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We are all getting used to the new normal: working from home during the time of Covid-19. And even once a vaccine is with us and we are all inoculated, in a post-COVID-19 world, it is likely that more and more employees will keep working from home.
So whilst we bid farewell to the days of rigid daily commuting and on-site working, and as we embrace the help of virtual communication and remote collaboration tools, we have put together a number of pointers to maximise on your home workspace where you are able to concentrate, work efficiently, and be creative without distractions.
For most of us, space is at a premium and therefore we cannot always dedicate an entire room for just one function or purpose. For example, some people work out on their balconies, bedrooms or lounges. Others use their garages as a home gym.
One of the essentials of any home office is a desk and chair. Since we do not live in times where rooms were huge salons that used to accommodate entire lounge suites, fireplaces and seating areas for guests, we have to think cleverly on how to economise that precious space. Here are some solutions:
1. Go Slim
Get a narrower, slim-line desk instead of a huge bulky “I am King of the Castle” statement slab of a desk. Besides, who’s going to be visiting you to be impressed by such a behemoth? You’d be surprised just how much space can be saved for other purposes by gearing down your choice of desk a notch or two.
2. Fold it away
Have a fold-up wall table installed: these are available from most furniture retailers and come in various shapes, designs and colours. These space-saving wall-tables are becoming very popular among apartment owners who use it in kitchens, dining rooms and studies, in fact anywhere that extra surface space is needed. These tables usually store or fold away as flat panels against the wall with their ingenious hinge systems; so much so that you are hardly aware they are there when not in use.
3. Think multi-use
The most exciting option is to make your study a triple-purpose TV room and bedroom when needed, so 3 rooms in one! Achieve this by getting a two-seater sleeper sofa instead of the usual free-standing chairs for your study and have your TV mounted overhead on the wall behind your desk (or any wall of your choice) instead of it occupying space by just standing somewhere in the room. This way you can work here, relax here and have a guest sleep over in the same room. What a score!
4. Are you taking note?
Have a section of the wall in your office painted with blackboard paint and put a frame around it to add some style. You can use this to write some notes or reminders or even use it for home schooling, or let your kids have fun by just drawing on it.
5. Dine and work
Get a round table with 4 chairs that fit underneath it instead of a standard rectangular office desk. That way you have a dining room and study on the ready, either when you are working or when you feel like having an intimate dinner with the family.
6. Keep it in the closet
If you do not have a study but only a second bedroom, you can look at turning some space in the wardrobe or built-in cupboards into an “office shelf”, it will usually be deep and wide enough to fit a laptop and stationery and if at the right height, you can slide a chair underneath it to comfortably sit and work. Some hardware stores may even stock slide-out extendable shelves you can install in the place of a standard shelf. A bonus is that when you close the doors, the “office” is out of sight!
7. Sleep on it
Have storage seating installed along the one wall of your bedroom: not only will this give you a space to sit and work but you can also use it to store a lot of things such as a pop-up table to create an instant home office space.
8. Stay alert
Have storage seating installed along the one wall of your bedroom: not only will this give you a space to sit and work but you can also use it to store a lot of things such as a pop-up table to create an instant home office space. There is of course the option of upgrading by going for a larger property with that extra room you can turn into a fully fledged home office. If that’s the case, make sure to talk to us.
