Tips for Creating a Home Office in a Small Space

There are a lot of advantages to working from home. You save on your commute, and with food at your fingertips, you’re much less likely to get take-out. It’s much easier to be on time for work, and if you don’t have any meetings, you can stay in sweatpants all day.

It’s not all fun and games, though. Many folks find it much easier to get distracted when they work from home, especially if their “home office” is just sitting on the living room couch with a laptop.

Creating a designated space for your home office has a lot of advantages. You’ll have a surface for your documents and various electronics, and you’ll be less prone to getting distracted.

Finding space for a home office in a relatively small apartment can be challenging, but with the right tools and techniques, it’s absolutely doable. Here, we share a few of our favorite small space home office design tips:

Room dividers are very helpful

There are all kinds of ways you can section off your home office - one of the easiest is by using room dividers. You can get them in various colors and patterns, they’re easy to install, and they create a physical barrier between your workspace and your living space.

You don’t even need to use traditional room dividers if they don’t suit your aesthetic - floor to ceiling curtains can make for excellent dividers. And once your space is divided, consider using wallpaper or other colorful flourishes to truly make your office space your own.

Think vertically

If there’s a lack of square footage in your space, don’t fret - you can always build up instead of around.

Floating shelves are your friends, as are the various products in 3M’s Command line (Command Strips and the like). Install the shelves low enough so you can easily reach items on them, and you can quickly double or triple the space you have in a small area.

In the same vein, you should consider mounting your monitor. Doing so will allow you to save space on your desk for documents or other electronics.

Multipurpose furniture!

You can purchase room dividers and floor lamps that double as shelving units. You can get wall-mounted fold out desks, or wall mounted desks that come with shelving units. Try to find pieces of furniture that optimize your use of vertical space.

Walk-in closet or home office?

Looking for a perfect space to set up a home office? Consider that walk-in closet you haven’t been using.

You can find all kinds of interesting spots to make a home office, from oddly-shaped nooks to that underused wall in your kitchen. Don’t limit yourself to putting your office in your living room - basically any room that isn’t your bathroom can be a suitable space if you’re creative with your furnishings and decor.

Lighten things up

Whenever possible, try to install your home office near a window. Natural lighting can seriously improve your mood while you’re working, and it’s nice to have something to look at that isn’t a wall.

When you can’t get natural lightning, consider using a floor lamp that has shelving, like we talked about in the multipurpose furniture section. You can also install battery-powered lights onto your wall if you’re really lacking for space.

Cable management is essential

Home offices almost always have an abundance of cables, and if you let them get strewn about everywhere, you’re going to find you’re lacking in space or tripping over them all the time.

Proper cable management is key. Use power strips and extension cables if you need more outlets. Use cable sleeves to keep everything bundled together. Install wall hooks under your desk and guide the cables through them. Label everything. Go wireless when you can.

And that’s it for our top tips on creating a home office in a small space! If you’ve found that, even with all these tips, you still can’t find a way to make a home office work - it might be time to move. That’s when Apartment Shopper’s services can come in handy. We hope you find a way to carve out a cozy office space for yourself!

Authors Bio

Catherine Holland is a writer based in Canada. She writes articles with a focus on marketing and home improvement for a variety of businesses. Some of her favorite pieces can be found on the Globe Property Management's website.