Today I am going to write about small home office organization. Covid19 has meant more people are having to work or study from home. What do you do if you don’t have a separate room for your home office? Working or studying from home is hard enough at the best of times. There are many distractions and potentially constant interruptions from pets, family, and doorbells. As a Professional Organizer, I have helped many entrepreneurs create home offices, creating workspaces that are efficient, productive, and organized. The home office needs to look good, feel good, and be somewhere they want to sit down and work in.
The Small Home Office
If you don’t have a separate room for your home office, you will need to fit it into and around your home. Sometimes, that is a corner of the kitchen, the bedroom, the dining table, or the couch. How do you even begin the organization of your home office when it has to be split up between rooms? Defining the actions involved in your work and the environments required for them to be accomplished, is the first step.
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Your Desk:
In small spaces, it is not always possible to have a designated workstation. Whether you use your dining table or the couch to work from, you will need to define how much space you need when working. In other words, how much clutter do you create while working? This “clutter”, once you have finished, will need to be put away safely and in an organized fashion. 
My Organizational Personality Type© System will help us determine the kind of space required for your workstation and the size/style of storage best suited to you.
I am a Spreader. A Spreader needs a lot of space while working because, as their namesake suggests, they spread! So, squeezing into a tiny corner of the kitchen will not work for me. I need to lay my work out, to see it. However, if you are a Filer then the small corner in the kitchen will work perfectly well. So, think about how much space you need to work on.
There are so many choices out there. I know it’s tempting to work on your couch, but it is not a long term solution. The following article by Brittney Morgan in House Beautiful has some great ideas for small desks that might work for you: 23 Best Desks That Will Fit in Even the Smallest Spaces:
Computer Storage:
Whether it is a laptop or a computer with a monitor, you will need to think about the surface you work on and how you put it all away. Only put the computer and desk in an area of your home that you know you will definitely have consistent and scheduled time to be alone there. If you can’t control the environment, then you won’t be able to control your work output. Think about when you work – daytime or evenings. Where you put your desk and computer is VERY important.
Office Storage:
You will need to create some permanent storage solution for keeping the computer, its parts, and its accessories when you are finished working. In small spaces, it is important to keep things out of sight, or things will look cluttered very quickly. Here are some ideas for where to create office storage in your home;
- Plastic bins that fit under the bed (the ones that have rollers on them are best)
- A drawer in a cabinet
- A bin that fits on a shelf
I always suggest storage solutions that have lids on them when creating solutions for small spaces as you don’t want any food, liquid, pets, or children getting into them. It keeps the contents safe and private.
There are some fantastic designs out there that make fitting a home office into a small space not only possible but stylish and practical. 
Paper/File Management:
You will want your home office to be invisible when you finish work or study. This can easily be created with a few steps. I have found that having a drawer/box for “Action” (any bills you have to pay or items you have to take action on) and a drawer/box for “Filing” (is ready to be filed away in the filing cabinet) means that papers are kept from becoming piles or getting lost. With regards to stationery and supplies storage, again, put them in a drawer or attractive box.
Filing:
Whatever your filing system – binder or filing cabinet – you will need to assign somewhere for it. 
A working filing system means that you can find any piece of paper in five seconds. If it takes 15 minutes to get to the cabinet, you are kind of setting yourself up for failure. Once I put a filing cabinet in a kitchen; no one knew, as it matched all the other cabinets. For another client, we created a filing system for all her research papers in the window bench of her living room. To get at her filing, all she had to do was lift the seat top.
Filing cabinets are not essential for storing files; what is important is the system to store and organize the documents. Binders can blend in on a bookshelf without anyone knowing what is in the binder. Likewise, a simple gasket box for files can be stored in a cupboard out of sight.
Tips: Small Home Office Organization
- Determine how much space you personally need while working and choose an area of your home that accommodates this
- Set boundaries over noise and interruptions while working
- Choose a filing system that fits into your home environment, and that is easily accessible.
- Document and paper management: create an “Action” drawer/box and a “Filing” drawer/box.
- When storing supplies and technology away, choose storage containers with lids and can fit discreetly away under a couch, bed, or in a cupboard.
Good luck, and drop me a line if you have any specific questions on the design or layout of your office.
Don’t forget to look at my Pinterest Board for more tips and suggestions for your home office and business. Check out my other posts for entrepreneurs:
Free Professional Organizing Advice for you!
We could all use something to look forward to right now. I want to do something that will add value to your life to help you during these confusing and challenging times. When you are organized, there is less chaos, less overwhelm. An organized home can bring you a sense of calm, ground you, and help you feel more in control. It is one of the things that we can influence and control despite what’s happening in other areas of our lives or communities.
I am offering a “mini organizing consult” for free, share it with your co-workers, family, and friends on Linkedin, post it on Facebook, or Instagram, or Twitter. Let everyone know because I want to give back and help you. Now is when people really need it.
All you need to do is complete this FORM, attach a photo of 1 area in your home or office that you need organizing help with. Every week I am going to choose at least one person to work with. Here are a couple of readers I have helped already: