A disorganized workplace can be overwhelming to work in and can hinder your productivity. This is why you need home office organization ideas to make your place fun to work and be more productive.

A neat workplace, on the other hand, helps you focus better and rids you of the stress and anxiety that comes with cluttered spaces. That is why the home office organization ideas we will discuss here below are essential.

In this post, I will help you develop an organizational system for your home office: A system for arranging your paperwork, equipment, digital space, and the surrounding environment.

Here we go:

1. Set Up A Command Center

A command center serves as your base of operations for your home office. Some of the essential components of a command center include a printer, staplers, paper punch, a calendar, file holders, and a corkboard. A neat center should have a single table that holds all your essential items. Having a dedicated space to work, instead of sitting on a couch in the middle of your living room is certainly going to make you more productive.

2. Rearrange Items On Your Desk

Start with the desk because it is your core workstation. To have a neat desk, you need to get rid of the accessories/items that you no longer use- or that you rarely use. These include to-do lists or jot notes that you are already done with, old pens, redundant file holders or trays, faulty desk lamps, cups, and desk clocks, among others. While at it, get holders for your pens and highlighters and a container for your binder clips.

Once you have dealt with the clutter problem, you can then glam your desk with:

• Noteholders that bear uplifting messages to encourage you through the day.
• Low-maintenance plants like cactus, aloe, spider plant, lemon balm, or a snake plant. The beauty of houseplants is known to reduce work-related anxiety.
• Colorful magnets for holding your pins.
• Decorative bookends for your diary and other books.
• Acquire laptop and keyboard stands, preferably those with ergonomic designs, to boost your comfort. It is easier to maintain a neat desk when you are comfortable than when you have to strain your back to reach your keyboard.

3. Have A Customized Working Calendar

If you can place a calendar on your wall it helps you in keeping a better eye on your planning requirements. You will get better results from having this calendar such as better efficiency and you are more likely to be in control of the work time.

You can use a DIY calendar system that will add coordination and customized glamour to your office together with other elements. You can use glass frames painted with color on the inside. A white tape can create various boxes and dates may be written by using erasable ink or they may be pinned by using sticky notes.

Or, you can resort to a virtual project scheduling calendar like the one you get in ProofHub, where you can manage your deadlines, events, milestones and more.

4. Add Shelves To Your Space

Shelves help you to optimally utilize the vertical space in your home office. They are particularly important for people whose line of work involves lots of paperwork, or those whose home office doubles up as the library. It is easier to locate files, binders, and books when they are well organized on an open or compartmentalized shelf. What’s more, your artifacts, professional and academic certificates, books, and memorabilia will look better on a shelf display than on the floor or a desk drawer.

Note: For a permanent home office, it is best that you convert an entire wall into a series of shelves. The shelves will not only give you additional storage space but they will also bring some décor value to your home. This idea can be pricey because it requires major home remodeling. You can create the shelves on your own, but it is best that you hire remodeling contractors for better results.

For a temporary office, say a corner in your living room, freestanding shelving units would be okay. They are portable for easy furniture reorganization, come in different colors to enhance your interior décor, and can fit even in small spaces.

5. Use Compartmental Drawers

While you are organizing it is easy to forget about the drawer space. As the drawers slide in they tend to offer you an illusion of good organization from the outside. This is possible even when absolutely nothing is organized or simple to locate from the drawer. You can also use small containers that will fit inside the drawers to finally maintain all the things into place.

Those days are gone when you were required to append a messy drawer while looking for your batteries. This is also a relatively cheap way of finally feeling like your life has a semblance of order in it. These drawers are also an excellent way of organizing different kinds of writing implements.

6. Have A Wall Of Cabinets Installed

A wall containing built-in cabinets inside the home office will maintain the various items away and out of the way when not required. You may consider stock kitchen cabinets that you can buy from any home improvement store for this purpose. These cabinets can perform the duty of hiding all the office files and supplies.

You may top these cabinets by using a length of countertops providing additional workspace. You may also take a look at the different options provided by Ikea for the cabinetry that may be customized for a fit within the office. So, if you have the requisite space and a budget you may consider bringing in a range of cabinets to the home office for improving the organization.

“Stay productive while working from home. Instead of juggling between many apps, bring all your tasks, teams, projects and communication together — try ProofHub.”

7. Use Cubbies To Organize Your Items

Do you possess difficulty in store inventory? Or is it required to display items for your guests that visit your home office? In this case, having a cubby system may be your greatest organizational tool. A stylish cubby bookshelf can hold your items elegantly together with accessories. The beauty of having a cubby system is that it is symmetrical, naturally neat, and it is perfectly proportional to provide an appearance of good organization. Slide some decorative storage baskets inside these cubbies for hiding the smaller items or those items that may otherwise appear disheveled.

8. Label All Items

If you are looking to stay organized the label maker is your greatest asset. Simple things such as labeling cabinets are not only going to save time for you and a lot of frustration but will also limit the number of interruptions you will get during your day. You will not have spent a lot of time looking for printer paper if you can slap a label “Printer Paper” over the right drawer or cabinet.

Do not stop at just the desk but dive deep within the files to accentuate your productivity to another level. You can also sort the files as “final” or “draft” versions of your deliverables. For an added advantage get a folder for your inbox.

9. Get Rid Of The Additional Paperwork

E-filing may have made filing easier and faster, but it hasn’t entirely replaced analog, physical paperwork. It is pertinent that you sort and file away all your paperwork and label the files for easy access. This approach might seem like an outdated trick but it will help you stay orderly. Meanwhile, you can discard paperwork that you have stored digitally to avoid keeping duplicate files.

10. Conceal Electrical Cords

On top of making your home office look disorganized, hanging electrical cords can be harmful especially to toddlers and pets. Hold them using cable mounts and, whenever possible, run them behind the desk and other big furniture. Ensure that you’ve sorted them out by identifying how many they are, how long they are, and where they come from before fastening them together.

11. Be Creative With Your Houseplants

We already mentioned that houseplants can be great additions to a home office. They, however, can clutter your tiny office if not well organized. You can avoid that by choosing plant sizes that fit your space: Don’t go for wide plants if your floor space is small or tall plants if your home has a low ceiling.

You can also:

• Create a table centerpiece by placing a mix of greenery and florals on a small table as opposed to scattering flowers all over the space.
• Hang drapery plants (e.g. Devil’s ivy or Philodendron) above the window. That adds color to your window without consuming any floor space.
• Create a lush jungle vibe in one corner by using curated cluster planters.
• Suspend plants from the ceiling.

12. Display Inspirational Posters

You can pin inspirational clippings or other such random pieces of paper onto a board or the wall. You may use the vertical space for this purpose. You will allow a place for them to live rather than leaving them in forgotten piles of paper. It is also a way of livening up the normally unused wall space.

13. Surround your seat with beautiful items

Although it may sound a bit counterintuitive, if you can bring more beautiful items to your home that bring you joy it can be a wonderful thing. When you surround yourself with articles that you love, you are more likely to keep your space free from all the junk. A small shelf in a corner of the home office, a small wobble head or anything similar that brings a smile on your face when you are stressed. Anything that works for you — just add it to your home office and you will get to see the results.

Conclusion

Organizing a home office is not rocket science. The trick is to identify the items that are cluttering your space and arrange them properly. With these home office organization ideas, you will create a pristine work environment that will improve your efficiency while you work from home.

Now go ahead and tidy up your space!

About Author:

Amelia is an architect. She is young and ambitious, with a degree in architecture. She has four-plus years of experience in interior and exterior design. Her mission is to inspire others to live their dreams and create their perfect sweet home. Amelia puts a big effort into working with her clients and tries to help them in the best way she can.

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