Due to unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances, people everywhere are suddenly finding themselves working from home. Without any preparation, your home can feel like the worst place to get something done as you can’t take the office and accompanying professional environment home with you. However, building a temporary home office is easy and relatively affordable, letting you get down to business without distraction in any room of your home.
Carving Out A Home Office Workspace
Creating a temporary home office is fairly easy as you only need two things: a table and a chair. Well, and an outlet to plug in your work laptop. Anywhere in your home can become office space if you can fit these things there. You can also take advantage of a space that already has these things (the dining room) to avoid making an investment in new furniture. Ideally, you want an area that is quiet and without a lot of distractions, like people moving around, but in a pinch you can find other solutions, such as noise-cancelling headphones and placing your desk or table against a wall.
If you are in the market for a new desk, there are space-saving options you can fit into any living room, bedroom, or kitchen. Foldable and nesting desks allow you to physically put away your office when you’re not using it, taking up less space than other types of tables when not in use. This also can help you separate “work time” from “home time” in your mind, which is a struggle most work-from-home employees have when trying to relax. Being able to set aside your work and enjoy the space without it is just as important as being able to work in the same space during the day.
Disguising Work with Play
You can’t always remove or put away your home office, so another option you have when you want to be away from work is to hide it. One of the best ways to hide your newly converted office space is by dressing it up. You don’t need a boring cubicle-like look to get work done, nor should you settle for one when planning an office for your home. Accent tables are a stylish way to bring a writing surface into your home without making it feel out of place. The goal with these kinds of temporary offices is that it still works as furniture for your home after you get the opportunity to go back to the office, so as to not waste an investment in furniture.
A Desk That’s Not a Desk
Accent tables lead into the next point quite well: your temporary office in no way has to resemble an office and your desk doesn’t have to be a desk. A TV tray, side table, or serving cart can fit your needs depending on the space you have and how willing you are to shape your work habits around your work surface. I personally like having a lot of work-related junk on my desk while I’m typing, making something like a side table much too small for my needs and I use a proper desk. But if all you need is a working laptop, any surface that can hold a laptop is now eligible to be your desk. Sit on your couch for that Zoom meeting and pull up a TV tray. This comfy spot is the office now!
A Home Office for the Future
If working from home ends up becoming how you do business from now on, you can always create a more permanent home office to better fit your needs. This includes a more functional desk than a temporary office, like having space for a desktop computer and ample storage for important files. You’ll also want to invest in a good office chair that’s meant to be sat in for hours day in and day out.
Creating a dedicated office space can be stressful when you have to do it suddenly, but is fairly simple when you break it down into parts. Working from home can work for anybody, even on a temporary basis!
