The Ultimate Guide to Creating an Efficient Small Home Office Desk Setup

Designing a new home office is hard, but the problem escalates when you only have a small space to work with. This article will outline all you will need to create the most efficient workspace, perfect for procrastinators with good taste.

Identifying Your Needs

Firstly, you're going to need to fully flesh out what your desk setups needs to be useful for. Some of those requirements could be:

• Studying
• Writing and creative media
• Engineering and development
• General miscellaneous work
• Gaming

The requirements for your desk should be a great place to start when it comes to choosing what equipment your workspace will feature. For example, if your intent is to create a workspace for creative work like writing & art, it may be a good idea to create a minimalistic aesthetic, perfect for fruiting inventive ideas. Whereas a workspace for a developer may require the addition of more peripherals, multiple monitors & testing environments.

Another important factor to think about before you get started building your workspace is identifying the size of the room you will be using. The size and style of your desk may depend on this. If your room is limited to a very small size, it may be a good idea to consider purchasing a L Shaped Corner Desk, similar to the image below.

Lighting Up a Small Space

Optimizing lighting is an important aspect of creating a comfortable work environment in your small home office. Poor lighting can cause eye strain, headaches, and reduce productivity, while good lighting can improve mood, enhance focus, and boost productivity. Here are some tips for optimizing lighting in a small room desk setup:

1. Make the most of natural light: Position your desk near a window to maximize natural light. If possible, open curtains or blinds to allow as much light in as possible. If you have an adjustable blind, consider tilting it to reduce glare on your computer screen.
2. Consider task lighting: In addition to natural light, consider adding task lighting to your workspace. A desk lamp or adjustable task light can help you see what you're working on clearly and reduce eye strain.
3. Add ambient lighting: Ambient lighting can help create a cozy and inviting atmosphere in your workspace. Consider adding a floor lamp or wall sconce to provide a soft, general light source.
4. Control glare: Glare from windows, screens, or other bright sources can be distracting and cause eye strain. Consider adding curtains or blinds to control glare and reduce reflections on your screen. You can also add an anti-glare screen filter to your computer monitor.

Maximizing Storage

Due to the fact that our allocated space is limited, a great way of achieving a fully functional home office is to maximize your storage possibilities. This can be done in a few ways. An example of maximizing storage is to purchase a desk that comes with a chest of drawers, this will help by using space that is already being occupied by your desk.

Using Vertical Space

Using vertical space is a great way to allow for more storage capacity, without taking up too much real estate in your room. This could entail fitting a cabinet on the wall, or purchasing tall storage furniture that allows you to fit all of your current and future needs whilst leaving plenty of room for the rest of the room. If your space is truly limited or you're not able to purchase new furniture for your home office, another idea (if you can call it an idea) is to simply move your belongings into another room out of sight or repurpose other items around your home to store office supplies.

Creating a Comfortable Work Environment

Just because your workspace may be small, that doesn't require you to sacrifice quality and comfort. It is extremely important to invest in equipment that will last and result in the best for your health and productiveness. An Ergonomic Office Chair is a great place to start, adequate back support will not only help keep your spine in good health, but it aid in ensuring you can work at a productive level.

Adding Personalized Touches

The best way to improve productivity at your workspace is to make it feel warm and inviting. You would be surprised how much customizing your desk will help in making you want to work there. There are many different ways to add your own design, you can accomplish it through your color scheme, adding plants and greenery, displaying personal photos & media, using patterns or textures, and even creating a wall gallery.

If you're struggling and would like to find some ideas to add to your own workspace, check our our gallery of annotated setups, where you can find some innovative desk setups, and incorporate some of the designs to your own.