The Perfect Work from Home Office Ideas and Tips

There's no place like home, especially when it comes to my workspace comforts. I've been working from home for over six years, and I moved 10+ times to different furnished homes across the country, and now that I'm finally slowing down, I am working on creating my space to take in all the experiences I've had over the years, the good and bad parts, and creating a comfortable, efficient, and peaceful space to continue my work from home. Everyone has varying tastes, but here are some of the ways I created my minimalist workspace. 

Choosing your Desk Essentials and Accents

Less is more when it comes to your workspace. If you do a lot of writing or journaling here, then you'll want to leave plenty of space for that. Here are the items I have on my desk.

Planner

For other girls (or guys!) who struggle with varying levels of ADHD, this is a lifesaver. I love love love planning out my days and weeks in a cute aesthetic way, and my favorite planner the last few years has been the Sugar Paper one. I love it when it's spiral-bound, soft to the touch, and has a lighter color palette.

Plants

I've definitely become more selective of my home comforts over the year, and curating your space can, and should be, a slow process. I've really become quite tired of fake things or things with no purpose. I used to have lots of artificial plants, but in recent years, I've been challenging myself to have real plants around me. Why not benefit from real plants around?

Desk Organizers and Pen Holders

I have a desk organizer for credit cards or papers I need to access more frequently, and even my planner if I want my desk space cleared. I also love having all my colored markers, pens, and pencils stored nearby and easy to access.

Water Bottle

I love reusable water bottles; my partner likes to say I have too many, but they are better for the environment, and the more you have, the more you'll keep in places that you need them! I always leave 1-2 in my car for roadtrips and workout classes, then rotate 2 from my workspace. The Larq bottle is great because it tracks your water for you!

Romanticize Winter, Bring on all of the Lights

Winters in Seattle can be pretty dreadful. I am really loving the smart home lights; I didn't realize how simple it was to set up these automations, but you can purchase Matter light bulbs and/or wall plugs (and set these to warm or cool colors, any color really) and then have it set up on the Apple Home app with automations. I use the light bulbs for lamps that have the same standard sizing, and then for more unique lighting (e.g, my Ikea donut lamp), I use the smart plugs for setup. I also have a happy lamp to help with the winter months, and you need to have this set up close to your face to work, so on or by your desk is helpful.

Also, get your bloodwork done, and if your vitamin D is low, start taking vitamin D supplements. My vitamin D levels were low after enduring my first winter in the PNW, so I spent a lot of time taking supplements to get them back up to a normal level, which can impact things like your energy levels and even hair growth.

Monitor choices

At work, we love the double monitor layout; it boosts productivity, but at home, we may not have space for such. I opted for the single monitor layout for my personal desk at home.

Choose your Desk and Chair

This is all going to depend on how much free space you have available in your home. I live in a one-bedroom apartment, so there isn't much space. My old desk was one I purchased from Wayfair; it's unfinished wood, which left my desk feeling like a blank page to boost creativity. I eventually upgraded to the standing desk after my company was able to pay for it, and I wouldn't go back! It's so important not to sit for hours straight without moving. The desk chair is arguably the most important purchase you can make, because as you age, your back health can be at risk. I started developing back problems around age 27, and then as soon as I got my work to provide me a professional office chair, my back problems went away. It's worth it to spend more to protect your back health, especially if you are in a desk job. I have been using the Herman Miller Sayl chair for years, and it's amazing and cute! It's definitely better for petite and shorter women.

Don't forget your dog's comfort spaces

Just as I like to have different spaces for myself, I also love to make comfy spaces for my dog! Shikoku dogs love to look out the window, so if you don't have an easy way for them to do this, then you should try to get a little ottoman for them! She has loved this cotton upholstered one from Wayfair for years, and it's so cute in any home I've been in.

Building a PC + Keyboard

If you're into gaming and things, you can build out a PC for your home (it's much more affordable and powerful than a Mac), and you can put in as much storage as you want! I opted for buying an 8TB drive (which is more than enough for anyone) because I take lots of 4K videos on my drone, GoPro, and Sony camera. I wanted a machine powerful enough for video editing and flexible enough for me to add or remove parts, as needed.

This sounds super intimidating at first, but in the end, you can save a lot of money by building your own PC. I'm not one for recommending Apple products because of the cost-to-performance ratio. You can get a powerful PC at an affordable price. After you build the PC, you can tuck it on a shelf nearby or elsewhere and keep your desk nice and free. I recommend using a smaller PC case for this. My boyfriend and I keep our PCs on a shelf beside each other, and I run a cord along the carpet to my monitor. There are tons of guides online and instructions for putting these pieces all together; it can be a super rewarding project! Feel free to drop a comment or submit a message on my Contact Me page, and I'd love to help! Below are the items I used for my PC build: the SSD, RAM, CPU, Case, Motherboard, 8TB Hard drive, Graphics Card, and Power Supply.

Design your Mechanical Keyboard

I love the sensation and feeling of typing on the perfect keyboard. If you like the feel of mechanical keyboards, but not the sound, then you can always purchase silencers for the keys. I've got here below my personal keyboard below with the tai-hao keycaps in sunshine colors. Feel free to choose colors that express you. The endless world of mechanical keyboards is awaiting you.

Upgrades

Even if you're not super into tech, you can still get a lot out of having a productive and strong home office. Traveling a lot usually means you collect tons of pictures and videos, so having a convenient and reliable way to store and interact with that data is important. I am constantly running into the issue of having too many photos, too many videos, and running out of storage on all my devices. I set up a Synology photo server, which is a reasonable and affordable solution for my photos. You can make it so that you can access it from anywhere. When I was on a trip to hawaii last summer, I signed in remotely to my photo server and was able to edit photos there, which was just awesome.