7 Ideas for Setting Up A Home Office in a Small Apartment

Living in small apartments has its perks. It also comes with some disadvantages, one being having separate spaces for work and entertainment. With many people now working from home due to the pandemic, it’s become more important than ever to incorporate a functional small office set up in living spaces.

In addition, the concept of freelancing has increased in popularity over the last year. Businesses are finding it more economical to hire a freelancer for short-term assignments than hiring full-time permanent employees.

Setting up a small home office in a small apartment will require some creativity on your part, but we have a few ideas to get you started.

1. Find a Quiet Place

It’s important to be able to concentrate and take calls during the workday. For that reason, consider setting up your home office in the quietest spot in the apartment. This may be easier if you have more than one room in your apartment because you could turn one of the rooms into a home office.

 

However, if you live in a studio or one bedroom apartment with an open floor plan, you may be able to set up your home office in a quiet corner away from neighbors and traffic noise.

2. Make It a No-Entry Space for Kids

If you share your apartment with little ones, designate your workspace as a kid-free zone. This will help ensure you can focus on work to maximize your productivity.

3. Purchase Furniture Optimized to Conserve Space

Invest in furniture that will help you conserve space so that your apartment doesn’t become cluttered. Look for office furniture that you can fold and store away when it’s not in use, like a foldable desk or an L-shaped desk that fits in a corner.

4. Make Use of Current Furniture

If you can’t afford to designate a spare room or corner for your home office setup, consider converting your dining table, coffee table, or nightstand into a desk during the workday. Then, when the workday ends, you can go back to using it as you originally intended.

5. Choose Vertical Storage

In a small apartment, you’re limited by space. To help overcome this limitation, add shelves to walls above your desk as a way to maximize vertical storage space. Also, consider buying a free-standing ladder desk that has vertical shelves.

6. Get Organized

Once you have optimized your space, the next task is enhancing productivity. The best first step for maximizing productivity is getting organized. This may mean freeing your space of clutter and organizing your space to create an office vibe.

7. Keep it Simple

When setting up a home office in a small space, it is essential to keep things simple—for example, choose an office chair that slides easily under the desk instead of one that’s big and bulky.

Also, consider limiting the items in your workspace to only a computer keyboard, a mouse, and a lamp if needed. Adding more things to your office setup will only limit the space you need to complete your work.

Final Thoughts

If you find that setting up your home office is too complicated or overwhelming to do yourself, you can always pay someone to do it for you. There are professionals who would be happy to help you optimize your workspace.