I cannot talk from experience as my home office consists of me sitting on either my bed or couch and using a laptop table from IKEA to properly rest my computer on, and that's if I'm feeling like sitting on my bed is being too lazy! and my experience and projects aren't enough paper work that they have filled more than one magazine storage box yet so I will no doubt have to invest in a desk very soon, but for those who have an established business that they run from home and attend every weekday like a real office, the info I touch on might be helpful.
The Space - The office needs to be its own space, it shouldn't be a desk in the family room, or a nook in the kitchen. It needs its own room where you can open the door and arrive at work, and shut the door when you leave so your home again.
The Lighting - The room should be well lit, bright, natural feel lights for the winter months when its darker, and a nice window for those summer days and beautiful mornings!
The Air - Always choose a well ventilated space with adequate heating and cooling should it need it. Having a fan for the summer is a nice touch.
The Furniture - Always choose this carefully. If your business is one that involves reps, clients, other workers, or sub contractors to your office, you will need a table and chair to hold meetings at. Unless your home is huge and can accommodate for meetings with these people elsewhere, like a formal living room, then a table and definitely extra chairs will be needed.
Also think carefully about your desk or work bench. Depending on your occupation, you will need different things for example, I'm a designer, so I need a desk large enough for me to have my computer plus all the drawings, plans and possibly physical models all sitting on it at one time. If I was to go out right now and purchase furniture for my home office, I would probably get a desk and a table so I can really spread out and not have to pack things away just to look at something else. But if you are an accountant who does most of their work on a computer, then a small desk and a chair may be all that you need.
The Storage - Never limit the amount of storage you'll need. Shelving is an amazing invention, used to hold all manner of items, books, folders, wine bottles, magazines, files, sample boxes etc. You will need room for all this. Never get enough storage for what you have. Always get too much, you'll be amazed with how quickly you fill it. You may be a super organised human being who files everything away into boxes and stores them in your garage or attic and that's OK too. But always over prepare.
The Equipment - Pencils, erasers, pens, rulers, scissors, paper, printer, scanner, sticky notes, pads, diary, calender, markers, white out and highlighters are all basic office equipment and tools. They are the basics you will need to start out but as you go along, your drawers and jars will fill up and overflow. Make sure to throw pens out when they run dry instead of sticking them back in the drawer and try to keep your space as organised and clean as possible. And always have spares! There's nothing worse than trying to print out a concept proposal with ten minutes until your client arrives and running out of ink!
The Decoration - When it comes to styling in offices, having beautiful images, flowers and artwork around are a must! Who can work in a boring, dull, uninspiring environment with nothing beautiful to look at? Not this girl that's for sure! Something in particular that I'm loving for an office at the moment are beautiful hand made typographic inspirational quotes! Even just a simple bunch of flowers livens up a space.
And with all that information I leave you with some of my favorite office spaces that I've been collecting for some time on both instagram and pinterest :)
Ellen xoxo
sources:
http://media-cache-ec2.pinimg.com/originals/8c/77/90/8c779043210dba665db684b315368fef.jpg
http://camillestyles.com/life-2/10-best-office-spaces/?slide=2
http://media-cache-ec2.pinimg.com/originals/8c/77/90/8c779043210dba665db684b315368fef.jpg
http://www.etsy.com/au/listing/105556219/dorm-decor-preppy-trio-home-office-decor?utm_source=etsy_success&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=etsy_success_073112_0&euid=XCzbUDp-VrAHjjX-cYjMJnApFT7v&favorite_listing_id=105556219&show_panel=true
http://www.chictip.com/inspirational-interiors/inspiration-10-beautiful-home-office-designs
http://peltierinteriors.com/an-organized-interior-design-office-space/
