Home Office Interior Design – Step 4

Yesterday’s challenge was about deciding what items in your home office you are going to display or hide away. Today, we get to focus on furniture! I want to be clear and say, in an architectural design office, we would really get a mood board together before making this decisions and decide on the exact pieces we would use to furnish a room (mainly because the furniture takes months to arrive!)

If you are purchasing furniture, make sure you are really clear on the delivery times, returns policies and any other cancellation policies for custom made items.  Even though the wall and floor colour go hand in hand with the furniture, the FFE (furniture, fittings & equipment) we put into the room usually live longer than the surroundings themselves.

My personal tips to furnishing your office space are:

1. You may already have pieces of furniture that you want to use in your home office. If not, you could find something that you absolutely love and build your whole room around it. Usually, this would be the desk, shelving or storage unit or chair. Personally, if I didn’t have a piece that had been handed down to me or one of high quality, this is where I would invest.
2. Your desk is probably the main space where you will work, but do you have another place where you can read comfortably, browse for ideas or work? You might not have room for a window seat or a gorgeous tub (or designer) chair, so think whether you can use a pouf or a dining room chair that may create a different space for you to undertake different activities. What could you use as a secondary space?
3. Unfortunately it has to be said that, if you spend hours at your desk, you do have to take ergonomics into consideration. After years of working long hours in architectural offices, I am riddled with RSI after working in inappropriate work places for 16 hours or more a day. If you are going to be using your office space for really long periods of time, make sure you follow ergonomic rules. They don’t have to be geeky, although, currently, I have to admit, my ergo desk for 3D and drafting work are hidden behind a door…

I wonder how you are getting on with this minnie-course Have you made any changes or are you still thinking about what changes you are going to make? Even if you haven’t started physically changing anything, the thinking process you have started will spur you on to take action when the time is right.