Creating a Better Home Office with Storage

Any parent who works from home knows that space comes at a premium. Organising a living space with a family is difficult enough, but striking a balance between the domestic and the commercial is a particular challenge.

A survey conducted by Big Yellow revealed that 61% of people questioned admitted to hoarding useless items around the house and just under a third (26%) of us have a whole room in our home filled with junk. It seems then, most of us could lose some of the clutter. Not only will the extra space make working at home more attractive, it can speed up your processes too. Once your workspace is cleared, it is much easier to find a place for filing cabinets, and equipment such as printers.

Here are our top storage tips for reducing home clutter:

• Add a wardrobe – with its small footprint, its excellent for storing soft items. It allows you to hang what needs to be hung and fold and stack other items.
• Use lots of small boxes instead of a few large ones (collectively, books are heavy) and to keep the boxes horizontal to protect their spines.
• Treat wooden items with a coat of wax or varnish before you store them to keep them in top condition.
• Make the most of the space available by dismantling flat pack furniture and protect the components with cloth or old carpet. Keep the fixings handy – put them in a small bag and then tape it to the item itself.
• Generally, it’s better to store sofas vertically on a flat-sided arm. Leather handles the pressure very well, as does micro-fibre. Silky high-end fabrics are better to be kept on their feet as they don’t have the structural integrity to withstand the additional pressure.

Once you’ve made extra space, either by harnessing storage in your home, garage or at a self storage facility, you can begin to better organise your work space. A key consideration is phone and Internet access. Make sure the room receives a good mobile and wifi signal – you might want to relocate rooms if it will affect your work. Contact your Internet provider once you have decided on the room to make into your office and they can advise on how to get the best wifi reception (for example, they may help you update software to your router that can help with speeds).

Furniture wise, shelving is often a good idea to give you more space. As well as a comfortable office chair and desk, think about solutions for documents and archiving.

Lighting is also a key consideration. Make the most of natural light and invest in good quality desk lamps. An ‘uplighter’ floor lamp can bring warmth to a room – especially over the gloomier months of winter.

Drew Davies writes for Big Yellow Self Storage. To find out more information and for storage tips, check out their website or blog.