(4-min read)

Let’s face it; your home office is probably pretty boring. Here’s the good news—it doesn’t have to be. Because this is your own individual space far away from the glance of passing co-workers, you’re free to customize this space to your heart’s content. Let’s take a look at some less-common means of adding personality and thereby comfort to your home office space. 

1. Use Whiteboard/Chalkboard Paint

Depending on whether you prefer chalk or dry-erase markers, painting one or all of the walls of your office with chalkboard paint or whiteboard paint allows for unabashed brainstorming and note-taking. Both fun as well as useful, making the walls of your office a place for your notes is a great way to make your home office uniquely “you.” Our only warning about this technique is to make sure that you don’t write anything you’ll regret when you’re on a video conference call. 

2. You Decide What is Considered “Office” Furniture

When it comes to office furniture, most of us are used to snap-together pieces of particle board and clunky cabinets. The reason for this strictly practical nature of most office nature is because it needs to meet the needs of every employee. Well, at your home office, the furniture only needs to meet your needs. So, whether or not your desk is a laminated block of particleboard, an antique door you’re laying across two bike racks, or a cool old vanity is totally up to you. 

3. Experiment With Lighting 

One of the most refreshing aspects of working from home is staying “so long” to working under harsh fluorescent lighting. Now that you’re free of this, what kind of lighting options will you opt for? Natural light? Hanging LEDs? Floor lamps? Feel free to do your research, try out different styles, and go nuts. 

4. Develop Various Work Stations

You likely feel different in the morning than you do in the afternoon. Who’s to say that working in the same environment is necessary? To lean into your different moods throughout the day, design a few different work stations ready to utilize your energy best. Consider having a space dedicated to morning work, a nook devoted to answering email, a chair where you make calls, etc. When you assign each of these spaces a specific kind of work, you can better focus your mind on those types of tasks. 

5. Free Up Floor Space With Floating Shelves

An office with cabinets nestled in the corners of the room feels tiny. If you’re even the slightest bit handy, the world of floating shelves awaits. With the installation of just a handful of floating shelves, you can be on your way to free corners ready for a five o’clock dance party. 

6. Make This Your Space

Even if you work for a company from home, your home office is your space—your space to be your most creative, your most focused, your most productive, and your most energetic. Take a little while to decide what kind of space you want to spend hours of your working days. Put aside what other people think is good and decide for yourself. Which colors make you feel the most optimistic? Which furniture textures put you at ease? Which decorations inspire you to push through and extract your best work? Once you’ve decided which of these attributes encourages you to be your best self, design the office of your dreams. There’s a good chance that it’s within your grasp. 

Need Help Building That Office? We Can Help. 

Now that you’ve had a little bit of time to consider the home office of your dreams, now its time to make it a reality. While some of us can create this space with the area we currently possess, others will need the help of a home construction professional. If you require the assistance of a home construction expert in the Greater Tulsa area, look no further than Perry Hood Properties.

 

 

(4.5-min read)

It’s incredibly important to have a designated office space if you work from home. Not only does this removed space allow for increased focus, but it also allows you to turn off work from your mind at the end of the day. For many of us, this has forced us to be creative with the smaller removed spaces we’ve now made our offices. Though this is the case, there are ways to increase the feeling of smaller areas. Let’s take a look at a few of our favorites interior design techniques for making small spaces feel big.

1. Utilize Windows & Natural Light

Nothing makes a room feel larger quite like a nice big window that pours in light. To maximize the feeling of a room and not feel like you’re working in a trash compactor, position your desk as close to windows as possible. Exchange the miniblinds for light, transparent curtains. 

2. Light Colors For Space, Dark Colors For Depth

If you can paint your new home office, consider bright colors for larger walls to expand the natural light. You can also accent the depth of a room with dark colors. The ultimate enemy of a spacious feel are medium-toned colors. Many “safe” colors can make a place feel small, making it essential to stay bold. 

3. Floor to Ceiling Curtains On Windows

Ok, so your windows aren’t floor-to-ceiling—that doesn’t mean your curtains can’t be. In fact, having longer curtains can actually trick the eye into believing a window feels longer than it is. Not only does the length exaggerate the window length, but a longer curtain gives the natural light more of a reflective surface as it dives down to the floor. 

4. Tall, Shallow Storage 

Bulky bookshelves and other cabinets can quickly eat up square footage in a room. Utilize the square footage of the space by using taller, skinnier storage. Your bookshelf skyscrapers will store just as many books than shorter, wider bookshelves without hogging so much floor space. 

5. Always Be Decluttering

Nothing makes a room feel smaller like clutter. Even if you have an assortment of trinkets and knick-knacks precisely where you’d like them in a place, this lack of straight lines and defined space quickly gums up the feel of the room—making it feel filled with…stuff. To keep your home office feeling spacious, relax with the accent pieces, and make sure everything has its place. 

6. Conceal Major Office Equipment

Huge monitors, computer towers, and printers can quickly devour the visual real estate of your home office. Much like decluttering the small items in your house, make sure your office equipment has a concealed space. Keep your computer towers under the desk along with your printers. If possible, mount your monitors on floating mounts to increase desktop real estate.

7. Use Decorative Mirrors

This list would be incomplete if we didn’t mention the old classic room-expanding trick—mirrors. Placing mirrors lacking in natural light can help expand the feel of pretty much any space. Be mindful of your mirror placement, though—nobody wants to wind up looking at themselves every day or even on the way to the bathroom. This is especially true on no-meeting days where makeup is strictly optional.  

8. Large Wall Art Pieces

If you have a few vast open spaces on the walls, some large art pieces can increase the feeling of the size of the room. This is especially true for art pieces that contain a sense of depth, such as landscapes and other scenes from nature. 

9. Furniture With Exposed Legs

Boxy desks and cabinets have a way of eating up the cubic feet in any space. To open more cubic feet in your office, consider utilizing furniture with exposed legs. Be on the lookout for minimalistic furniture that won’t fill up the room.

10 Utilize Multifunctional Furniture

To minimize the amount of furniture in your small office, utilize multifunctional furniture. If you have to have filing cabinets, see if you can use them to hold up your desktop. If space is especially limited, consider a floating or fold-down desk. If you have two people working in one area, consider using one large two-sided desk rather than two separate desks. The fewer legs on the floor, the more spacious your office will feel. 

Tired of Your Tiny Home Office?

If you’re ready to upgrade to a larger home office, the custom home construction specialists from Perry Hood Properties are proud to serve the Greater Tulsa, OK area with all of their home construction needs. 

Learn more about Perry Hood Construction Today

 

(3-min read)

Whether you’re starting from scratch with new furniture for a new office or you’ve found yourself needing to work from home, your desk is where you will be spending a considerable chunk of your time every day. Your desk must suit your work style as well as your taste. In this piece, we’re going to examine how to select the desk best suited for your work and personal style. 

Your Style

Though your desk is primarily the piece of furniture that holds up all of your stuff, it is essential that you enjoy approaching it every day. To make working from home a pleasant experience, keep your own taste in mind when selecting a home desk. Do you like the look of wood? Glass? Stone? All of these options and more are available. You owe it to yourself to take your time to select a desk you don’t mind sliding up to every morning. 

Your Size Needs

When selecting a desk to meet your needs, consider what the optimal size will be. If a desk is too small, you may not have enough space to write a letter, keep your coffee, your computer, and the like. If a desk is too big, you may be more prone to cover it with junk. The desk should also fit within your home workspace without taking over the room. 

Your Utility Needs

It can be easy to forget that a desk is a piece of equipment to be used. Would you find several drawers helpful? How about a desk that can change heights? Are you ever planning on standing at your desk? Would you like to be able to move your desk around the room easily? Keep the utilitarian nature of your office in mind when making your selections. 

Your Work Gadgetry

Some desks are timeless works of art meant to facilitate work with stationary, books, and maybe a typewriter. Other desks are downright space-age in their ability to house electrical ports and wirelessly charge mobile devices. Whichever your speed, your desk should support the tools of your trade. 

How It Works With Your Chair

Your desk and chair are the peanut butter and jelly of your home office—they need to work together. If your desk and chair heights aren’t correctly aligned or even if their styles clash, this can make your remote working experience sub-optimal. Before you purchase a desk for your office, make sure that it compliments your ideal work chair—or lack thereof.

Your Desk’s Position in the Room

If you work from home for hours at a time, the position of your desk in your home office is essential. Having your desk near natural light can help increase a sense of space and enhance your mood. If you’re expecting guests to your office, you may consider facing your desk toward the door. Consider desk placement in your office to keep your office feeling spacious and welcoming.  

Need Further Help Designing Your Home Office? We Can Help

If you’re looking to build a new house with a dedicated office in the Greater Tulsa, OK area, the custom home construction professionals from Perry Hood Properties can help. 

Learn more Perry Hood Properties Today

 

(3.5-min read)

Are you forced to work from home due to circumstances beyond your control? Just looking for ways to optimize your home workspace? There are many ways to make the best of your home office. 

1. A Home Office

It may seem like it goes without saying, but the best home workspace is a separate room. While you may feel like your kitchen table, the breakfast nook, or living room coffee table will suffice, you’ll notice a significant boost in productivity if your office is a dedicated place in your house. Not only is this the case for focusing while at work, but also for mentally turning off work after hours. If your favorite leisure spot around the house doubles as your office, you’ll never feel quite like you can leave work behind and relax. If you can’t either close the door behind you as you begin work or close the door after you’re finished for the day, it’s probably not the best workspace for you.

 

2. The Proper Communication Tools

Depending on the nature of your work, the communications tools needed may vary. If you’re in more of a customer service role, it doesn’t hurt to invest in a decent telephone headset. If conference calls are the norm, a robust speakerphone is excellent. If teleconferencing is your office’s speed, you may need to up your webcam game. Some enjoy using a computer-connected headset while others may prefer a podcasting mic used with headphones. However your office chooses to communicate, lean into that style when it comes to picking out the tools of the talk. 

3. The Power of Tunes

One of the perks is of working from home is having control of the music. If your favorite songs help increase productivity, make sure you have either the right speakers or headphones to last you throughout the day. Tinny speakers or painful headphones can start to drive you crazy after a few hours of use. Avoid earbuds, as hours of wearing these little earworms can result in wax build-up. So, whether they’re cushy headphones or warm speakers, dial in your music game so it can be one less thing to worry about. 

4. An Atmosphere That Inspires Productivity

The condition of the room you choose to make your workspace can have a tremendous impact on your productivity. Before you start work for the day or after you finish, make the conscious effort to remove clutter, laundry, or any mess from your workspace. Instead, create a space that is tidy, focused, and all business. 

5. Ergonomics

You may feel like you can get away with working at a kitchen table with a laptop for hours. Your back, neck, shoulders, and arms will probably disagree with you. When working for home, work as ergonomically as possible. Use an actual office chair designed for hours of work or use a proper standing desk for part of the day. Keep your computer monitors at eye-level. Keep your keyboard and mouse at waist level, below your heart, to keep circulation steady. Your feet should either remain flat on the floor or just slightly elevated—never propped above your waist. These little techniques will keep you feel fresh and productive all day.

Need Help Building Your Best Home Office? We Can Help

If you’re having trouble finding an existing house with a suitable home office, why not build your own? For help building your custom dream home in the Greater Tulsa, OK area, consult the friendly custom home professionals from Perry Hood Properties. 

Learn More About Perry Hood Properties Now