Since you will be working from home, you’ll need to keep in mind your family’s traffic patterns. When you pick your home office space you probably don’t want it right in the midst of your children’s videogame marathons. Or be in the path of the endless trips to the refrigerator by hungry family members. So take the time to really watch how your family flows — it will save you countless moves from room to room.
You’ll also need to consider the type of work you’re going to be engaged in. If you’re a writer, you’ll probably be using your laptop extensively and you might want to print out your work for proofreading. If that’s a case you wouldn’t need a tremendous amount of room in order to get the job done. Now, if you plan on running a business that includes frequent mailings or product assembly you’ll definitely need to increase your space by at least an additional half of what you already think is enough. Here are a few examples to ponder:
- I have a friend who does frequent mailings. One of her greatest frustrations is her inability to setup her mailings in an assembly line fashion. Because she lacks adequate space things get misplaced often, which leads to wasted time and effort.
Quick Tip: Remember to add at least 10% of your intended office space for your storage space.
- You should allocate enough space to hold your supplies and items you infrequently use. Since most people use inkjets, you don’t need a lot of room to store the cartridges. I use my laser printer for most of my printing needs, so I have to make extra space for the toner boxes.Quick Tip: The bottom of a closet to be a great place to store reams of paper, laser printer supplies, paper clips, pens, etc. If you have little kids, the top shelf may be a safer spot.
And last, but not least, you should try to provide yourself a place to decompress. In my office, I have a small loveseat that I can use to give myself a break from working on the computer. Sometimes I sneak a cat nap, other times I use the loveseat to proofread my work or to make phone calls. It’s nice not to be chained to the chair.
