Creating Your Stylish Work From Home Space

Hi everyone, I’m baaaack! Yes yes, thank you, I know that you’ve missed me 🙂 As I mentioned in my previous post and on all my other channels, Alex and I have been away on a month’s holiday taken around our wedding. And what a month it was!

The whole vacation passed in a whirlwind of preparations, meetings with friends, family, decorators and vendors and culminating with a wonderful day that we’ll both treasure forever. But after the romance of it all, we’re now back in Amsterdam, and I’m back behind my laptop again, doing my best to create new pieces to amuse and delight you with.

Which got me thinking about how and where in the house I work on my blog from. It used to be almost exclusively from the living room couch, since the dining table has been fully sacrificed to Alex’s stay at home occupations…. sigh. But this turned out to be a terrible idea, not only for my back, but also for my productivity.

I believe that if you regularly work from home, you need to have a plan for creating your stylish work from home space. Dedicate a space for your at home work (or serious hobby), with a proper table and chair. So I got just these things, plus a bright lamp and carved out my own little living room blogging nook. It took me a while to decorate it and have it look like the picture I was seeing in my mind, but I couldn’t be happier with it now. Interested in how I did it?

First things first: functionality!

Yes, we are talking stylish home offices and I know you want a pretty, Pinterest worthy work space, but hear me out here- no amount of beautifully artistic pictures that you hang around that dimly lit area where you hunch over your laptop, on a chair with no back support will save you from ruining your eyes and your spine.

Choose a space that is well lit, preferably from a natural source if possible, and then supplement with interior lighting. I know you may think your laptop provides enough light for you to see what you’re doing, but trust me, once you get a proper, bright lamp, you won’t look back. Then pick out a chair that is comfortable but still supportive, so that your neck and back don’t go stiff after a couple of hours.

Add a moodboard

After you secure these things, it’s time to go to the more fun parts! And my first suggestion is: Have a moodboard or an inspirational piece that helps keep you focused on your goals. Think about everything that really matters to you, and all you want to achieve in your lifetime, and stick pictures or visual representations to your moodboard.

Visualizing what you want to obtain and where you want to be will help keep you on track, so that you actually follow through and reach your goals. You can even add motivational quotes to it- feel free to express yourself however you see fit, just make sure that every time you look at your board, you’re reminded of what you’re pushing for.

Add some decorations

Next, surround yourself with decorative objects that stimulate your creativity. This is where you can give yourself free reign to choose pretty additions to your space that don’t need to have any other function than pleasing the eye.

The only piece of advice I have is don’t clutter your space- you still want the area to be tidy and conducive to work. But a few colourful, artistic or whimsical items will give you extra motivation to sit down at your desk and keep going.

Bring some greenery in

Don’t underestimate the importance of flowers, be they in vases or potted. Working on your laptop a lot means missing out on vital outdoors time, so why not bring at least a tiny bit of nature to you? I don’t know about you, but I always perk up when I see a colourful bouquet peering at me from behind my laptop screen, or even my tiny little cactus.

Bringing a bit of greenery in your space helps you not feel so alone while you’re working away, as silly as it may sound, and plants can even have a calming and relaxing effect.

And finally, keep your space clean and organized.

The temptation to use your home desk as another hallway table or as a storage unit will be huge, especially if you live in a small apartment where space is scarce. And even if you live in a bigger one, we all know that we tend to accumulate stuff and furniture until we fill out all the space that we have available, so do your best to keep this space just for yourself and your work.

I’m sure there are many more things you could do to improve your work at home office, but these are just some very basic steps that anybody can take and that will still bring you miles ahead of just working slouched on the couch or in your bed. I would love to hear how many of you work from home and if you have made a little space for yourselves and your passion!

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