Is the den an endangered species? Some designers think it might be. Thanks to technology like tablets, lightweight laptops, and cloud computing, many home owners no longer want to dedicate a whole room in their house to office space. Enter the pocket office, where a tiny corner or a simple shelf can stand in for a full-sized work space.
If you want to create a pocket office in your home, here’s what you need to do:
1. Choose a Space
Kitchens are especially popular locations for pocket offices, perhaps due to parents’ desire to monitor their kids’ internet use, according to Patrick Langston of the Ottawa Citizen. But you can install a pocket office wherever you have a few feet of space — a hallway, a corner of the living room, or a basement or attic.
2. Think Carefully About What You’ll Be Doing in Your Office
If you’re using your pocket office to do occasional busywork or less-demanding schoolwork, out in the open in a high-traffic area is just fine. But, as Langston says, if you’re writing a novel or working from home full-time, you might want to rethink placement.
3. Plan, Plan, Plan
In fact, you need very few feet of space to set up a pocket office. In as little as fifteen square feet, you can have everything for your perfect mini-office. The less space you have to work with, however, the more you need to plan ahead. Fortunately, there are plenty of office planning software packages out there to help you map out out your space.
4. Choose Your Technology
When it comes to selecting the right computer for your tiny office, size definitely matters. Skip the bulky desktop and go with one of the new lightweight notebooks or tablets. Thanks to cloud computing and USB flash drives, it’s easier than ever to transport your documents without printing anything out, so if you play your cards right, you might not even need a printer.
5. Buy the Right Office Furniture
Many furniture companies are offering smaller, more compact furniture perfectly scaled for smaller home office use. Often, these smaller-scale offerings either fold up into the wall or adapt to other uses to maximize use of space. And of course, if you’re interested in saving money while you save space, you can’t do better than buying used office furniture from Arnolds Office Furniture. We have a wide selection of beautifully refurbished, name-brand furniture that looks better than new — and costs only a fraction of the price of new equipment. Contact us today to find the perfect furniture for your pocket office.
