Shared Home Office Space Ideas
Not sure what to do when you need a home office space for two? We’ll offer some tips and ideas
to make your work-from-home setting a little more livable.
With more and more jobs going remote, chances are there could be more than one person working from home in the household. While a designated office for each worker would be ideal, it’s just not always an option.
And while setting up a workspace for everyone who needs it can be a challenge, there are a few tips that can make sharing a home office space a lot easier and much more pleasant to look at. Here are some shared home office space ideas to make your workspace work for you (all).
Think Outside the Office
If there’s ever a time to get creative, it’s when designing a home office space. If you don’t have enough room for a designated shared workspace, think about the other areas of your home. How often is the guest bedroom used? Could the dining table double as a large desk? What about a breakfast or reading nook? Consider spaces around your home that aren’t often used or have low traffic and what it might take to convert them into your dedicated workspace.
Keep in mind that the most important thing about a workspace is its functionality. While a desk may look better beside the living room window, it may be a wiser choice to put it in the bedroom, where you’re less likely to be distracted by other members of the household while you work.
Turn Noise Down and Lights Up
One of the many challenges of working from home is the amount of distracting noise that can occur during the day. Be sure to choose a space for your home office that provides a good amount of quiet time. If you need help with noise levels, consider adding an acoustic light fixture to the space. Often made from fabrics that offer noise-canceling properties, acoustic fixtures can be placed in noisy rooms to dampen sound and reduce noise that can travel into your workspace. Or, it can be placed in your shared home office to tone down ambient noise.
Commercial offices are also using more sound-dampening elements to make sharing a workspace easier on the ears and eyes. Felt privacy panels, seating pads, rugs and other thoughtfully upholstered furniture all make these shared spaces quieter without interfering with the functionality an office space needs. Naturally, elements found in today’s commercial offices easily translate into shared home office spaces, creating a more comfortable and design-forward workspace.
Provide Some Privacy
At times it can feel impossible to separate your workspace from the rest of your home. One of the best ways to alleviate this is to clearly define your work area from the rest of its environment. This is especially useful when sharing a space with others, as it helps to make it known when you are “at work” and focused.
Incorporating room dividers and privacy panels into your work area is a simple and easy way to distinguish between work and home while adding a level of privacy that will not only help with your focus but can also be a great way to keep work out of sight during off-time. If there isn’t enough room for a divider inside a shared office space, placing both desks and chairs against the same wall will easily add a layer of separation from the rest of the room.
Keep It Moving
Having a single designated workspace that you don’t stray from was once considered a hard and fast rule. While it is important to have a solid base of operations in your home, workdays at home can sometimes be unpredictable, and it’s a good idea to be prepared if you need to change your environment. Side tables can be an asset in the home, especially those designed to easily pull up next to a sofa, chair or bed. The right laptop table can make working from home much easier when you need a change of scenery for a while or need to take a video call away from others in the home.
Creating the right home office design will take some trial and error, especially when the space is shared with others. Don’t forget to remain flexible and easy on yourself and your live-in “co-workers,” as the transition from working in an office to the home can be a big one. It’s important to remember to prioritize the functionality of your workspace, making sure to include ergonomic seating and the right lighting to keep you comfortable, focused and productive. Luckily, there’s no shortage of great design to help you out.
