Whether you work from home or want to create a stylish study space for your children, choosing the right office furniture is key to maximizing your productivity, ensuring you stay on task and work comfortably.
Your home office should be “an environment where you want to sit down and work,” says interior designer Melissa Leclair of Leclair Decor. She and her business partner and husband, Sacha Leclair, offers their tips on choosing the right office furniture.
Function first
Think about how you need to use your office space.
“You want the office to look good, but also to be functional,” says Melissa. What are the tasks you do throughout the day? Do you need a lot of space for paperwork or just a spot for a small laptop computer?
Consider the amount of storage you will need. Do you have a lot of paperwork that you need to organize? Do you need a large filing cabinet to store documents or will your office space be largely paperless?
Mapping out the tasks you do during your day will help you determine how much space you will need
Location, location, location
Be creative with where you put your office.
“You don’t have to have the home office hidden in a bedroom anymore,” says Sasha. Many are choosing to maximize space by locating offices in living areas, tucking desks into a basement nook under a stairwell, or transforming a closet into a work space.
In their own home, the Leclairs turned a small nook in a guest bedroom into their office space, using a narrow IKEA Bestå desk.
Go against type
Incorporating an office into your home means you can have fun choosing atypical office furniture that adds a unique design element to the room. An antique vanity or even a console table can be easily transformed into a desk.
If your desk is in a living space, use a stylish dining chair instead of a typical plush executive chair.
“Especially if you’re not sitting in the chair all day long, you can make it more decorative,” says Melissa.
Plastic Eiffel chairs that offer a pop of colour are especially popular for children’s desks as they’re easy to wipe, while stools that contain storage and can be tucked away under desks when not in use can be a great space-saving option for dorm rooms or small home office nooks.
Light it up
A good work space should have multiple sources of lighting, including a desk lamp for task lighting, a pendant light or ceiling fixture and perhaps a soft floor lamp. If your office space contains a window, make use of natural light by positioning the desk in front of or beside it.
Think vertical
A cluttered work environment is likely to be an unproductive one. The Leclairs make use of height for storage by adding floating shelves above a desk and decorative boxes and wooden bins to hide supplies and paperwork.
“Having storage is key to avoid the cringe effect when walking into your office and seeing all the clutter,” says Melissa. Just remember to label your boxes so you can easily find materials.