Inspiration for your Home Office
When working from home, you face a unique set of challenges that include avoiding distractions, staying focused and keeping your workspace separate from your living space.
Perhaps one of the most common challenges with working from home is staying inspired when you don't get the benefit of changing scenery every day. Plus, you may not have a lot of interaction with others, which can make it even harder to find bursts of excitement and creative inspiration during your day.
I've been working from home for more than a decade and I can tell you with certainty that unless you take steps to find creative inspiration, it's very easy to fall into a rut and have difficulty getting motivated.
There are a few things I do to get inspired in my home office:
- Get organized. Clutter and piles of paper can be the ultimate inspiration killer. Taking time to set up or fine-tune your storage and filing systems can help you get the neat and orderly office space you need to think creatively.
- Rearrange furniture. Sometimes all it takes to achieve creative inspiration is changing the layout. I frequently move my desk to the other side of the room, switch positions of my floor lamp and filing cabinets, and move a chair or table to a new location. I even occasionally bring in furniture from others rooms in the house in order to freshen up my view even more.
- Add new wall art. I have been known to stare at the walls when I'm deep in thought or when I need to give my eyes a break. I want to have something eye-catching and inspiring to look at…something I really enjoy. I recently wanted to add some new art to my walls and used FedEx Office® to do it.
Home Office Wall Art with FedEx Office
Cityscapes and big buildings always inspire me and I had two photos of New York City that were perfect for my home office. All I had to do was upload the high-resolution image files (mine were 300dpi) on the FedEx Office website and select my options. Be sure to use a photo that you took yourself or have rights to use because FedEx Office can’t print copyrighted photos or materials for you without a copyright release from the copyright holder. But don’t let this limit your inspiration – get out there with a camera and take some nice landscape photos!
For my prints, I chose the 18" x 24" poster option and had it printed on foam board. I spoke with a representative at FedEx Office and he said the foam board printing option is perfect for homes and offices, not only because it's very lightweight (I was able to hang my art with mounting tape!), but also because it makes it easy to swap out the photos with new ones whenever you need some fresh inspiration. For an even more durable solution, gator board has the same look as foam core, but is much stronger and can withstand a few bumps and knocks. It’s a tiny bit more for per square inch, but can be worth it if this is a high-traffic area.
So next time you're feeling uninspired by the drab walls in your home office, try these "refreshing" techniques. And have fun with your wall art -- grab a favorite photo, some of your child's best artwork, or even your own company’s logo and get a large poster printed to adorn your office walls that will help spark your imagination.
Related FedEx Office Solutions: Prints & Posters, Photo to Art Prints
Alyssa Gregory is a small business collaborator and founder of Small Business Bonfire, a social, educational and collaborative community for small business owners. FedEx Office is compensating Alyssa to share her ideas for creative business-building projects on the Out of Office blog.
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