Hello friends. I know a lot of us are working from home these days, and we definitely were not planning for that to happen. We have spent our time and resources on making sure our families are fed and safe, so setting up a pretty workspace for the next little while likely has not been a priority, nor should it have been.
However, the realities of working from home are clear. You still have work to do, and you need a place to do it. You need that place to be organized and functional, and maybe even a little inspirational. If that’s not too much to ask?! đ
Luckily, you have come to the right place. I know how to get you a clean and inspiring workspace, without even spending any money!
So let’s get to it.
A Designated Workspace
For the foreseeable future, you will be working from home, so you would really benefit from having a space, be it small, that is just for you to work. You don’t want to spend longer then necessary working, so the more isolated it is from the rest of your home, the more efficiently you will get your work done.
If you have extra space around the house, check out these 7 areas in your home perfect for your dream office blog post.
However, if there is no extra space in the house, no worries, you can still make this work.
Choose the area that is least distracting – away from the noise of the rest of your family or roommates.
- Dining area
- kitchen counter
- coffee table
- any writing surface in your home
- couch
- bed
Know Your Essentials
Whenever you are going to work, you are going to pull out your essentials:
- laptop
- notepad/notebook
- cup for pencils, pens, etc.
- calendar/planner (download your free calendar here)
If your able to keep these out in your workspace, you’re one of the lucky ones! For everyone else, try keeping your essentials together in one place, perhaps in a bag or a crate, so when you are ready to work, you don’t have to searching for your things. Unpacking your “desk” and setting up for the “work day” will just become part of your work routine.
Add Some Pretty & Inspirational Items
Now, for me, no matter how temporary the workspace is, I need it to be pretty and inspirational. This really helps me want to come back to it, do my best work, and feel good while I am there.
A simple way is to add pretty printables of inspirational quotes. To help you with this, I created a few free  ones :).
I also find, planning and tracking the tasks and priorities for the day help me stay organized and productive. If I can plan on a pretty page, it’s even better! I love pretty stationary,and when I can’t have a pretty office to work in, pretty stationary will definetly do the trick. So I have also included eye pleasing daily planner pages. I hope you find they improve your workspace situation!
They are in colour, or in greyscale, choose your preference!
Download these planner printables here: planner printables
A really simple way to add some pretty inspirational items to your temporary workspace, is to use quotes as images. Clip it on to an existing clipboard, pin it to the wall where you will be working, or make it your screensaver on your device…either way, having inspirational imagery is a game changer!
Download these printables here:Â Inspirational Quotes Printables
Perhaps you have a favourite quote that makes you feel inspired. You can create a printable like this one, using Canva. There are tons of tutorials and how-to videos, so don’t feel like you can’t do it!
If you have a frame available, print off a photo that inspires you. It could be a portrait of your family or loved on, scenery, or anything that inspires you to do your best work, and feel like your best self!
Flowers Anyone?
Finally, a pretty floral arrangement can add inspo to any area, especially to a makeshift office. If flowers have already started blooming in your garden (or as soon as they do), pick a few pretty ones and keep them in a vase where you work. Honestly, this will make you enjoy being in your workspace so much more!
If that is not an option, maybe you have a faux floral arrangement somewhere else in your home. For the time being, give it a new home in your temporary workspace, it will probably serve you better being here, then where it is right now. Once you return back to work (and yes that will happen one day!), you can return to it its original home. It’s a win-win!
If you do want to shop for new items, I got you covered there too lovely. Check out my desk accessories, pretty faux florals, and more here.
A Few More Tips…
Some other tips for making your temporary home office a more enjoyable place to be:
- Time block: plan out your most important tasks for the day, choose 1-3, and get them done first. Don’t forget to write them down on your beautiful new planning page, and check them off when complete…ahh satisfaction!
- Listen to music while working, it will lighten your mood, and help you be in the moment and work in flow.
- Organize your papers and items once your work is complete for the day. Plan out what you will start work with tomorrow, so when you “come into work” again the next day, you already know where to start.
- When you are “at work”, try your best to tune out the other distractions from your home. It is much more rewarding to feel like you did a good job while “at work”, then to try to be in two places at the same time. You will find it is easier to unwind “after work” as well, if you can create that separation between work mode and home mode.
*Pin this image for later*
I hope you are doing as well as possible right now during this crazy time in our world. If you need help with anything else, even non-office related, I am here! Please do no hesitate to contact me. Sending you love and light,
desk set up home office set up home workstation how to set up a temporary home office office decor office essentials work from home