How to Plan Office Space

Designing an accessible, organized workspace can improve your work flow.

The way your office area is set up can have a big impact on how you work. Arranging an office space without planning ahead, however, can lead to a disorganized and inefficient work area. Avoid the headache of haphazardly arranging an office space by drawing a floor plan to scale, designing around the room's traffic flow, and by planning your organization methods ahead of time. Effectively planning an office space can have a positive affect on the efficiency and flow of your work.

Instructions

1. Decide where in the room you want to put your office area. If space is an issue, consider putting your office in the corner of the room. This maximizes workspace and allows you to quickly switch between two desks.

2. Draw furniture and a floor plan of the room to scale. This works best if exact measurements are taken because you can easily see when something won't fit. Include electrical outlets, windows, doors and heating vents in your drawing to avoid inconvenient furniture placement.

3. Arrange the furniture within the floor plan taking traffic flow and efficiency into consideration. Think about the natural flow of the room. By drawing walking paths into your floor plan you can be sure to take this into account in your planning.

4. Purchase or make containers and systems to organize your space. By putting messy office supplies into monochromatic storage bins and filing boxes, you can make your office space look more put-together. Plan a space for this type of storage that is accessible and functional.

5. Plan for a spot to leave important reminders and relevant documents. By leaving room on a wall for a cork or magnet board, you save yourself desk space, can easily find important items and are easily reminded of upcoming deadlines. Placing this in a spot that you are sure to look at multiple times throughout the day is best.

Tips & Warnings

• To avoid the messy look of tangled cords, bind cords together with tape or plastic zip ties.

References

• My Space Designers: Office Space Design
• How To Create Your Own Home Office: How To Create A Home Office That You'll Love
• Ask The Builder: Maximize Small Home Office Space