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Last Updated on August 25, 2015 by Work In My Pajamas
The biggest mistake you could make when designing your home office is allowing yourself to feel as though it needs to be a utilitarian space, like traditional commercial office spaces. Your home office is a part of your home after all, and that’s something you should incorporate into the design. Traditional office lighting techniques won’t work in your home, as they can make the environment seem cold and uninviting. On the other hand, going overboard with embellishment in your home office can create a distracting space that won’t assist your work habits. You need to find a lighting system that’s just right.
What Kind of Lights to Use
Normal office environments typically use white or blue lights. These aren’t good there, and they’re certainly not good in your home. Go for warmer lighting tones, specifically those in the yellow family. Aside from the atmosphere they create, they’re also easier on your eyes and far friendlier on your circadian rhythm. A popular standby is the modern warm temperature incandescent bulb, which comes with the added benefit of energy efficiency. If your house is already illuminated in yellow, this will also maintain continuity in the transition between rooms.
Selecting Fixtures
Beautiful and elaborate fixtures may be the first thing you gravitate towards, but they’re often busy and distracting. If you want to have a lighting fixture as a focal point, choose one that’s a good balance between design and functionality. You wouldn’t want a chandelier in your office space, so go for a minimalist pendant style fixture as your main light source, and supplement with localized sleek and modern lamps.
Placing Your Lights
You need your lights to work in a way that’s harmonious with your furniture. Placing lights in a location that could potentially interfere with your computer screen is generally not a good idea. You’ll create glare on the screen, making it difficult to read and causing unnecessary strain on your eyes. Placing your lights so they’re adjacent to your screen, or at least a significant distance away from it, is the easiest way to prevent this issue from occurring.
Lighting Layers
You’re going to want to arrange your lighting in layers that will allow you to create an efficient level of light for different times of day. Your lighting sources and the natural light from your windows shouldn’t be in constant competition with each other when you need to supplement your lighting. You may find it useful to keep your largest light on a dimmer, so you can easily adjust it to meet your requirements throughout the day.
Using Task Lamps
Task lamps are inexpensive enough, and you’ll likely find it helpful to have several of them. If you do a multitude of things in your home office, it’s helpful to have a task lamp dedicated to each one. Keeping a task lamp near each area you would want to read or write in is ideal, because you won’t be limited by centralized lighting. If there isn’t a lot of space to move around in your office and you don’t have many areas designated for specific purposes, choose tasks lamps with adjustable arms that will cover a broader range of space and allow you to move them where you need them with ease.
