The home office – a space to work productively within your own four walls

Working at home – a growing trend thanks to increasingly flexible working hours. The number of companies who allow their employees a home office is rising – and there is a good reason for it! Anyone who writes creatively or needs to really focus on work, for example, needs aninspiring, calming work environment. These spaces can be found in quiet cafés, in the library or within your own four walls – certainly not in loud, overcrowded, open-plan offices. Anyone wishing to set up an office at home is sure to have thought long and hard about theiroffice furniture. We will show you how you can create your own productive and inspiring home office.

[Translate to English:] Paravent gebaut mit einem Handtacker von Novus

Space solutions for your own home office

It’s best if you set up your home office in a separate room. To ensure you are not distracted by your partner, children, pets, electronic devices or guests, a separate office area is ideal. If you don’t actually have any spare space, you can use folding screens to separate your work and living spaces from each other. Folding screens are easy to fit – you only need a few pieces of equipment and a tacker. Side boards and shelves are perfect room dividers – you can create storage spaces for your documents at the same time.

Choosing suitable office furniture

The desk is the heart of the office. It is best if it has drawers to ensure sufficient storage space. The office chair must meet ergonomic criteria: It needs to be height adjustable with an adjustable backrest. Eyes tire less with daylight. However, there is not always enough daylight. That is why a desk lamp is a useful addition to ceiling lights. This means you can always see in diffuse lighting conditions. Bear in mind that an office can never be completely paperless despite digitisation and includeample storagein shelves or cupboards. Another option is a second desk on which you can store documents and folders without cluttering your writing desk. Pay attention to space: if you print, phone or fax, position your devices so that you can reach them easily from a sitting position. Nevertheless, getting up to move around from time to time is a good idea. A short walk across the room whilst on the phone can re-energise you for the tasks ahead. A small, cosy chair is also perfect for rereading topics or creative thinking.

The most important pieces of office furniture for your home office are:

1. A desk with storage space

2. An adjustable office chair

3. A workstation light for a well-lit desk

4. Storage space and work surface

5. A chair to relax in and read

[Translate to English:] Bunte Bürogeräte auf einem Home Office Schreibtisch

Creating a pleasant office environment

In addition to functional furniture, a pleasant office environment significantly contributes to productivity in the home office. The following applies, as it does so often: less is more. Decorative features and colours should be selected appropriately and not have a dominating effect.

A pretty picture on your wall and stylish, colourful office equipment on your desk can also colourfully mix up your home office. The wall colours should be stimulating but not brash. Blue is an excellent choice as it is a colour that relaxes most people and is thought to stimulate creativity. In addition, blue does not tire out the eyes. Green and white are also great choices for office walls. If you don’t want to open the paint tin just yet, you can add colour in different ways.

[Translate to English:] Materialien für ein Tapeten Wandbild

Creating a wallpaper mural with a hand tacker

You don’t have to restrict yourself to adding colour to your walls. A large mural made of wooden strips and wallpaper between them can easily and quickly add colour to the room. The mural is flexible, can be varied in size and can be taken down when you no longer need it. It is also perfect for separating the working area from the living area in a large room.

Here’s how to create your wallpaper mural for your home office.

You need:

1 roll of wallpaper with a pattern of your choice
2 wooden strips (at least 1.5 cm deep, width your choice i.e. 1.5 metre)
Novus J 29 tacker
T ype A fine wire staples
Gold spray colour
Stanley knife
Hooks for the wall
2 eyelet bolts

[Translate to English:] DIY Tapetenwandbild selber bauen

How to create a wallpaper mural

1. Spray the wooden strips in a colour of your choice.

2. Cut the wallpaper to the desired lengths. To reach the width of the wooden strips, you need a second strip. If you have wallpaper with an image, pay attention to matching the pattern. This is repeated at certain points. Cut your second piece of wallpaper so that the pattern of the first wallpaper continues. Information on the alignment can be found on the roll of wallpaper.

3. Once you have matched the second roll of wallpaper to the right pattern, attach this to the back with tape.

3. Screw in the eyelet bolts on the top edges of the wooden strips. You can attach a piece of string to these which allows you to hang the mural on the wall.

4. To finish, tack the top and bottom edge of the wallpaper to the wooden strips. Use a hook to easily hang the wallpaper mural.

The planner and the disorganised personality

Irrespective of how you design your home office, you should think abouthow you work as early as possible. What does your desk look like? Is everything in its place or is it a complete mess? Depending on your work personality, you should bear a few things in mind. For theplannersamong you, the home office isn’t a big challenge: At the end of the day, your files are always where they belong and they are easy for you to find.

This is the complete opposite when it comes todisorganised personalities. Their desk is full of papers in the blink of an eye. And it is usually not restricted to the desk: they might read an article on the sofa and write a text in the kitchen. Your home office soon expands to the entire house. If you can’t find something, it can lead to a hectic search that involves your whole family. It is best to limit your work to your workspace, put a structured storage system in place in good time and create sufficient storage space. This can save you and your loved ones a lot of time and stress.

Productive working in the home office

To finish, we would like to briefly list the most important factors to consider to work productively:

Good lighting conditions
Ambient temperature
Fresh air
Ergonomic furniture
An inspiring working environment

Enjoy your own home office!