Home Office Design
Ideas from Tip to Toe!

Designing a Home Office Should be Fun

As a Virtual Assistant your home office design should be carefully thought through. Don't think that because you're working from home you can only put a desk and chair in the corner of a room and start working.

It might work in the beginning, but as your business grows you will have to look into designing a home office that better fits your work- and lifestyle.

Below are a few home office design ideas to help you out.

Start by asking yourself the following questions:

• Why do you need a proper home office
• What do you want in your office
• What equipment do you need

Why do You Need a Proper Home Office

• Because you are running a business from your home office
• Because you wanted freedom, a better working environment and maybe you hate working in a cramped, stuffy office
• Because you are going to spend most of your day in your home office - make sure it is beautiful and eye-catching;
• Because you need an efficient and functional office to do your work properly
• Because this is where your bread and butter will come from

Home Office Design Ideas

• What about a bright colour for your home office design, to differentiate it from the dull colour you had in a normal office environment
• What about a poster that motivates you or pictures of your family
• What about a beautiful plant or two or a fish bowl to bring life into your home office
• What about your mission statement and goals against the wall to remind you why you decided to work from home
• What about a "fun" home office design that brings a smile to your face every time you enter it
• What about a lamp or two if the light is not that sufficient and if it is, just because you love a beautiful lamp
• What about a radio to listen to your favourite radio station

What Equipment do You Need

• A desk that allows movement of your legs while working to help avoid cramps and stiffness.
• An office chair. Remember your home office will literally revolve around your chair. You can expect to be spending a lot of time in your office chair so don't cut corners here of all places. A rapid route to extreme back problems is to use a cheap or substandard office chair.
• A computer is definitely a necessity for a Virtual Assistant. Whether it is a desk top or lap top make sure you can adjust the monitor height to avoid neck strain. Also make sure that you are not sitting to near or too far from the monitor screen to avoid eye strain. A safe distance is about an arm length from the monitor.
• A printer, copier, scanner and fax will assist you to properly work from home and should fit in around your office and not become the focus of it. Nowadays, single machines are available that have all these functions, called All-In-Ones
• A definite must have is internet connection. Whether it is via an ADSL connection or 3G, make sure it is dependable as your work depends on proper internet communication with your clients.
• A filing cabinet or two will ensure that you keep your office tidy. An up to date filing system will help you find client files and information in an instance.
• Though a dustbin may seem as a luxury during the initial stages of setting up the home-office it should find its way into the interior space planning of your home office design. A dedicated dustbin ensures that the home-office space is neat and tidy.
• Although not equipment, any work area needs to feature sufficient lighting. Natural light is the ideal type of light for working in but this doesn't always mix well with computer screens. The lighting in your work area should not be so strong as to cause discomfort to your eyesight. Equally the lighting should not be so weak as to force you to sit closer to your monitor to counter the low level of light in the room.
• Lastly, but not least, make sure that there is no excessive noise in your home office. Noise can be distracting and take your focus off what you're doing. It also doesn't portray a professional image when talking over the phone.

For more information, read

How to Start a VA Business Telephone Etiquette
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