If you have a dedicated home office, consider yourself fortunate. Most people work the hours away in a spare bedroom with a desk or in a corner of the kitchen. In most cases, home offices must serve a dual purpose as a guest room, a craft room, toy room, or multiple offices for the adults in the home. There are many ways you can make a shared office space work for you. Here are 5 things to keep in mind when decorating.

1 - Dedicate a Space
If you have to claim a small corner of your house as a work space, that’s ok; you can still make it work. If you’re working in the guest bedroom, think about how often guests actually stay over. If you’re using the space as an office most often, embrace that function. Get an actual desk instead of an old card table. Dedicate the space to work and creativity.

Choose a stylish futon rather than a bed, or maybe a day bed that takes up less space. Start thinking about the room as your office that also works as a spare bedroom instead of the other way around.

Add a white board for tasks and visualizing, a shelf for books, and a coffee corner with a place to put snacks and drinks. You can easily fit all of this into your home office with the right furniture.

2 - Think Cozy, Not Small
Even if you are just claiming a corner of your kitchen or a nook under the stairs, there is a way to be comfortable in your home office. Make sure you have ample lighting and outlets. Choose the space for your office based on how you feel in the area, not how much you can cram into a space. Lighting will help you feel more productive!

Make it cozy by adding special touches here and there. Add a rug that denotes your desk area as a work zone and add pillows to your futon or chair. The point is to make this section of the room a place you want to spend time in!

3 - Embrace the Versatility of the Room
A home office should be more than a desk and chair. Use the day bed as a sofa! Or if you and your spouse are sharing an office space invest in a small lounger or glider rocker to provide a change of scenery without actually leaving the room!


4 - Calming Colors
When decorating a shared home office space go for blues, greens, and other cool colors. It’s hard to concentrate in a hot pink spare bedroom. Cool colors calm the mind and help you focus. Your home office should be calm and serine, even if it’s part of the toy room. Choose colors that will help you complete your tasks rather than distract you from them.


5 - Small and Functional
It’s a great idea to choose furniture with a minimal footprint and maximum potential. For example, the Bolanburg Bookcase can serve as a place to store documents, and a coffee maker can easily fit on top. The Madison Accent Cabinet could house an entire home office worth of documents while not looking out of place in a kitchen, dining room or even bedroom.

The point is to embrace your office space, even if it’s in a multipurpose room. Dedicate your corner of the house to getting things done!