One of the many advantages of having a home office is that you’re free to design and decorate your workspace however you want. But if you’re extremely busy, thinking about aesthetics is probably the last of your priorities. Why bother, indeed, if piles of documents and other work-related items crowd your desk? It gives you no allowance for anything decorative whatsoever.
But if you dedicate a weekend to redesigning your home office, you’ll love its effect. The space must reflect your personality. And that’s an amazing opportunity you shouldn’t miss out on because once work goes back to normal — meaning office-based work — you’d lose the freedom to tweak your workspace and stay stuck with a generic, dull desk.
That said, here is a little guide on designing a home office that matches your personality.
The Creative: A Beautifully Chaotic Office
If you’re a creative person, your home office is likely messy. You can’t help it; you’re just wired that way, and you have no problems finding your stuff in the clutter. But in the corporate world, a messy office is associated with poor organization skills, and thus, poor work ethic. It’s also reflective of people with concentration issues. So even if you’d like to prove others wrong with your optimal productivity and noteworthy outputs, it’s still better for your career to clean up your mess, especially if you welcome clients in your home office.
Besides, you can still “keep” your mess without making your home office look like a ransacked file room. If storage is your problem, see if you can utilize vertical space and install floating shelves or cabinets. To find out how much storage you actually need, list down all your business needs, and consult a designer to achieve your ideal storage. In turn, you’ll have a beautifully chaotic office, not just a chaotic one.
The Introverted Geek: A Moody Home Office/Library
Introverts can be highly critical of their environment, so if you’ve been wondering what makes your home office uninspiring, despite its privacy, it’s probably the lack of your favorite books and color palette. This is not true for every introverted geek out there, of course, but if you grew up surrounded by classical literature and autobiographies of iconic personalities, then having them close in your home office may help you gain inspiration. And to further set the mood for working, bathe the space in a dark color palette of your liking. Just ensure that you have access to natural light, or you may lose your inspiration.
The Pragmatic Worker: A Minimalist Home Office
Pragmatic workers are usually the opposite of creative workers when it comes to their home offices. Not that pragmatic people aren’t creative, but since they value proper organization, they can’t stand clutter. If you can relate, your home office will look best and suitable for your personality if it’s in a minimalist design. It’s straight-forward — just a sturdy desk with ample storage, a high-quality ergonomic chair, and adequate lighting. But adding a statement decorative feature wouldn’t hurt. Consider hanging a huge painting on a blank wall. That pop of color will bring more life to your plain space and signify that beneath your pragmatism is a fun-loving soul.
The Humanitarian: A Museum of Local Handcrafted Decorations and Furniture
If you advocate for the welfare of local artisans, promote your advocacy even further by displaying the handcrafted decorations and furniture you’ve bought from them. Include DIY arts and crafts that are locally-sourced as well. Fill the walls with photos of your humanitarian events, and dedicate a corner for the organizations you support. You can exhibit more photos there or a bulletin board containing info on how to support, donate, join, or raise awareness.
The Smart Worker: An Office Full of Essentials You Never Knew You Needed
Subscribers of life hack Youtube channels probably own things that look useless at first but are actually more essential than you realize. If you’re the type of worker who’s constantly thinking of making your life easier, you need items in your home office that’ll make you work smarter, not harder.
For example, maybe you lack storage, but instead of purchasing a cabinet you still need to assemble, you’d opt for a perch modular storage. It’s essentially a floating shelf, but instead of being bolted to a wall, it’s magnetic, so you can attach it to your steel pedestal and gain extra storage instantly.
Running out of disinfectant wipes for your smartphone fast? Save money by purchasing a smartphone sanitizer instead, a product that encases your phone in a UV sterilizer.
We can go on forever with all the personality types, but you get the idea now; fill your space with your needs because those are usually the representations of your personality. Don’t mind the trends. Chances are, they don’t truly reflect who you are anyway.
