Setting Up Your Home Office
It can actually be lots of fun to set up your home office! You get to choose a new desk, office chair and then some wonderful office accessories including pictures, motivational posters and more. Maybe you are even treating yourself to a new office computer. Don’t forget you can write off many of your home office purchases on your income tax, keep your receipts in a safe place.
When buying office furniture you really want to look at the design of the furniture and of your office. Make sure that the new office desk will actually fit where you want it too! There is nothing worse than spending hours putting a new desk together only to discover it won’t fit exactly where you had planned.
Measure out the dimensions of your office and choose a good location for your desk. Don’t forget to make sure you have lots of electrical outlets within easy reach of your desk. You need to hook up your computer, a printer, possibly a fax and have your phone line all accessible.
Also look at the lighting in your home office. Compare the lighting at various times during the day. Will you need to work with the light on? If so you might want to purchase a brighter computer monitor. Changing your light fixture is another option, you could install spot lights that can be moved in various positions so that you can direct light to your work area. If the room gets hot and stuffy you might want to consider a ceiling fan with spot lights instead.
When it comes to buying an office chair think about how long you intend to sit in it each day. You really want to buy a chair that has built in ergonomics as this will be more comfortable and keep your body supported in all the right places.
Office chairs and desks come in all shapes, sizes and heights. This can be extremely important especially if you are tall or short. You want to make sure that you can sit comfortably at your desk and that you have more than enough room to move the keyboard shelf back and forwards. There is nothing worse than typing with a shelf that is consistently hitting or rubbing on your knees.
The same applies to the height of your chair. Make sure that you can place your feet flat on the floor, otherwise you will put strain on your leg muscles and will become uncomfortable very quickly. Test your typing position as well, do the arms of the chair allow you to access the keyboard comfortably and do you have room to move your mouse around easily?
When you have chosen your office chair and desk the next items are the ones you can have fun with. Of course you will need some type of storage area, possibly a bookcase or a smaller filing cabinet or storage cupboard. These can double up and be used for placing your printer or phone on if necessary.
Decorating your home office is really the best part of all. This is where you can choose a plant to add some color or just buy some form of art work, a photo or posters are great choices. As you will be working from home you may want to use some form of motivational tool and there are plenty of posters and even decals that you can use for this purpose.
Other items you may want to purchase for your home office include a clock radio, file trays, pen holders and storage racks for your computer disks and any DVD’s.
While this is a fun time the hard work will come next as you busy yourself with setting up and running your new home business. Have fun and be productive!
