The key to working from home effectively is knowing how to organize your home office so that it’s just as inviting as the view out the window.

Maryland is a gorgeous state. You may see lush greenery, or colonial charm, and certainly cleanliness and order, out your window right now. Even the year’s big snowstorm looks serene through the window, and the peak of a summer heatwave just looks bright and shiny when viewed from within the comfort of your own home. Rush hour? For those who telecommute, it’s simply a nice time for a little stroll after a day at your desk. (Just don’t forget to change into your street clothes!)

Of course, the key to working from home effectively is knowing how to organize your home office in order to create a workspace that’s just as inviting as the view out the window. After all, you’re sure to get more work done if you actually want to spend time in your office! If you’re ready to create that workspace, Closet America has some ideas for you. 

How to Organize Your Home Office in 5 Steps

There are so many ways to organize your home office that one of the biggest challenges is choosing among your choices. You can opt for finishes and styles that fit in with your home’s décor, or you can make your home office entirely unique. 

1. Get ready to customize. You may spend so many years in a cubicle with an uncomfortable chair and high noise level, or in a sterile office with a splendid view of the office across the street, that you lose sight of what a workspace can be. Creating a home office is a process that puts the personal and professional sides of your life in touch with each other. Ask yourself what conditions you work best in and what you want around you as you work. Think big. Treat yourself right.

2. Start with your desk. The center of your home office is your desk, so it’s especially important to choose one that is as functional as it is fitting for your style. You can have a desk custom-built into a corner of the room and take advantage of space that often goes underutilized. You can also build a countertop along a wall, perhaps facing a window (or facing away from the window), and designate that as your workspace. Or, you may want to consider installing a freestanding desk looking outward. If storage is an issue, this opens up the most space on the walls, and it’s a big difference. 

Once you’ve got the shape and placement in mind, it’s time to think about the details. Maybe the right desk for you is huge, with double screens, space to lay out your mail and notes and a cat bed in the corner. Your new desk could be wood-finished and ornate—or maybe a sleek, modern design would suit you better. Consider a peninsula connected to your organization system that you can roll your chair along (and keep the cat farther from your keyboard). If you’re an ascetic, a desk just big enough to hold your laptop and fit your chair under could be all you need. It’s your call. 

3. Think about your storage needs. Unfortunately, even in our digital age, few of us can work without piles of files and lots of notes. And then there are pens and scratch paper, stapler, staple puller, and all the other little things that fill (and spill out of) office desk drawers. For these, you will need shelves, drawers, and/or cabinets. You may have office technology—printers, modems, and black boxes with blinking lights, for example—that you would prefer to put behind a door in a cabinet as well. 

If you work facing the wall, it is important to keep work and storage spaces clearly separated. Otherwise, you risk chaos breaking out as the storage space expands or work and stored items become intermixed. A countertop stretching between two floor-to-ceiling organization systems can serve as a stylish, utilitarian desk. You might want to use drawers and chrome baskets for storage, and shelves for display. 

4. Work with your backdrop. You are probably spending no less than eight hours a day in this room. You might like to have a few items of personal value out to enjoy. You may have awards or mementos that inspire you, or you may get that feeling from your favorite books. An ideal place to display these items is on custom-made adjustable shelves on the walls. 

Now let’s think about practical matters. How do you work best? Do you like to have music on in the background? Speakers could easily be installed. A mini-refrigerator might be nice too. You could have a countertop with a coffeemaker, or even turn one corner of the closet into a little pantry. A lazy Susan, which makes corner space more accessible in kitchen pantries, could work well here too.

5. Keep cables out of the way. One thing that spoils clean elegant lines in an office is cords and wires. Luckily, even though we can’t work without them, we can keep them out of the way. It takes a specially designed system, but a little custom design can go a long way towards keeping those pesky wires out of sight but still conveniently accessible.

Making Your Ideal Home Office a Reality

With so many options available regarding how to organize your own home office, getting things just right can be tricky. That’s why, at Closet America, the first step in our customization process is a talk with a design expert. You can schedule a free consultation in your home to go over your options and make an interactive 3D model of your future home office using CAD technology. After you try out different ideas and discuss them with an experienced designer, every piece of your new home office will be made to order in our Landover, MD production facilities and installed by our specially trained technicians.  

If you’re ready to create your custom home office, contact Closet America today and we will be happy to get you started.

Lead image: Pixabay