The idea of a home office space is both dreamy and daunting but something that I’ve slowly been tweaking for four years since we moved in. There’s nothing flashy or complicated about our condo, plus our office configuration is a little unorthodox but we’ve learned to love it. A series of trial + errors and layout combinations later, I feel like I finally have figured out exactly what makes an inspiring office space.
Let’s rewind, before I worked for myself I worked from the loft offices of an esteemed, full-service Advertising Agency. That space was unreal and always inspiring with it’s brightly coloured walls, exposed beams and open-concept work space designed for collaboration and creativity. Hard to top that with a teeny tiny corner space in my apartment!
While it’s convenient (& comfortable) to work from home, it’s often uninspiring. Which, as you can imagine, makes it really difficult to do my job. So with a limited budget and a pinterest page full of ideas, I had to get creative to make my space cozy, inspiring and a place I felt happy to spend the majority of my time.
Scroll down for 5 tips to creating an inspiring workspace:
- Play with layout: my office is the worst shape you could imagine! So, I really had to figure out what made the most sense to be in there, what purpose it would serve and how it would contribute visually to the room. I’ve changed and rearranged this room countless times and every time it gets a little better, so my advice would be to not be afraid to get your hands dirty and try new things.
- Determine what you need: do you need a large, clean desktop space to spread out your ideas? do you need a printer to print contracts? do you need a clothing rack so you can have current pieces on hand for inspiration? Figure out what you will need to do your job (as if you were in a ‘real’ office) and get those things in place. Feeling/being prepared and organized will help you use your time on what you actually need to be doing.. and not running around for a stapler.
- Add artwork: as you can probably tell, I’m a visual person so for me, artwork is the heart of the room. Art is one thing that I like to collect and switch up every couple months, something that I’ve learned to love with age from my Grandfather. I love ordering my artwork (including frames) from Minted.com. You can shop my artwork at the shopping roll at the bottom of this post.
- Organization is key: I’ve become obsessed with organizing and finding new ways to organize. I bought lots of those clear, acrylic trays and put them in all my drawers in my desk and printer station. They come in all different configurations so you can customize any drawer depending on how you want to organize. Beauty drawers: below my desk is a clean, white set of mini drawers (from Ikea) that I use to store all of my beauty cosmetics. I fill the drawers with the acrylic trays then organize by product and brand. Way better than having products roll around in a crowded drawer. Printer Station: adjacent to my desk is my printer and stationary station. On the desktop I have a printer & scanner, then beside, I have a tray that holds canisters for my Sharpies and pens, highlighters and sketch pencils. Below are mini drawers that I’ve organized to house all my paper stationary, notepads, thank you cards, business cards, extra printer paper/ink etc. Storage: items like sunglasses I store in a beautiful glass box I got from HomeSense. Wrist watches and dainty bracelets are hung on display on clear, acrylic bracelet stands.
- +More inspiration: To bring in more inspiration (in order to keep mine at a high) I keep a clothing rack in my office to display any new pieces I get or staples for the season. I also store my larger leather totes and handbags above my desk on a white shelf. Having bits of my closet in my office space keeps me inspired on what’s fresh & current and makes me excited to share and write stories for the blog. My philosophy is you can never get enough inspiration, so adding elements like fresh scented candles, live or fake plants in pretty containers, creating a mood or vision board on the wall — I even display distressed white sea glass I found on the beach of our island cabin in a clear glass container to remind me of the ocean and bring in those natural elements I personally crave. Find what inspires YOU and get moving!
– SHOP MY HOME OFFICE –
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