How To Set Up A Home Office With A Cafe-Like Atmosphere

It is great to work from home—the first joyous days of working in your pajamas and being in control of your schedule for the rest of the day. However, things can get lonely, distracting, and boring in your neat office, especially if you have no other place to go. You’re surrounded by the detritus and mental turmoil of life at home and you’ll find yourself unproductive for days.

So you go to coffee shops where you can do your daily grind. Hence, the word coffice working. It’s a trend for a lot of freelancers, creatives, and entrepreneurs. Who wouldn’t love a place with great ambience, coffee, food, and free internet connection? You can be lulled into a creative and productive state of mind in an instant.

While the place is great for getting your work done, you have to watch out for its costs for you. Staying in coffee shops for longer hours is a pricey hobby. Your coffee may be the cheapest in the menu, but if you add all your cafe bills in a month, you may be surprised that you’re drinking more coffee than what you’re actually saving. In addition, a lot of people already treat cafes as a place where they can hang out. Sometimes, noise can get out of hand and distract you from your work.

As a solution, architects recommend that you go back home, fix yourself a home office, and adopt admirable cafe interiors in its design. Once you start brewing a cafe look in your humble abode, you’ll never need to visit that coffee shop every day, cutting the cost of your coffee drinking habits. Here’s how:

What Is It About Your Favorite Cafe That Keeps You Coming Back?

Make a list of the most attractive design element in your favorite cafe. Is it their wall color? Is it their decorative lamps? Is it the seat near the window where you can see the something interesting from time to time? Determining this will help you conceptualize the look of your home office. Once you do, it’s time to get your hands dirty:

1. Work according to a style. Most cafes enjoy an industrial and eclectic look, where you can appreciate the charming texture of reclaimed wood, exposed brick, or metal. Pair it with unique lamp fixtures with soft lighting to enhance the texture of these elements.
2. Daub a new paint on your walls. Use cool colours for tranquility while vibrant colours for liveliness.
3. Display indoor plants or a fresh flower arrangement. The sight of plants can boost your productivity up to 15%.
4. Enhance your workplace using ambient noise. There are apps which mimic the sounds inside a cafe like Coffitivity or Noisli. You may also play your preferred music to keep you inspired.

Set Up Different Work Points

Working from home, you will find yourself working anywhere in the house. You’re all over the place—the bed, the couch, the kitchen, the dining, or the patio. If you’re lucky to have a bigger home, why not establish different work points?

Find the best spot on each area of the house. Set-up a Just a comfy seating and a small table on the patio, balcony, or dining area. Take advantage of the corners of your living room and bedroom. You don’t always need a huge space for your own cafe-inspired workstation. Make sure that you have a nearby outlet so that you don’t have to leave when you need to charge your electronic devices.

Establish Your Coffee Station

You’re recreating a coffee shop, therefore, you can’t miss the coffee and the treats! Set-up your own coffee station in the kitchen. Of course, the coffee prices are lower at home. Organize your treats, favorite tea, and coffee drinks beside the machine. If you have time, bake your own bread, muffin, or cookies and let the smell occupy your kitchen. The aroma of the coffee and the baked goods is enough to take you back to inspiration land. Finally, arrange the mugs and platter in shelves or drawers nearest to your coffee station. Keeping the items within reach saves you time and energy.

Design affects how we work every day. Working tirelessly in a boring, sterile home office can leave you stagnant. Cafe interiors, on the other hand, stimulate your senses and get your creative juice going.

With the increasing number of industries and companies are giving their employees an opportunity to work outside the office, cafe-based working will be the new norm. Soon, cafes and other hubs of remote workers will be fully booked. It’s best if you still have an office you can return to. An office you also call home.

Image from http://www.hngn.com/articles/187303/20160310/kitchen-cafe-make-home-office-feel.htm