How to Create the Perfect Custom Home Office

The office or personal study in your home should feel like a sanctuary that reflects both who you are and what you do. The home office should be as functional as it is stylish. When building a study or renovating a room for a home office, you should consider your needs for storage, organization or filing, and personal space around the desk. You should also plan the room to accommodate technology and media, even if you don’t utilize it right away.

Create Space for Yourself and Others

Nobody likes a cramped office. When you’re laying out the floor plan for the room, consider everything that is going inside and then give yourself extra square footage. You’ll also want to account for expansion and moving in additional items later on. Having a little extra elbow room can help you relax while you’re by yourself and help others relax when they visit your office.

Make Plenty of Room for Storage

You can never have too many shelves, drawers, or file cabinets in the home office. Managing family finances requires space for important documents, keepsakes, and other paperwork that you’ll need to secure. If possible, build your shelves and cabinets into the wall. This will create a cleaner space and enhance the design of the office. Build cabinets or shelves that are sized for file folders, and utilize vertical space in the room by building up.

What About Flooring?

The flooring in your office should go well with the flooring in the rest of your house, even if it isn’t exactly the same. The type of flooring you choose is important for several reasons. It contributes substantially to the atmosphere and general feeling of the room. The material should be durable and resistant to dents, scratches, and stains, so you can enjoy it longer and reduce the ongoing costs of maintaining your home. Your flooring will affect the acoustics in the room. Wood or laminate flooring creates a quite softer environment. Tile flooring is easier to clean, but sound bounces off the surface, creating unwanted echoes.

Set the Mood with Lighting

Numerous studies have shown that lighting affects mood. So, what mood will the lighting in your office put you in? Letting in plenty of natural light can reduce your electric bills as well as create a more serene environment than electric lights. Some homeowners feel more stimulated by bright light, while others prefer low-level, soft lighting. You’ll also want to consider lighting arrangements and direction. There are several options available to you such as canned lighting, track lighting, or ceiling fan/chandelier lighting. Wall lamps can add an elegant touch. Choose lighting that helps you feel awake and clear-headed as well as calm and in control.

Color Can Trigger Your Productivity

Just like light can fuel a mood, color can also affect your disposition. For instance, did you know that red and orange stimulate energy? Yellow can bring out a more vibrant mood; blue is calming, and green is easy on the eyes. Purple can trigger feelings of intelligence and sophistication. If it’s true that color can affect a person’s mood, then choose your office colors wisely.

Where Will the Equipment Go?

Dealing with equipment like fax machines, printers, scanners, and computers is an issue in most offices. Not only is it unsightly and impersonal looking, but it also requires cords and cables that always seem to be in the way.

A practical solution would be to design a wall credenza to house your equipment. Desks often face the middle of the room with windows or a bookshelf behind them. Use the space behind the desk to create a credenza that hides the equipment but keeps it easily accessible from your chair. A fax machine, printer, and computer could all fit into a custom-made credenza with sliding shelves for easy access. To better hide cords, you can run them under the main flooring and strategically place outlets along the walls or floor.

Homes by Brill custom home builders can help you design your ideal home office in your new home. To learn about our personalized design-build process, click here to download our free ebook. If you’re ready to start discussing plans for your custom home in the Des Moines metro area, click below for a consultation!