A Guide to Maximizing Small Home Office Spaces

Forget the corner office and enduring rush hour traffic. These days, the home office is where many of us are taking care of business.

According to Census data, the number of people working from home at least half of the time has increased by 115% since 2005. As of 2017, the number of telecommuters in the U.S. workforce has risen to 3.7 million.

Employees who work from home also aren’t lounging around in their pajamas and binging Netflix on the company dime either. Eighty-six percent of employees who work from home say they’re more productive than in an office environment, and two-thirds of managers say they’ve seen a bump in productivity when they allow people to work from home.

Still, working from home has its challenges. The home/work environment can quickly become disorganized and stressful without an organized workspace. Additionally, it might not even be possible to dedicate an entire room solely to work for those who live in a smaller home or apartment.

Thankfully, feature-rich office furniture designed with small space working in mind can help. Here’s how.

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No room to spare.

For many who work from home and/or are living in smaller spaces, it might not be possible to dedicate an entire room for a home office.

On the Surface

One of the essential components of any remote-work setup is a suitable desk.

Since a large portion of the workforce is used to working on a laptop, there’s no longer a need to take up as much real estate with a large desk.

A compact desk or furniture that can perform multiple functions can make it easier to create a workspace that fits your needs and floor plan.

Clear the Clutter

The cord clutter can begin to add up between a monitor, mouse, printer, phone charger, work phone, keyboard, and desk lamp.

Any opportunity to eliminate cords—from wireless printers, keyboards, and mice, to speakers—is going to help tidy up and organize your space for improved productivity.

Meanwhile, furniture with built-in cable-management systems—like many of BDI's office collections—will keep everything else in place and out of the way.

Double Duty

Sometimes, a dedicated desk isn't an option when every square foot counts.

A sturdy laptop table or innovatively designed height-adjustable table can perform double duty as a convenient work surface and place to relax when you clock out.

In these instances, make sure the furniture is well-designed and blends in with your décor, especially if the office furniture or table is sharing space with another room in the house.

Get Creative

In homes where space is at a premium, or no dedicated home office exists, homeowners must often make creative use of space when placing a desk or workstation.

If you have an open floor plan, try tucking your desk behind the sofa or some unused corner of the bedroom that could be transformed into your office.

Filed Under

Whatever your job, organizational tools are always necessary. Mobile cabinets keep important files and folders at your fingertips when needed and can be easily tucked away to save space.

But clutter — even from functional items — can slow down your productivity when working in a tighter space.

Selecting a desk with built-in file storage can go a long way towards reducing the overall square footage needed to create a proper workspace in a smaller setting.

Shelf It

Making efficient use of shelving in your work area allows you to artfully arrange your books, awards, framed photos, small electronics, and other work-related materials while keeping them off your work surface.

By taking advantage of a room's available vertical space, a shelf can do wonders to reduce your footprint while providing ample storage and display space for office essentials.

Whether you’ve turned a spare bedroom into a home office or fashioned a corner nook into your workspace, having the right furniture can turn any small home office set-up into a success.