A few months ago, we asked via our blog, what you would do with more space? Many people and families dream about having more room in their home, one that they can use as a guest room, hobby or craft room, a playroom for their children, a mancave, home gym or a home office.
Now, a home office is a space that many families definitely want, especially with many people working from home full time or having the flexibility to work from home when needed. While some people work at the kitchen island, dining room table or couch, some also have a room or space designated as the ‘home office’. But often this room is everything but an actual office space. It serves multiple purposes - spare bedroom, exercise room, hobby room and master dumping ground for all the things they don’t want people to see when visiting their home and for things they don’t know where to put. This so-called ‘home office’ is really a disorganized mess and no longer functions as the workable space it was intended for.
Tips for Creating a Home Office
Well, thanks to self-storage you can instantly and affordably get more room in your home (and a place to store what you don’t want others to see or have room for at home) which can help you create rooms that can benefit you and your family, like a home office.
Here are tips for how to create a home office:
- Assess the space in your home and determine what could work for your home office
- Depending on the size and configuration of your home, there may be space that’s not being taken advantage of or used to it’s full potential.
- Spare rooms, nooks, alcoves, basements and attics are often perfect spaces to create these rooms, but they mostly get filled with stuff that is used seasonally or not used at all and is held onto because it has meaning or is to be passed down to future generations.
- Review the items that are currently occupying this space and determine if they need to stay in the home, where they could realistically go or if they could be safely stored at a self-storage facility.
- Rent a self-storage unit
- This will give you the space you need, for however long you need it.
- You may just need a storage unit to store your personal items for a month or 2 to help you get organized, decorate or renovate the space while you create your new home office.
- You may want to rent it for a longer period as you have stuff that you don’t need to keep at home but want (or need) to store it in a clean, dry, safe and easily accessible place.
- Check out our helpful comparable size charts to get an idea of what different sized storage units can hold.
- Converting a room to serve specifically as an office
- It’s common to turn a guest room that never gets used into a home office space.
- Moving the bed, side tables and any other bulky furniture into a storage unit will make room for a desk, chair, and shelving or cabinets for file storage.
- Bedroom furniture fares very well in storage units and can be squeezed into a pretty small space, so a small self-storage unit can go a long way, which also helps keep costs low.
- You can save money on shelving, storage and lighting by re-purposing dressers and lamps for use in your new home office.
- Turning a nook or closet into an office space
- With most things being digital these days, you may not need a lot of room for a home office. A small desk and chair may be all that you need.
- Smaller home offices can be uniquely and effectively squeezed into smaller spaces like nooks and closets, especially with the huge variety of shelving and organization system solutions on the market today…and on Pinterest too!
- These spaces tend to lack windows and natural lighting so using lamps will help brighten the workspace and help preserve your eyesight.
- If you decide to convert a closet into a home office, it doesn’t have to be a walk-in closet. If you have a closet with sliding doors, or a wider entrance consider putting a narrow desk inside. Also, for the chair you can either find one that can be tucked inside the closet and allow for the door to be closed or use a non-traditional desk chair that can also serve as seating in the room your home office is.
- Creating a real combination office and guest room
- In case you don’t have the space to give up a whole room but need space to work, an office space/guest bedroom combination can work in harmony.
- With the right multipurpose furniture and organization, this type of combo space can be usable and functional for the purposes it is intended for.
- For seating and sleeping, a sofa bed that converts from a couch to a full-size bed, or a murphy bed which flips up vertically into a cabinet on the wall, are solutions that will also save you a lot of space. If you want to go the extra mile, there are even murphy beds that have desks on the bottom side – so that when it’s flipped up you have a desk space and then it gets folded down and your desk space is converted into storage area that stays under the bed. So cool!
- As for a desk, desks that can fold down or fold up (so that they lay flat against the wall while not in use) are great. These can be purchased or made DIY-style for a custom fit. Alternatively, you can use a small or narrow desk that can be used as a small table or nightstand for guests when not being used for work purposes.
- For storage, closed door shelves and storage units are great for storing office supplies, files, etc. They hide your things from the view of guests so that it doesn’t seem like they’re staying in your home office when sleeping over.
- To add a sense of separation, there are many options. Shelving units can act as a permanent divider. Curtains or a decorative tri-folding screen are softer solutions that can be moved or opened, which give you more flexibility in the room’s look and feel.
Get More Space at Home with Self-Storage from Storage Solutions!
If you’re looking to create a home office, we hope you’ll consider renting a storage unit from Storage Solutions. We have a variety of indoor and outdoor self-storage unit sizes at our Milton and Woodstock self-storage facilities and are confident that one will meet your self-storage needs. Email, text or call us with your questions or to reserve or rent a storage unit.
Your friend in self-storage,
Storage Solutions
