Back to School and Back to Work

Image: Decosee

Get your workspace in order and be inspired.


Whether prepping your home office or a new study nook for your favorite little student, you need to be inspired. We offer a few tips for organizing and decorate your workspace for ultimate inspiration.

1. Adjust the Configuration - If you are having trouble working, creating or generating those brilliant ideas, try reconfiguring your furniture. Place your desk (or to make things easier start with your chair) in various areas of your room. It's possible you are more productive if you are facing a window, rather than a wall. Maybe you get too much sunlight where you are sitting, or not enough. Test out each spot to find the one that works the best. Should work still suffer, move on to number 2.

Image: Apartment Therapy

2. Comfort - Your workspace (or the kiddo study space) may be uncomfortable. If you are working for hours in a space that is uncomfortable, your efficiency and creativity will suffer (as well as your back, legs, arms, etc). Make sure your chair is comfortable, make sure there are plenty of pillows, check the temperature and adjust for seasonal changes by adding a fan in summer and heater in winter, just in case. Your coziness in your workspace is almost as important as a comfortable bed.

Image: Smallbizio

If your office is too hard, soften it up with throw pillows, an overstuffed chair or a plush and cozy rug. Of course, any decor that you add to your workspace should reflect your style and preferences. The more YOU the space feels, the more inspired you will be.

Image: 18 Chelsea Mews

3. Not Your Ordinary Desk Mates - When choosing office supply holders, paper trays and letter holders try gathering up some of your favorite household objects or pop your head into a few vintage stores. Use vases for pencil holders or have your kiddos fashion a lego letter holder for their own desk or even old, decorative platters for your paper trays. There is no reason that your workspace should be swallowed by black, plastic cubicle props if that isn't your style.

Image: Homedit

4. If the Floor Fits - If you (or your kiddos) don't work very well at a desk, don't limit yourself to sitting at a desk. Working at a desk may not be the position that gives you the best creative energy. You may be more comfortable sprawled out among giant pillows or reclining on a bed. Reorganize your office to reflect these preferences. Find an inexpensive futon or daybed that could double as guest quarters when you don't need to be working or your kiddos don't need to study.

Image: Apartment Therapy

5. Center of Attention - Instead of making your desk the center of attention, try floating other furniture in the center of the room, anchored by a rug, to create an atmosphere that exudes freedom of expression. No desk will separate you from your clients or colleagues and the conversations, ideas and productivity will flow.

6. Play is Okay - Create an office space or study space that welcomes some relaxation and play just as much as work. Your brain needs a break, so make sure your workspace or study space includes plenty of things that you love to do when you aren't working or your kiddos aren't studying. The more you flex your brain in other ways, the stronger it gets, thus the more productive and inspired you become.

Image: Laurie Flower