The Home Office Guide
Technique and Tips:
Move the guest bed
Let’s face it: You aren’t having guests over any time soon. If you’re lucky enough to have an extra room in the house, use it. If you can’t actually move the bed out, consider pushing it to a side wall in order to help your office space take over energetically. I did this with my first house, which had two bedrooms. I put in a communal table desk and hung a curtain between it and the guest bed on the side. It made a world of difference—we felt as if we had a proper office.
Get your desk off the wall
To feel more productive, orient your desk to face the door into the room. Like a boss. If that’s not possible, face toward a favorite window with a view. It might slow down productivity a little, but it will surely make you feel better than staring at a blank wall.
Give yourself some life
I also love the idea of going outside and cutting some greenery, branches, or flowers to put in your room. It’s amazing what a difference they make for your soul!
And I love a collage wall—a place to put things up that inspire me or make me happy. Staring at one just gets my brain working.
Write on your walls
Sometimes an old school approach is just better. Don't get me wrong, Zoom and Google are great, but when I am in the middle of brainstorming I never reach for my laptop, I reach for a good ol' piece of chalk or even a pencil and scribble down my thoughts. Maybe it's the kid in me that always wanted to draw all over the walls or maybe it's that big ideas deserve big spaces but there is something so satisfying about seeing your idea in real time right in front of your eyes. I am always a fan of adding a chalkboard wall to an office (my go-to is Chalkboard Black by Rust-Oleum). I also love a white board wall just as much, the best part about this kit is that it makes the wall magnetic...now you can make a collage wall (without putting any holes in the wall.)
Cloffice!
If you are tight on space, clear out an old closet and make it your own office. The best part is that when you’re done, you can actually close the door behind you and truly leave your work at the end of the day.
An easy way to get power to your closet is to swap the light fixture out with this guy!
Sticky notes are your best friend
I keep them everywhere so whenever I have a thought, a to do, a quote I want to remember, I grab one.
They are the easiest way to quickly reference a thought later. And in true LFI fashion... forget that neon business and "stick" to black or white ...(You can easily see pencil markings on black post-its!)
It Ain’t a Mess if it’s Monochrome
I’ve got a measuring tape in every room of my house and several in my office, so when Hart Tools let me and my brother Steve design our very own monochrome line of tools, I was pretty excited. When your tools and office supplies look good, you won’t mind them sitting around. They even become part of your decor!