When working from home, your office is going to be the room you spend the most amount of time in. It therefore has to be comfortable and positive towards your mental health, but equally, set a precedent for work (i.e. don’t have your game console in the same room).
A second monitor
A second monitor is a great way to multi-task and visualise different dashboards and separate tasks. This can not only reduce time wasted flicking through different windows, but it can make it much more efficient to work on projects that require two different sources.
Personalised decorations
This is an office in your home, not in a corporate building. Make sure you put your own touches on it so you feel more at home. It may also be useful to have some all-purpose glue on-hand, to agglutinate some pieces of decor.
Plants
Plants release oxygen and can really bring life into the office space — which is often lacking in that department. Furthermore, you may find yourself in a better mood when looking at some nature, as opposed to a purely synthetic and sterile set-up.
Ergonomic chair, desk and monitor
The single most important thing to keep in mind when sitting down all day at work is your health. An ergonomic chair, desk and monitor should all be customisable — you should be able to adjust the height on each one to ensure you’re not hunched over looking downwards.
Powerful computer
A slow computer will become extremely frustrating and get in the way of work. This is all relative, though. If you’re a writer, then simple web performance is key. But if you’re a video editor, you’ll need a good processor, RAM and video graphics. As a general rule, focus on having good RAM, as this will be able to handle more multi-tasking.
Multi-use printer
Working from home will require you to print things out and scan things all the time. You don’t want to be taking expensive trips to printer shops — it’s much easier and cheaper to have all that gear at home. It’ll also come in handy for non-work duties, too.
Exercise equipment
When working for hours, you need to stretch often. Or better yet, get your heart racing. If you don’t fancy storing equipment in the same room, at least create enough space to stretch. Sometimes all you need is to stand and stretch out your arms without leaving the room.
Calendar
Sure, you can use a digital calendar like Google’s, but having a physical calendar in your office is always a great touch. Not only does it look aesthetically pleasing, but it’s easier to refer to and having it in the way will make sure you frequently check it.
Good lighting
As mentioned above, when spending lots of time in a single room, you want to optimise it for your health. Good lighting should make you feel better, as well as take a strain away from your eyes.
Fast internet
If you load 500 web pages per day, and they take 3 seconds to load, that is 25 minutes wasted in waiting time compared to pages that load instantly. Sluggish internet is a test to your patience, and a huge waste of time.
