With the world shifting to remote work due to recent events, it’s no surprise that many people need secluded offices in their homes. Having a private place to work throughout the week is essential to productivity. If you have a sunroom in your home, consider turning it into an office.
The National Center for Biotechnology Information found that having natural light in your office can:
- Improve your mental concentration
- Lead to better sleep quality
- Promote alertness
- Decrease stress levels
- Encourage more satisfaction at work
- Increase your daily physical activity
Working in an office with natural light has been proven to benefit your quality of life when you’re on and off the clock. If you want to turn your sunroom into an office space, keep reading for six ways to create the best sunroom work area.
Break Your Sunroom into Zones
When you first decide that you’re going to convert your sunroom into a home office, assess its overall condition. If your small sunroom was a storage space before this project, clean everything out to see what you have to work with. This step is also a great time to make any big changes to the room, such as painting the walls, replacing broken screens or windows, washing the windows or other maintenance tasks.
Once you’ve made those updates, it’s time to break your room into zones. This process can help with decorating regardless of your sunroom’s size. Give each area a purpose, whether it’s going to be where you put a bookshelf, a seating area, your desk, your office supplies or a table for big projects. Breaking your room into zones will make decorating less overwhelming and ensure that your space fulfills all your needs.
Personalize Your Office Space
After your room is broken up into zones, you need to decide on a theme for your sunroom office. You’re going to spend hours on end in this space, so it’s important that you make it your own. Consider how you want to feel when you’re in this room. Do you want to feel like you’re in a log cabin up the mountains or sitting in a beach house in the Caribbean? Just to note, the paint you decide on will largely impact the vibe this room gives off, so it’s best to choose your theme before painting.
Regardless of the theme you choose, make sure it’s inviting. There are several styles or themes to choose from, such as:
- Transitional
- Traditional
- Contemporary
- Modern
- Midcentury
- Farmhouse
- Rustic
- Industrial
Choose a theme and include textures, colors, and pieces of furniture that relate to it. Personalize your sunroom office just a bit more and add pictures on the walls and in frames.
Utilize the Natural Light
The best part of turning your sunroom into an office is the extra sunlight that you can enjoy throughout your day. Use the sunroom for its original purpose and give your office space a splash of nature by adding plants. These can be large potted trees or a small bunch of succulents on your desk. Plants are a fun way to add color to your living area and enhance the theme of your office space. Potted plants are also a great way to camouflage cords around your desk.
Even though having natural light in your office improves your overall mental and physical health, there are times where you don’t want the sun shining in your eyes or on your monitor. Install curtains, exterior shades or even motorized blinds that you can set on a timer to adjust as the sun moves.
Have a Bookshelf in Your Sunroom Office
An office isn’t complete without a bookshelf, and your sunroom home office is no exception. Adding a bookshelf in your sunroom is a great way to make your office inviting. If you have a printer or scanner taking up way too much space on your desk, buy a bookshelf that can hold your large office supplies.
Even if you don’t need large equipment in your office, use a bookshelf as another area to decorate and personalize with candles, pictures, books, figurines and small knick-knacks.
Organize Your Office Space Supplies
You may need to store files, papers and other reports in your home office to achieve the same functionality you’d have in a traditional workplace. Make a zone where you have a place to put these items. Some storage solutions include a filing cabinet or an antique, vintage dresser. Using bins and bookshelves is a popular method for storing smaller odds and ends like extra cords, sticky notes, pencils or pens, notebooks and other items you may need.
Another helpful sunroom office idea is to have an area that’s your designated “drop zone.” This area can be for papers, car keys, grocery lists, phone, mail, or anything you need it for. It’s wise to choose a designated area to put those random things. Let’s face it, you know your family — or yourself — is going to drop items off in your office.
Instead of having your desk cluttered with those items, negatively impacting your mental focus, or your whole office turning into a mess, choose a table or a basket to contain everything.
Include a Sitting Area in Your Sunroom Office
One sunroom office decorating idea you should not forget about is including a sitting area. This furniture provides you with a different place to work than your desk if you need a change of position or scenery. It’s also helpful to fill space if you have a large sunroom.
While setting boundaries during your working hours is essential, your family may visit you during your workday. It’s a home office, after all. Chances are your children, partner or pet will want to say hello. Provide them with a place to sit where you can spend time together on your lunch break or after office hours.
Having a seating area in your sunroom office is also excellent for those afternoon naps or rainy days where you’re curled up with a good book, listening to the rain patter on the window panels.
Learn More About Transforming Your Sunroom into an Office
Choosing to have a sunroom office in your home is one of the best decisions you’ll make. Turning your sunroom into an office will promote alertness, decrease your stress levels, and help you have a higher satisfaction at work. We hope these sunroom office ideas and tips have sparked your imagination of the truly limitless possibilities before you when it comes to transforming your sunroom into a home office.
If you want more information about the sunrooms we offer and other products that will improve your sunroom office, reach out to us today.