The most important word to remember when setting up a home office is the later one: OFFICE.

One reason home offices fail to work is that those that use them, don’t set them up as that. An office. This is your workplace. The only difference is it happens to be in your home. You home office requires all those items you would have in an office if it was downtown or in an office building.

Most important in my view is a door. You have to be able to shut out the rest of the world when you need to. The space must be yours and yours alone. When my wife and I were considering my move from downtown to my home office we discussed this a lot. We were considering a room on the main floor of our two story house and the basement room. While the room on the main floor may have been a little nicer, it was still in the main traffic flow of the house. We decided on the basement room. This room is mine and mine alone. No other person in our house uses it for anything.

Besides this, I attempted to set the home office up as if it were not in the home. I have a U-shaped desk that provides enough space for my two printers, my ScanSnap scanner and my Mac Mini and my MacBook. My main desk is my primary work area and is also where I use most of my equipment.

In addition, I have a ergonomic chair. No one who uses a home office should use a chair that is not comfortable. And especially don’t use a chair just because it is pretty and looks good in your house. Ask yourself one simple questions. Would you use the chair you are using if you had an office outside of your home? If the answer is no, than why use it in your home office.

Post any comments you have on this. I would love to hear from those that have home offices.