7 Ways to Make Your Home Office Work Better for You

Oodles of time and research go into designing corporate workspaces, but home offices are different. People creating office spaces for themselves usually don't have access to all of the studies that have been done to determine what design aspects allow them to work best.

Research from the social and physical sciences has shown that anyone can create a home office that allows for more productivity. Try these 7 tips to see if they work for you.

1. Look at nature or water. Whoever's working at this desk has a great view of nature, which is important, because looking at green, leafy scenes helps us destress and restocks our mental energy, something that gets depleted when we perform knowledge work. No nature to look at? Add a fountain with burbling water outside your window, if possible. Even three or four green, leafy plants in your field of view are better than nothing.


2. Use unpainted wood. Seeing wood grain while working calms us in the same way that nature views do.


3. Stare into the distance. Most people stare at computer screens and cubicle walls all day. But it's important to look up from your work and stare several yards into the distance. This allows your eyes rest. The 20-20-20 rule — every 20 minutes stare at something 20 yards away for 20 seconds — can help reduce eye strain.


4. Use reconfigurable furnishings. Control of our environment has been linked to improved professional performance. This means leaving yourself options to rearrange things and move around as you work. A rolling chair and multiple work surfaces will give you the freedom to switch positions and manage tasks more efficiently.


5. Build in options. There are additional ways to gain control over your physical environment. The person working at this desk can turn the desk lamp on and off, open and close windows, and read while sitting on the window seat. These are all ways to customize a space to your needs. Having that control gives you mental power.


6. Paint the walls green. Seeing greens on surfaces has been linked to thinking creatively. The sage color on these walls is pleasant and energizing enough to optimize performance. The red flowers have to go, however. Seeing even a small amount of red, even briefly, diminishes performance on analytical tasks, according to recent psychological research.


7. Show yourself the door. Whenever possible, you should have a view of the door to the room in which you're working (along with that nature view). We humans tend to get a little on edge if we can't be sure that someone's not creeping up on us — and that distracts us from the work at hand. Combining both is tricky, however. When you must choose, choose to look outside.

More: Why We Want a House With a Great View

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