Designing for Productivity: How to Create a Personalized Home Office (2024)

I love designing home offices. While people think living rooms are sexy and kitchens are delightful, I think home offices—perhaps more than any other place in the home— provide the greatest possibility for creative liberties and personalization. And since the average person spends 90,000 hours of their lives working (yes, you did read that correctly), it’s a meaningful space to get right and do well.

Whether you’re penning the next great American novel or crunching our great American tax code, we’ve put together 4 key principles for designing a home office that practically does the work for you.

4 Principles for Designing a Personalized Home Office

1. Design a Place You Want to Be

This might sound like an obvious one, but most people spend their lives working in places they don’t love. And by that I don’t necessarily mean companies, but actual, physical spaces. Grey cubicles, bulk Folgers coffee, black chairs with squeaky wheels. While exceptional work can come out of these spaces, they certainly don’t inspire it.

I am a big believer that environment influences your actions. James Clear says, “Start small and become the kind of person who shows up every day. Build a new identity. Then increase the intensity.” While designing an office cannot directly make you a better performer, it can make you a more consistent performer simply because you’re excited to show up. And consistency breeds improvement.

So ask yourself: what space can I create that makes me want to show up every day? By designing that space, you aren’t being indulgent; you’re being intentional. You’re putting yourself in the best position to perform.

2. Create a Space of Focus

3. Be a Functionalist

When I first started designing, 99% of my selection process was focused on aesthetics. How something looks is always what people are drawn to first. But looks don’t have lasting power. The really critical thing is if the furnishings can function for you. Consider how you operate in your space and what type of functionality you need to work well. Do you need a large surface to spread out and write? Do you need a great corner to read? Are you at your computer all day, shoulders bent over the keyboard? Do you have a lot of paperwork and resources you need storage for? Do you need a place on the wall to write or pin ideas? Start by understanding how you need your office to function for you, then work backward and discover pieces that make those things possible—and beautiful.

4. Integrate Inspiration Signals

There are certain things that resonate with you personally. They light you up, inspire you, and take you to a different level of excitement and purpose. While designing for function is key, you also want to incorporate things in your office that you connect with emotionally and which spark something in you. The beauty of a home office is that you can personalize it and make it yours. It doesn’t matter what Billy, Bob, and Sue like—this is your space and it’s about what speaks to you.

Case in point: In my office, I display a trio of books I love. While I don’t read them every day, just seeing their titles reminds me of their contents and prompts wisdom and ideas. Over my sideboard, I have a large piece of artwork—an abstract animal herd—it’s fierce and chaotic and encourages me to keep running. Always keep running.

Across the room on my desk, I have a vase from my travels and a photo of my daughter, both reminding me that work is only part of my story. Then, finally, on my computer monitor, I have a post-it note in my chicken scratch: “Be decisive.” I tend to lumber over decisions, tossing and turning to try to make the best call for everyone. But often I instinctively know the call and just need to make it. My little post-it psychiatrist is just nudging me to do what I already know I need to.

These are just snapshots of my space, small personal elements that make my office ideal for me. They inspire me, ground me, calm me, so I’m best positioned emotionally to take on the day and the work. Animal herds and travel vases might not speak to you, and that’s OK. Find what lights you up and puts you on the right path. The more you prime yourself for accomplishment and success, the more of it you’ll have.