5 essentials for a small home office

Sometimes I feel that our house will never be decorated the way we want it. For us, winter is the time we plan and do any DIY projects. The warmer weather is perfect for getting out and about and having family adventures; winter is for being at home, enjoying each others’ company and working on making our house a home.

We’re fortunate to have a spare bedroom which we’ve turned into a home office. It’s small but perfectly formed and makes a great home office for my husband when he works from home. It’s been the last room to get a makeover but after 5 years it’s finally getting done. The carpet is being ripped up, the walls given a fresh coat of paint and we’re on the hunt for some new office furniture.

Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

5 essentials for a small home office

New flooring is always top of my list. The room currently has carpet which I really dislike. I find it unhygienic and hard to keep clean so we’ve been putting wooden flooring in all our rooms as we’ve decorated. Wooden flooring is easy to keep clean and looks fresh. I’ll also be insisting on a small rug to minimise the sound of my husband’s chair going back and forth across the floor.

We would love to replace our existing desk. We both need a designated work space and have a preference for light wood. I’m hoping that if we keep the office neutral then I might be able to use it too. My husband has been hankering after one of those standing desks as he spends so long sitting down every day.

Of course if you’re working from home you need a decent computer with reliable broadband. There’s nothing worse than writing an important email, hitting send and losing connection. There are some great broadband deals around but it’s important to think about how you’ll use broadband. For example how many people will use it, what speed do you need, do you need to include a home phone package or do you want to stream or download tv regularly? You should also check what broadband providers operate in your area and if there are any local deals are available.

Our office has a built in cupboard but we also need storage for books, paper files, a printer and scanner. Guess where we’re off to tomorrow? We’re going to pop into our local Ikea as they have some great, functional office equipment. I love keeping everything neat in trays, magazine files and desk organisers.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Just because you need a functional office space doesn’t mean that you can’t accessorise and personalise your space. We’ve collected lots of prints over the years and want to put our Lego prints on the walls alongside some of our favourite Lego builds. It’s definitely going to be a grown up space but I think we’ll have a lot of fun making over our small office space.

Do you have any essential items for a home office? If so, I’d love to hear them.