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With around 46.6% of people working from home during April 2020 and home offices, arguably more popular than ever before, setting up a comfortable workspace to work from is more important than ever before. So exactly how quickly can you set up a home office and is it possible to set up a home office in a week?
Home offices can be set up relatively quickly, typically within 7 days with some even managing to set up their home offices in 24 hours. To set up a home office quickly, decide what your workspace will be used for, decide on a room, pick the three essential items you need and come up with a layout.
So how exactly can you speed up the process of setting up a home office? And what should you do on each of the individual days to set up your office space efficiently? Keep reading to find out more!
(Just a heads up a lot of people reading my blog are in the process of designing their own home office. If you want to save some of the painstaking time I did in designing my office, you can find my recommended products here)
How to come up with a home office in a week
For a lot of us, setting up a home office in the space of a few hours will be a push ( more on that later) that being said a realistic target a lot of us can set is to set up a home office in the space of a week or so.
To set up a home office quickly in the space of a week you will need to do the following:
- Decide what the home office will be used for
- Come up with a location for your office
- Come up with a quick layout
- Make a list of the three items you will need
- Set a budget
- Go to three big stores and buy your items
- Paint your office
- Move and position the items in your office
Let’s explore these further below ( these tips were also highlighted gathered from this posts sisters posts how to build an office in a week and how to build a home office in a day)
Decide what the office will be used for
The first step of setting up our home office we need to ask a question that a lot of us forget about which is simply put:
What will your office space be used for?
Whilst a lot of us will be using our office spaces for computer work, either when we are doing our jobs from home or working on our side hustle there are other things you need to consider such as:
Who else will be using your home office – Will the office be used by you and you alone or will your partner/kids need to use the space as well? If so this might change the items you’ll need such as a smaller desk or chair as a homework station or the color or design of your office
What will your office space double up as – while a lot of us will be using our offices solely for computer and screen work, a lot of people may need a breakout room to do yoga in, to work out from, or use as a storage space, or even work on hobbies such as pottery in. If so you will need to accommodate this
How frequently you will be using your home office – if you don’t work from home that often or do so a few times a month, the investment that you make in your home office space will not be that high in comparison to a durable office space you use day in day out.
Come up with a location for your office
Location, location, location.
Location is everything when it comes to setting up office space and can make the difference between you having a super productive day at work vs feeling like trash for not completing what you need to.
Not all of us have a spare bedroom to put our home offices in, and so coming up with a place that will work, even if you are tight on space such as living in an apartment or will need to be decided before you move into your office space.
Also what your office will be used for also falls into this.
For example, if you are working from home with a lot of people who need to share the space then your home office will need to be a lot bigger than if it was just you working from home.
The best option and room then to place your home office in if you have space would be in a loft, which can potentially increase your house value by as much as 20% as well as being separate from any major distractions – you can read up more on this in my blog post here or check out the infographic below:
If you are short on space and live in a studio apartment or shared accommodation a good trick would be to use the corner of your room away from distractions.
Now the good things about most home offices are that most office furniture is typically the same sizes, so I’ve pulled together a table showing you what the typical sizes of a desk chair and monitor are so you have an idea if you have enough room for any office essentials:
| Item | Size |
| Desk | 36-40 inches wide, 75cm high |
| Chair | 16-21 inches off the ground, |
| Monitor | 23-30 inches wide |
If you’re interested in reading up more about the different sizes and weight of chairs and desks check out my blog posts below:
Understanding weight will also be super important as having heavy items can definitely be a pain to try and move around. As such I’ve written a post talking all about how much weight a home office can support – some of the key images from that post I’ve enclosed below:
Come up with a quick layout
So once you have an idea of where your office will be located and what it will be used for it’s time to come up with a quick layout.
Now whilst I have recommended using online tools like free online interior design platforms as a way to come up with a blueprint when designing your home office ( you can read up more about this here) – I would recommend coming up with a quick layout with a pen and paper.
This is mainly because a lot of these interior design platforms will take a lot of time to familiarise yourself with.
So how do you come up with a quick layout for your home office?
Simply measure the space your home office will be, come up with a birds-eye view of your floor space, and then come up with where your office items will be. To help I’ve come up with a quick drawing of what my office space looks like below:
Make a list of the three items your office will need
One of the biggest decisions that come along with designing an office regardless of timescales is what you’re going to fill it with.
After all, what’s the point in having your designated workspace if you’re going to leave it empty and work from the sofa?
Now as we are on a time scale, my suggestions would be to make a list of the three or four essential items you need to work from your home office – you can always add more items but three items should be enough to get a basic function out of your office.
If you will be using your workspace for your hobbies, such as pottery or knitting, then feel free to buy those items however for a lot of you, the following three items will be the essentials you need in your home office, to find out why I recommend them, feel free to click on the links which helps provide more detail:
Come up with a set budget
So you know what room your office is going to be, what it will be used for and what items you will need in your office. The next step is to start setting a budget.
You see if you do decide to go with items like desks, chairs, or bespoke items these can vary considerably with regards to pricing.
What’s even worse is that as we are working on a strict deadline of seven days, it can be incredibly easy to be persuaded to spend more money in areas that we don’t necessarily need just to save us time.
So what is a good budget for a home office that you are building in 7 days?
$1000 is a good budget to set a home office with even if you are working under strict time pressure. This is enough of a budget to get quality items without going overboard in your spending.
This budget should also give you enough left over when dealing with things like needing to re-carpet or paint your room if you have time. Which are often costs that people forget about.
To help explain how I would spend $1000 on a home office and the typical price range of items I’ve made a table below to help explain more:
| Item | Price Range |
| Chair | $100 – $200 |
| Desk | $200 – $300 |
| Monitor | $200 – $300 |
| Paint | $50 – $70 |
| Carpet | $70- $100 |
| Bonus items and unknown costs | $100 – $150 |
Go to the big stores
So because we are on a strict deadline of 7 days the best option when it comes to purchasing your products to go into your home office would be to go to the bigger well-known stores.
For me, Amazon is easily the best choice as you can search through hundreds of different product types in a few minutes (it’s one of the reasons why all my office equipment is recommended from there)
That being said, if you want to do more shopping around and see your items in person for your home office, I would recommend having a look around popular stores.
Going to stores like Bed, Bath and Beyond, Ikea or Wicks are all fantastic options.
What’s even better is these larger furniture stores are typically located in retail parks or very close to one another meaning that in the space of a few hours you can find your items and compare prices relatively quickly.
Paint your office
So you’ve purchased your three essential items but before you move your items in there is a bit of decoration that needs to be done.
For a lot of you, you might want to skip this step if you’re already happy with the color of your prospective office space, but if you’re anything like me, staring at white walls day in day out can definitely kill your focus.
And it’s not just me, some studies have linked the color white to medical and sterile.
The best color to paint your office then if you want to focus is a blue-green color which has been proven to boost productivity – you can read up more about this here.
The good thing about most modern paints is that they dry quickly, so if you do decide to opt for painting your office space, you can pretty much do two coats in one day, saving you time and helping you stick to your schedule of getting your office done in one week or under.
Once you’ve painted your room if you do need to change your carpet or change any other decor this would be the step for that, just be aware that this will further add on time to you designing your space.
Place your items in your office
Now your office can finally start to look like an office!
So if you have decided to go with the three simple items in your office ( a desk, chair, and monitor) these should be fairly simple to move into your office space.
Simply stick to your rough blueprint and move them into space and you should be good to go.
If however, your office design is a little bit more complex and you are moving heavier items like file cabinets for storage then I would recommend either hiring a moving company or schedule with friends and family to help you out.
You’re likely going to be exhausted doing this and so I would recommend this step take place on the weekend if possible.
Place in any accessories and personalize
The final step to getting your home office done in under a week is to make it more you.
You see you will be the one using your office on a day-to-day basis and it’s super important that you enjoy working from it.
For me it’s as simple as adding some LED lights or some pop figures to show my love for the movies I watch, for you it could be adding a globe and ticking off the places you visit or having an inspiration wall to keep you motivated.
Think of the two to three items that make your home office you and you will find working from your home office space being more enjoyable
Don’t forget about the light
So following the above steps will get your home office ready in a week or less but there are a few other things you’re going to want to consider when designing a home office regardless of your time scales.
First off, ensure that you have enough light.
For a lot of us, working at home for days on end means we don’t get out much.
Seriously, the life of remote working is a lot less going for midday walks or working from a beach and a lot more working indoors for longer than you might.
It’s important then (if possible) to get as much direct sunlight into your office as possible.
Higher levels of sunlight have been shown to cause people to be happier with other studies also showing significant improvements and so we need to do what we can to do the same for our office
| Number of employees | Work Condition | Sleep Quality | Well being |
| 27 | Placed in Windowless Environment | Much poorer sleep quality | Worse off than those with sunlight |
| 22 | Placed with significantly more sunlight | Better sleep quality | Engaged in more physical activity |
Ensure then that the room your office is in has a window, if not, consider investing in artificial lighting or plants that can give you an outside feel inside of your office. ( click on the links for my recommendations)
This doesn’t take that much time but investing a little bit in light, especially if you work from a room with no sign of the outdoors can go a long way.
Make way for storage
So as we’re in a rush in designing your office it can be super easy to miss out on one of the most important aspects any home workstations needs – storage space.
Whilst I think the first three items any home office space requires will be a chair, desk, and monitor, it won’t be too long if you are working from home permanently before your files and general junk starts filling your office space.
If your office is anything like mine you’ll probably have laundry baskets and Ironing boards in them so eventually you will want to look into decent storage spaces.
Storage comes in all different shapes and sizes so you’re going to want to get what works for you, a few suggestions would be:
- File cabinets
- Shelf rack
- Wall-mounted shield
- Chest of drawers
My recommendations for any storage space can be found here – this should cover pretty much any office and what it is used for.
If you are interested however in implementing file cabinets or shelving you may want to check out the following posts:
Update your office every few months
By following these steps you should have been able to set up a complete home office set up in less than one week.
That being said it’s super important to update your office as you go along.
You see human beings are creatures of habit and even the most stylish and up-to-date office will begin to feel stale after a few years.
Whilst you’ve done a fantastic job in getting your office completed, it’s a good idea to make your home office change as you do, allowing movement for your hobbies and your personal growth.
This could be as simple as changing the color or getting some new collectibles.
At the end of the day, you want to make sure your work environment is as stimulating as possible for you so ensure you update as you go along.
7-day plan
Now you know how to set up your office in one week, I want to give you the exact schedule that I followed to get my office sorted in 7 days.
This should be especially useful for any of you who are working full time and so don’t have a week off to get your office sorted in.
| Day | Tasks | Time Required |
| Monday |
|
|
| Tuesday |
|
3 and a half hours (one hour on the three essential items you want, one hour on deciding on the color you want, one hour on making an accurate budget that you can afford, 30 mins calling round to your friends) |
| Wednesday |
|
3 hours total time (this should be more than enough time to look at similar products to the ones you want and to ensure that you are buying items that match your budget) |
| Thursday |
|
4 hours ( aim to do two hours in the morning for the first coat and two hours in the afternoon) |
| Friday |
|
2 hours ( although this can be done a lot quicker if you have the budget to help get carpet fitters in too. This should also give enough time for any excess wet paint to dr |
| Saturday |
|
6 hours ( whilst moving your items into your office with friends can be easy, you might find assembling tricky items like desks and chairs end up eating into most of your time and so this is why we do this on the weekend) |
| Sunday |
|
1 hour (you’ve done a lot this week so this is the final cherry on the cake to make your office yours, it should not take too long) |
How to create a home office in 24 hours
So if we want to make things even more difficult and you are on a schedule even tighter than 7 days it is possible to make a home office space in 24 hours.
Creating a home office in 24 hours is possible so long as you plan accordingly. Having your decor choices mapped out, furniture selected, and main office usage mapped out, will make the process of creating your office in 24 hours possible.
Once again you will need to ask yourself the following questions:
- What will your home office be used for?
- What essential items do you need?
- How much space do you have to play with?
- How long will they take to move in?
- Do you need to decorate your office space?
Timetable for creating your home office in 24 hours
So I appreciate I’ve spoken quite a bit in this blog post but want to give you a solid timetable to work from to make things easy so hopefully the table below can show you how to successfully create a home office in 24 hours – try to stick to it as a blueprint to further help save you a lot of time and unwarranted stress.
| Time | Task |
| Before your 24 hour period | Paint your room the color and design of your choice. Consider looking at this post for office design inspiration.
Set a budget for the total amount you want to spend on your office space |
| 6 am – 6.30 am | Decide what your home office will be used for and its primary users. |
| 6.30 am – 7.30 am | Measure out your office space with a tape measure to understand how much space you have to work with. |
| 7.30 am – 8.30 am | Make a list of the essential items you will need in your office space. |
| 8.30 am – 10 am | Do a quick google search of the types of products that are available as well as the price needed for these – this will help you see if your budget is adequate or if you need more. |
| 10 am – 11 am | break/travel to your nearest retail park. |
| 11 am – 3 pm | Visit your nearest retail park and purchase the items you need for your home office. Compare three models of each and choose the one which you like best for best results. |
| 3 pm – 4 pm | break/travel back home – you may need to organize the delivery for the same day which can cost around $50 |
| 4 pm – 6 pm | Get help ( or if you are tough do this by yourself) to move the items into your office space and unpackage |
| 6 pm – 6 am | Start assembling your furniture and small decor bits, ensure you get plenty of rest. You may find that you get done quicker than you had originally anticipated. |
Functionality vs Look
A common mistake made when creating the office space is people browse the internet for inspiration and purchase items based solely on looks and not function.
Remember I am not saying you can’t have both, but you need to make sure that the stylish chair you purchased will actually support your back for 8 hours a day.
Or purchasing that cool-looking half moon-designed table only to realize you have a really limited workspace.
Also, ensure to take some time to hide away any clutter or mess e.g. wiring as that will only distract you and not let you feel as if you’re in the actual office.
Also, have you considered whether you want a sitting or standing desk or both? Studies have shown standing can help reduce health issues such as obesity as you burn more calories standing than you do sitting!
How To Make An Office At Home For Free
How Much Should You Spend On A Home Office?
Finally, a lot of people reading my blog want to know what products I recommend for a home office/remote working. You can find out my recommendations here and learn how I make money whilst working remotely on the side here.
The content on this site has been written by Fehed Nicass who has over a decade worth of experience in sales and has worked remotely for the past 2 years.
