Working from home has created enormous freedom and flexibility if you are allowed to do this by your employer. And your home office could be a place to focus and get your best work done without the distractions you get in the office.
Having the opportunity to work from home can be amazing if you have a nice home office. It can be so much fun to start decorating it to be your most motivated and productive self.
There are some essentials that you just can’t live comfortably without, and I want to share these with you in this blog post. Start filling up your Amazon basket and begin with the creation and decoration of your beautiful home office.
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The 11 Best Home Office Ideas for Success and Productivity
1. Ergonomic mouse and laptop supplies
Everyone who has worked a desk job before knows how important ergonomic appliances are to prevent injuries. I worked as a transcriptionist when I was still in college and damn my wrists hurt after a day of typing.
Looking at the long-term situation, not working with ergonomic appliances might lead to more permanent problems like carpal tunnel syndrome, so treat your body as best as you can and let the ergonomic devices in your home office help you a bit.
Using an ergonomic mouse is recommended by health services. Let me give you a good recommendation, this is a comfortable and efficient black ergonomic mouse from Logitech, but it is also available in white and in pink if you like it a bit girlier!
Other supplies that can help prevent wrist pain are ergonomic mouse pads and an ergonomic keyboard.
If you work on a laptop, buying or using a laptop stand might be a good idea as well because when you have to look down all the time, you will feel the strain in your neck after a while.
2. Planner
Home office essential number two: a planner! You can boost your productivity by using a planner. When you plan out everything, you know exactly what needs to be done and you can start working towards your goals straight away.
Depending on the type of work you do, you can go for a planner that shows every hour of the day, so that you can plan what you have to do at what time of day. You can use the time-blocking method to plan every task on your planner and get the most out of your time.
If you are not that into planning on an hourly level and don’t need that kind of precision, you can choose a weekly planner that allows you to write all your to-do’s for the day but without hourly time frames.
You can also plan everything on your phone, it’s also very convenient because you bring it with you everywhere you go, but if your battery is low, you might not be able to see your agenda and you are giving yourself more screentime by using your phone instead of a paper planner.
I think a paper planner is more visual, you can leave it in a corner of your desk in your home office and look at it all day plus you can also check off things you have done, which feels great!
3. Desk organizer
Your productivity will rise when you can work in an organized and neat environment, so you need a desk organizer to keep all your office supplies organized.
There are many different types of desk organizers, some of them have multiple trays to keep all of your paper documents separated, while others are only to keep the small things like pens, markers, etc. neatly together.
Depending on the size of your desk, you can get yourself a smaller or a larger desk organizer to help you keep your desk at your home office tidy.
4. Motivational board
A motivational board isn’t necessary to have if you are super motivated all the time, but who is? This board will help you focus on your goals and look at the big picture when you feel a little unmotivated to work.
It’s a great decoration for your home office as well as a mood and productivity booster! You can choose a very minimalistic canvas with a motivational quote or design your own using images representing your goals.
I’ve written a blog post about how to create your inspirational Canva vision board for free, go check it out if you are interested. With Canva, you can create beautiful wallpapers for your laptop or your smartphone and get inspired and see your goals multiple times a day.
I am a huge fan of the TV show ‘The Office’, so I would consider getting these motivational posters from The Office for my home office.
5. Ergonomic chair and desk
Working at a desk all day can take a toll on your body. You need to support yourself as best as you can by sitting on an ergonomic chair and using your desk at the right height to avoid back shoulder and neck pain.
The chair as well as the desk must be adjustable in height. You should be able to put yourself in a good ergonomic posture and adjust everything that surrounds you to make you sit comfortably.
Focus on having both feet on the ground, your knees should make a 90°- 120°angle, your back should be straight, and your shoulders should be relaxed. Your elbows should also be at a 90°-120° angle and your neck should be positioned straight. Your back should be supported by your chair.
So to set yourself up in a good ergonomic position, start with choosing the right chair height and adjust your desk accordingly. Adjusting your desk goes very easy with this ErGear adjustable electric standing desk, it’s a desk where you can sit or stand, and the alternation is amazing for your body!
Place the upper part of your laptop or monitor at eye height at 45-70cm viewing distance and consider using blue light-blocking glasses.
Getting good ergonomic devices can be a bit expensive, but your body will thank you for it.
6. Coffee maker
Coffee, coffee, coffee! All coffee addicts unite! You can’t have a nice and productive home office without having a great coffee maker, can you?
Okay, some people might prefer tea over coffee and I totally support that, get yourself a pretty waterboiler instead!
Coffee is known to boost productivity and get you extra energized and focused on your tasks at hand. Some people need their coffee to get fully awake in the morning and others just like the taste and the idea of the productivity boost.
Whether you drink your coffee black or like all kinds of variations with milk, there is a coffee maker out there for everyone. I am a big fan of Dolce Gusto for all kinds of special coffees but for my standard cup of Joe in the morning, I choose a coffee maker with beans.
If you want a cheaper option that also works pretty great, you can buy a drip coffee maker like my grandmother has. It produces great coffee as well!
Another adorable tiny coffee maker that I found on Amazon is the Keurig K-Mini Single Serve Coffee Maker. It’s available in many different colors and fits about anywhere because of its small dimensions.
And don’t forget to get yourself a cute coffee mug to drink out when getting started for the day. I can start my own mug collection with all the mugs I bought and got as presents the past few years. But drinking my coffee out of a fun mug makes me feel so much better in the morning.
7. Plenty of notebooks
You can never have too many notebooks in my opinion, or maybe you can if you use your computer for everything. However, I think it’s always useful to have a notebook lying around for when you need to jot o few things down on paper.
I love making notes by hand when I am having an online meeting because then you get to see the person or presentation on a much bigger screen than when you are also making notes on the computer.
You can assign different purposes to every notebook. Let’s say you have a notebook for quick note-taking, a notebook that serves as a to-do list, another notebook where you write down important things to remember, etc.
Keep them all nicely organized in a drawer in your home office and use them when you need them.
8. Noise-canceling headphones
You might think, why do I need noise-canceling headphones for my home office, this isn’t a landscape office. Unless you live alone in the forest, there can be noises to disturb you from focusing on your work.
If you are living together with other people for example and they are making phone calls constantly or maybe they have a day off and are vacuuming the house and making a lot of noise, or your neighbors decide that it’s time to trim all their hedges.
Noise-canceling headphones or earphones are a great thing to boost your productivity and let you work in the quiet you might need.
When you are working hybrid, so you are going to the office a few times a week, you might also like them to use on your commute, it’s way more relaxing this way and you might be able to read a book without noises disturbing you.
I would recommend getting headphones that go over your ears instead of pushing on them, when they sit around your ears, it will not get painful like on ear contact does after a while.
9. A non-disturb sign
Also, a great idea for when you are living together with other people is to put a non-disturb sign on your door. It can be really annoying when family members walk in when you are in a meeting or even when you are in a great focus zone that totally gets disturbed by them entering your home office.
Put a sign on the door that states that you are working and would like to be left alone. Some signs are adjustable depending on the things you are doing.
You might think, can’t they just knock and I will tell them that they should leave me alone? Yes, but when you do this, you will get distracted nonetheless and have to find your focus again. That’s why a non-disturb sign is the way to go.
10. Break room
You can’t work with focus every minute of your 8-hour work day, that’s humanly impossible. When you schedule breaks inside your day, you will be a lot more productive after taking those because your mind gets a little rest throughout your day.
It’s also beneficial to take your breaks in another room, a designated break room if you will, so you can’t reply to emails during your break time and you physically move into a different place.
You can also take a walk around the house or garden to clear your mind or get yourself a hot or refreshing beverage, depending on the weather and your taste.
Make the room where you take your breaks away from your home office as comfortable as you would like to relax as much as you can. If you work with screens all day, it’s best to take your break away from them, to give your eyes and brain some rest.
11. Cute water bottle
Staying hydrated is also important to keep your focus and be productive at work. When you are dehydrated, you are likely to get a headache from dehydration and it’s obvious that headaches don’t help you focus.
When you have a big water bottle at your desk in your home office, you are more tempted to drink from it when you know that this is the daily intake you need to properly give your body enough water.
Filling the bottle with tap water instead of drinking bottled water all day long is good for your wallet and the environment! If the bottle is cute on top of the practicality, it’s a great bonus. Who doesn’t like looking at pretty things when they are working?
Conclusion
Creating a comfortable, ergonomic, and beautiful home office will boost your motivation and productivity, which you need to do some great work in there!
Design your office to your liking and you will feel more motivated to get yourself in there every workday, maybe you even see yourself working over there on the weekend to get your side hustle started!
You spend a lot of time in your home office, so take some time to think about the essentials you need to feel good and productive.
Am I missing a work-from-home essential according to you? Please let me know in the comments! 🙂