Considerations for Home Office Design

Whether you run a business from your home or you just need a place to catch up on work in off-hours, a designated home office space can boost your mood and your productivity. Here are four things we consider when designing a home office:

Home Office Basics: Lighting and Heat and Cooling

We look at the kind of work you plan to do, the times of day you tend to work best, and the availability of natural light when designing your lighting system. We also consider the heating and cooling of your entire home to ensure that you’ll be able to adjust the temperature in your office without impacting the rest of the home.

The Connected Home Office

In a universe of infinite technological upgrades, we work with you to determine what you need (must haves) and what you’d like (nice to haves). We start with key items, like the number and placement of electrical outlets and whether you’ll need a WiFi booster or even a separate router in the space. As devices are added, we also design to contain and conceal cord and other wires.

It can be tempting to custom design cabinets around electronics like printers, scanners and other gear. We work to design ways to contain these kinds of gear in ways that allow the cabinets to still be useful after the component has become obsolete.

Home Office Amenities for Visitors

If you plan to have meetings with clients or other visitors in your home office, consider incorporating some amenities to make them comfortable. If possible, a separate entrance can relieve visitors’ apprehension about being in your private space. A restroom or powder room directly accessible from the home office is a thoughtful amenity that relieves both you and your visitors of any anxiety about having professional colleagues in your personal bathroom. Sound insulation can help guests focus on what you’re saying and not on what may be going on in other areas of the home.

Making the Home Office Yours

At the end of the day, it’s your home office and should reflect your style, personality, and needs. We design with storage in mind, so that you have plenty of space for business records, reference materials, and supplies while also maintaining a calm environment. Ergonomic seating is a must, but to avoid the standard “office chair” look, we can customize chairs to be as beautiful as they are functional. Your desk style should match your needs: do you use a computer with multiple monitors? Do you need room for large drawings? Do you need a printer on your desk? We also custom design and fabricate desks that fit your needs and your aesthetic. If you plan to have small children or pets in your home office space, we take that into consideration as well: avoiding sharp edges at child or pet height, creating informal “kid” or “pet” spaces within the office, and choosing materials and fabrics that will be easy to clean.

If you could benefit from a new or renovated home office, we can walk you through the process so you know what to expect in terms of cost and budget.