window sill as a table.
view album in new window
The color design of the work area should differ from the general one. In the bedroom, decoration is done in such a way as to maximize the person’s mood for rest and relaxation, which is not conducive to a working atmosphere. Therefore, you should choose more formal tones that will help you gather and concentrate.
view album in new window
In a small room, it is recommended to decorate an office in a minimalist style. There shouldn't be anything superfluous in it. Only things necessary to perform functional duties should be left in the work area.
view album in new window
Don't eat at work
It is an extremely bad idea to eat at your desk. Some people manage to have lunch without interrupting their work. It seems like we're saving time by combining two things at once, but in reality we're doing both poorly. Firstly, the quality of work most often suffers because you are not immersed in it. Secondly, there is a risk of eating more than you need and still not feeling full - the brain, distracted by other tasks, simply will not have time to recognize satiety signals. And in an attempt to combine work with food, we often neglect a full lunch, choosing snacks that are more convenient to eat on the go: chips, sandwiches, sweets. A separate lunch time and place will help you recharge your batteries and return to work with renewed vigor.
Balcony for office
The design of the apartment should be stylish and comfortable. An original solution is to arrange a closed balcony or loggia as an office. The advantage of this room is that it is usually separated from the room by a partition, which will allow privacy and concentration. To arrange an office on the balcony, the following requirements must be met:
view album in new window
- Windows must be sealed and have high sound insulation characteristics.
- The balcony needs to be thermally insulated to make it comfortable to be on at any time of the year.
- Various materials can be used for interior decoration. One of the most popular options is wooden lining. It is chosen due to its good heat and sound insulation properties.
view album in new window
The design of a balcony or loggia performs two tasks: it visually expands the room and creates comfort in the workplace. Nothing in it should distract from the main thing and interfere with concentration. Therefore, it is better to give preference to calm colors. It is not recommended to choose dark shades, as in a small space they are overwhelming and have a negative impact on the person’s condition. It is better to decorate the walls in beige, pink, light purple tones. A dark color can be chosen for the floor.
view album in new window
When arranging an office on the balcony, you need to think about how the lighting will be arranged and where to install sockets. A balcony or loggia usually has good natural light, which is the main advantage of this room. But there must also be sources of artificial light. In addition to central lighting, you can provide spotlights, table and floor sconces.
view album in new window
How to organize your workspace and time in the office
It all starts from the workplace.
D. Carnegie
Work begins with the workplace and its organization. There are, of course, exceptions in the form of creative and unique individuals for whom this issue is not so important. But even they have their own system of creative disorder, even if they don’t admit it. Most people work at regular desks in regular office spaces, and the following tips are intended for them.
Desktop
The right work environment sets the mind to the right rhythm. You don’t keep your house in a mess and know exactly where and what is. It’s the same in the workplace: everything should be in its place, and nothing superfluous that could distract from the main tasks.
Where does it all begin when you first come to work? From the desktop. And there are usually piles of papers, scattered stationery, mugs, some useless souvenir and dust on the computer. And what will be the internal state of such a workplace? Uncollected. Of course, you won’t think so, but the subconscious has already decided everything. Whatever reality is around you, so are you. But your consciousness picked up this thought, and your mood is no longer there.
Luke Chapman/Flickr.com
Keep your desk tidy at all times. Start your day by dusting, adjust the lighting, write down useful information on sticky notes, wash your coffee cup, fill out your calendar - get yourself in the mood for work. These simple actions will give energy for subsequent work.
An ideal workplace includes tools for work, comfortable lighting, necessary stationery and simple furniture for the worker.
How to work: standing or sitting? You decide. I think that sitting is better, but you definitely need to take breaks: walk, do a little warm-up, breathe fresh air, climb 2-3 floors up the stairs. My work schedule: 45 minutes - task without interruptions, 15-minute break, then 1 hour of continuous work and 15 minutes of rest. This is how the working day is structured.
Do not forget about your own locker or archive, since each employee always accumulates his own personal file cabinet or paper archive. You can also store personal items in the locker that you would not like to display. Each shelf and cabinet should perform its function and not interfere with other elements. This will make it more convenient to work with documents and various accessories.
Electronic document management
Make backup copies of your work, documents, projects, official information stored on your work computer, and send them to the company server or cloud storage.
How much effort and nerves people waste because of lost information! The computer crashed, froze, someone accidentally deleted important data. Don't repeat their mistake and make backups. Don't let circumstances control you and your work.
Do not install unnecessary applications; most of the necessary operations are performed in standard software packages. If you are fluent in a certain tool for work, ask management or the IT department to install it, arguing that you work effectively with it.
Another simple tip: try to stick to one thing in your electronic space. If you like Yandex services, choose them; if you like Google services, work with them. You will know all the strengths and weaknesses of the tools, and you will also be able to quickly set up your system in a new place. The race for new programs is not always justified.
From your workstation, create your own personal, simple email hierarchy. You should be able to find any of your old documents in the shortest possible time. This is especially important when you are required to urgently decide something, and you have forgotten where this information is stored.
Scan all your most important documents. Many work conflicts between departments arose due to some lost important paper.
Planning
Have you noticed that work sometimes turns into a mess: a bunch of tasks, conversations, meetings, checking papers. And you spin around in this endlessly. You seem to be working, but it’s hard to call it work. Behind all this, the overall picture of what is happening is not visible, and this is one of the problems of modern productivity: there are actions, there are also results, but they are not very noticeable in the routine.
To prevent this from happening, you need to draw up a plan of tasks and activities for the day, week and even month.
tec_estromberg/Flickr.com
Most people use notepads or diaries. Yes, this is good, but paper is “random access memory”, all the daily routine is stored in it, and the main information is lost in the abundance of pages. A notebook or diary is already an archaic way of planning. In your diary, you don’t see the whole picture of events, you won’t figure out when it’s better to do one thing and when to do another, and you can also miss some important event. There is no way to pull out the necessary data and conduct a comprehensive analysis. Imagine how many pages you need to flip through to compare the necessary information.
Now there are many applications and online services for organizing your working time. Believe me, you need to do this if you want to work productively, regardless of the situation and mood. A to-do list today is everything for effective task and time management.
I use the context planning system in the Outlook environment of Gleb Arkhangelsky. What I like about it: the simplicity and effectiveness of the tool, a well-known application, the combination of a calendar, tasks and mail in one information space, integration with office applications. This planning system can be trained to any employee in a short time.
Here are some tips for organizing your work time:
- Plan flexibly, in context, not rigidly tied to time.
- Learn to understand what is important and what is not.
- Easily part with minor matters.
- Value the quality of time spent, not the time spent itself.
- Say no to yourself and other people when necessary.
- Start the day with difficult and unpleasant tasks.
- When you plan tasks and projects at work, set deadlines for them.
A powerful psychological technique is to cross out a completed task or put a tick next to it. This will give you additional internal energy to achieve greater results. You will see that everything is not in vain.
Working with mail
How to organize work with mail?
First, you need to set the operating time for it to reduce the number of interruptions. It is best to do this in the morning, when tasks begin to form, and in the afternoon, when you need to check how things are going.
Secondly, you should not respond to ambiguous letters immediately. You need to think about everything: the appeal, the construction of the answer, additional information. Try to make sure there is as little subjectivity as possible. Forget about quick answers, as everyone is used to doing on social networks.
Thirdly, do not overload the text of the letter with information that is understandable only to the sender himself. Try to answer briefly and succinctly, weighing each word. In our digital age, this is very important: no one is interested in wading through unique conclusions.
And finally, do not forget about netiquette: addressing the recipient, writing style, information on the case, contact information. Learn how to compose a letter, analyze what you have written, and the rules of address.
Additional tool
What else helps make work more efficient is a marker board. An indispensable tool, especially when the department is brainstorming or solving a serious problem with intermediate stages.
midnightcomm/Flickr.com
In my professional activities, the board was an indispensable attribute of the work environment. It is also useful in terms of saving paper. You won't believe how many worksheets you spend explaining your ideas and solutions.
Thanks to visual thinking (we all have it), people can collaborate on the board, explain their thoughts, and come up with better solutions to a problem. Everything is visible and understandable to everyone.
I would like to add that music helps me in my work. It has a positive effect on my productivity, especially when I need to work with monotonous tasks on the computer or complete a large package of documents. And in general, it’s good to start the morning with positive music. But you shouldn’t turn it on for everyone, remember: you are not working alone, for some the music will only disturb you.
What additional work tools do you use in your work?
Workplace design options
The work area can be designed in various styles:
- Classic interior design is considered a universal option. Leather furniture, cabinets and folders are appropriate in such a room. Natural expensive materials are used for finishing, which will retain their original qualities for a long time.
- Hi-tech is a universal solution for active young people. A large number of office equipment and modern gadgets are allowed in the interior. For finishing, glass, metal, chrome and shiny surfaces are preferred.
- Country style allows you to create a warm, cozy atmosphere in a business style. This trend is characterized by comfortable chairs, wooden furniture, and shelving. Textiles will look harmonious in the interior.
- Art Deco allows you to create sophisticated and luxurious interiors in the office. This design will show the high status of the owner of the premises.
view album in new window
view album in new window
Modern interior styles make it possible to create a comfortable, ergonomic work area for those who work a lot outside the office walls.
view album in new window
Furniture, lighting
The main piece of furniture in the office is the table. It is selected depending on style and functionality. In some cases, a table with shelves should be provided for installing office equipment. Solid oak furniture would look appropriate in classic interiors. It will not only say a lot about the status and good taste of the owner of the house, but will also last for a long time.
view album in new window
The chair should be chosen depending on your preferences. It should be convenient and comfortable, especially if you plan to spend a lot of time in it. But it is important that the chair does not become too relaxing, which can distract you from doing your current tasks.
Cabinets, shelves and bedside tables in the office are integral interior items. They will store documents and all necessary accessories. If the workplace is set up in the bedroom or on the balcony, then you should pay attention to movable tabletops and narrow consoles. Shelves on the wall will help you save useful space and conveniently place everything you need for work.
view album in new window
The work area needs good natural and artificial lighting. Therefore, it is arranged in the brightest room of an apartment or house. Additionally, you should consider an artificial lighting system. For lighting, sconces, wall lamps, LED strips, etc. are used.
view album in new window
Ergonomic and interesting furniture
Folding, mobile mini office
To make the area interesting and ergonomic, try to find original and multifunctional furniture. For example, a mobile cabinet on wheels, the location of which changes depending on the situation.
- Today, furniture from the Soviet period is in fashion. Solid, massive tables made of solid wood, with heavy drawers and a large work surface. Before you run to empty your wallet at a furniture showroom, check out your grandmother’s old basement or the attic at your mother’s dacha
- Folding tables that extend as needed are considered functional. They do not occupy useful space during non-working hours, and at the same time they hospitably open their tabletop at any time. They can be portable or mounted in a window sill, wall, or the back of a sofa.
- If there is little space in your home, choose the most compact designs, and in terms of colors, give preference to light or white furniture with a glossy base
- Transparent table and chair look very modern, laconic and unusual. And they don’t burden the interior of even a very small room at all.
- Instead of a desk, buy a secretary. It also serves as a cabinet in which a lot of useful items are stored.
- To avoid buying a cabinet, build a unique structure from ordinary wooden boxes. Place them on top of each other in the form of a tower with a ladder, glue them together with construction glue, paint them in different colors or whitewash them with lime. It looks stylish and impressive.
