Working from home, with a family | How to optimize your space when you are working from home in a space shared with your family.
Nowadays, more and more people work from home and since Covid-19, remote work has become pretty standard for most. However, the living situation is far from standard. While some of us live alone, some share their house with housemates, with a partner or even with kids.
When you live with your family, it can be hard to focus on your tasks, separate the space, maintain two different roles and juggle between professional and personal life, especially when you do not have a big house, with many rooms.
Here are 5 + 1 ideas on how to optimize your space in order to meet both yours and your family’s needs.
1. Find a personal corner and turn it into a home-office.
A home office is a great interior idea as it gives style and perspective to a space, while at the same time it is of course highly functional. You don’t have to spare an entire room. All you need is a corner with clever and functional furniture to create the perfect office space. This could be under the stairs, in an empty living-room corner, or even in an empty closet. Yes believe it or not, this is a new trend that has been named “cloffice” and it is currently trending in small apartments. All these spaces provide a cozy feeling in order to work from home.
Image Source: Philenews.com
Image Source: Elle.gr
2. Use Decorative Partitions.
Even if you find the perfect corner to create your home-office, you will probably also need a separator in order to be more focused and also to avoid interrupting others and their daily activities. Movable partitions are also used as a great background for video calls and meetings. Furthermore, they are easy to move, can help with acoustic insulation and give perspective and depth to your entire space.
Image Source: Dailydreamdecor.com
3. Keep your work safe.
When you don’t live alone, there is a constant risk that your papers, folders or files can be moved or lost. To remedy that, go with furniture that offer enough storage capacity (such as drawers) so that every important document has its place. You can also install tall shelves to keep anything of importance out of reach, especially if you have little ones in the house.
Image Source: Furniteratwork.co.uk
4. Storage is everything.
Spending time at home is for many of us a chance for more clutter, especially when we are working and living and relaxing, all in the same space. Consider having more storage than normal, but make sure it is intuitive storage, meaning, where and when you need it, and not far away storage, that most end up not using. This way, everything can be in order and you can avoid scattered objects which can cause you to feel overwhelmed and unfocused. This applies both for your work items, as well as children toys, clothing items, pet accessories…etc.
Image Source: Forbes.com
5. Colour is major.
Colour is one of the easiest and most effective tools we have to elevate an interior. If you are unsure how to use color, you can choose for safe but at the same time interesting colours. Avoid both the cold look – like a yuppie office aesthetic – and the cluttered look which can be distracting. Remember to always maintain a balance between your office and your personal life and colours can be very helpful with creating distinctions. You can always ask a professional about colour palettes that suit your lifestyle.
If you are interested in colours you can always check out our post about 2022 Colour Trends!
Bonus Idea!
If you have children, consider keeping them occupied by creating their own study space, their own mini-me office. It can be hard to be a parent and a working professional simultaneously, so create a learning or playing space in your house to keep children busy in a safe and creative way while you are in a totally different life-role.
Image Source: Extraspace.com
If you often work from home and wish to optimize your space in order to feel more balanced and more focused, get in touch with us. We would be happy to help with any questions you may have.
