How to Work From Home in a Small Apartment

With freelance, entrepreneurship and remote employees on the rise, you may be part of the growing community living out this trend. Thanks to technology, there are fewer and fewer reasons for certain positions to have to come into the office. Maybe your employer is saving money on office rent and would rather you work from home. Perhaps you’re a self-employed freelancer, or perhaps you’re an entrepreneur living out the dream of starting your own business and you can’t afford an office yet. No matter the reason, this trend is not going away. That’s why Fairfield is actively building live/work spaces within our newer communities, so our residents can create a balance between work and play.

However, if your apartment is on the smaller side and doesn’t come customized with a built in desk, there is no reason you can’t have a home office. Depending on what you do, you may need very few things to create an office within tight spaces. Here’s how…

Photo by Alesia Kazantceva via Unsplash.

Home Office Essentials: Figure out what you really need for your home office based on what you do. If all of your work is literally online (working with digital documents instead of anything physical), you may be surprised at how little you actually need for your office. Working entirely from your laptop means you will just need something to put your computer on, a chair and close access to a plug to recharge.

Space: Carving out space for your home office is the one problem that most home workers run into when living in a small apartment. Unless you have an extra room that you can dedicate just to your office, chances are your home office will take up some of your living area. Here are some creative ways to create a home office without using an entire room:

• Use a kitchen nook or island as your office if you don’t have room for a desk.
• In your bedroom, rearrange your bed so it’s against the wall instead of being in the middle of the room. This will give you more space for a desk.
• Have a dining room table? If you’re just using a laptop for work, you could easily use the dining room table as a desk.
• Play around with rearranging your living room furniture to make room for a small desk like this one from Wayfair.

Non- Essential Accessories – If you have more room for a work area or need more space because your job demands it, you may decide to go all out with an actual home office with a room of its own. If you have the room and money, you can definitely make your office as luxe as you want with a comfy office chair, big desk, storage and lighting. Plus you can add other accessories like a white boardor whatever else tickles your fancy to make your office your own and somewhere you enjoy working in every day.

The Bottom Line – Your home office really depends on the needs of your job and what you need in your work space. The more you’re dealing with paper and physical supplies, the bigger the space you will need. However, if your entire job revolves around the digital space, you really don’t need much and a small apartment home office is totally doable with very little room.