British High Commission Article
Some Things to Think about When Designing Your Home Office Space
When you finally get the chance to work from home, you are so elated that it is easy to lose focus on everything else. However, your home office contributes greatly to your overall success or failure, so you should give some time and thought to setting up your home office space. If you don�t like the space, you will be less productive, which means that you may not be able to work from home, so this is important!
You can get a tax deduction for having a home office, however to get this deduction, the room you use for your home office has to be a separate room in your home that is only used for business purposes. You can�t use a corner of your bedroom or den as your home office and claim that deduction on your taxes.
When you set up a special room just for your home office, you will find that it is much easier to control outside distractions. Family members living in the household will learn that when you are in that room, you are working and not to be bothered. You won�t have to worry about trying to ignore the television, or trying to hide from people who come to the door. You have to make a conscious effort to make certain that when you are in the office you are working, and that is all you are doing.
You want to have enough space in the room that you choose to accommodate all of the equipment that you will need, without you feeling claustrophobic or closed in. If you don�t have a spare room that can be used for this purpose, you may find that you will be better off converting your basement, attic, or garage into your home office space. It isn�t all that difficult to do to make a few changes to an existing room and turn it into a great home office space.
Once you have chosen a room, you will need to completely clean it out, remove all clutter and unnecessary items from the room. Once you have everything cleaned out, you can paint the walls, with a color that is pleasing to you, and consider redoing the flooring if needed. If you will require extra outlets, now would be the time to take care of that as well.
Depending on the type of business you will be doing, you may need to have a separate phone and phone number for business purposes. This will make it easier to dodge personal calls, helping you stay focused in work. You may also be able to claim this expense as a business deduction as well, as long as you have a separate line.
If you don�t already have Internet access, or currently have dial up, you should consider getting cable or DSL instead. This can definitely speed up your work time, especially if your work will require you to use the internet, such as internet marketing.
You will likely need to purchase some office furniture, at minimum a desk for your computer, a comfortable office style chair for yourself, and maybe some other electronics, such as a printer, copier, fax, etc. You may also want to have a bookcase and some filing cabinets as well. If you will have customers or clients coming in, you will want to make certain that you have enough furniture to accommodate them as well.
You may need to come up with some creative storage ideas if space is at a premium, but this isn�t all that difficult. There are many ways to creating extra space in a small room, such as organizers, and under cabinet mobile storage units.
You don�t have to sink a lot of money into your home office, but you do want to make certain that it is a space that you want to spend time in, and that can be inspiring to you as well.
