Small apartments offer a good deal of challenges when it comes to organizing your space, especially when you want to create an efficient home office. Even if you don’t have the luxury of dedicating an entirely separate room to a study area, with some creativity you can carve out a stylish little space for working even in your small home. Here are five ideas to help you create your own workspace in a small apartment:
1. Go Minimal
The key to maximizing the efficiency of a small apartment is to approach the minimalist style, which comes with its own set of benefits: less clutter, it’s easy to maintain and it’s also more aesthetically pleasing. With most information being in a digital form, you don’t need much storage space in your desk, so you can choose a small, simple one that is enough to hold your laptop and a table lamp, and that easily fits in an underused part of your home. Along with it, go for a small but comfortable chair and maybe a couple of motivational images to make it more enjoyable. That’s it, now you have a perfectly functional home office, wherever you choose!
2. Try a Portable Desk
If you can’t pick a space for a permanent office, a foldable, compact desk is the ideal choice. This way, when you’re done with work you simply pack it up and move on with your day without a visual reminder that an office was ever there. Not only does this save a lot of space, but it also has a positive impact on your overall well-being by creating a boundary between work and your free time.
3. Rearrange Your Living Room
Considering that you probably use your workspace more often than you use your living room as it is, you could easily sacrifice a part of it and opt for a desk instead of an extra armchair, for example. Reposition your couch and make room for a stylish office that matches the surrounding design and maybe add a trendy bookshelf on the wall to give it a touch of wisdom.
4. Divide the Bedroom
Yes, we are all aware that the bedroom is a sacred place dedicated only to sleep. However, living in a smaller apartment means you’ll have to adapt and improvise. If you happen to have some extra space in your bedroom, add a chair next to a dainty desk and use a room divider curtain to separate your office from the bed area, without creating too many distractions.
If a fabric wall isn’t an approachable idea but you still want to put that additional space in your bedroom to better use, place your desk strategically so that it faces the window or a wall. If your bed doesn’t interfere with your sight it can’t create a distraction and you can be as productive as in an actual office.
5. Work in the Kitchen
Out of all the rooms in your home, the kitchen is probably the last one you would relate to recreation, so it is the best option to set up a workspace without being distracted by a cozy sofa or an inviting bed. You could give up on one of your counter cabinets and transform it into a little desk, or simply use the kitchen table to your advantage and do your work directly on it. Either way, you will be able to work undisturbed and enjoy the freshly brewed coffee smell from a couple of feet away.
All you need is a touch of ingenuity and you can create a smart and practical workspace even if you don’t have a spare room. Follow these five handy tips and embrace your inner designer for the best effects.
If you want to put your creativity to work, browse through the available listings on RentCafe and find the perfect home to start a new chapter of your life!