If you ever worked from home, you know how distracting it can be. Your family might be disturbing you or you might decide to stay in bed for a little longer than you should. However, there is a solution that will allow you to have your cake and eat it too. You can work from home yet still leave your house if you create an outdoor office space! This will not only give you that psychological shifting of gears from personal time to work time, but also allow you to work surrounded by greenery and fresh air. Sounds nice? Here’s how to create an outdoor office space that will provide you with productivity and relaxation.
Consider the orientation
If you have a tiny backyard to work with, you won’t have too much wiggle room, but if your space offers versatility, make sure to think hard about your backyard office orientation. No matter if you’re planning to build from scratch or invest in prefab office pods, make sure you find a good location. The north side of your home is best suited for such a structure because it’s most evenly shaded. While sun exposure is super healthy for you and can have amazing effects on your productivity, too much of it will cause your little space to overheat, create glare and affect the longevity of your devices. If you can’t choose your location, consider planting some shade trees that will limit your sun exposure in a perfectly natural and eco-friendly way.
Start building
In order to retain that natural vibe that will bring you so many benefits, make sure to go eco-friendly with your new office. Luckily, you can find so many amazing recycled materials and reclaimed items that will allow you to reduce pollution and lower your carbon footprint. For the minimal disturbance to your gorgeous garden, you can look into prefab office sheds that come in kits you just need to connect in your backyard. Plus, most models allow customization when it comes to materials, so you can still go eco-friendly with bamboo flooring, good insulation and double-pane windows.
Element protection
If your climate allows you to stay outside all year round, then ditch offices altogether and create an open area perfect for work. With just a practical desk for all your necessary office supplies and a good chair, you can work directly in nature. However, if you know your backyard is prone to winds, you don’t want to go chasing your newly-purchased pens, notebooks and folders every time there’s a small breeze. Instead, design a barrier that will block the air movement yet allow you to avoid that cubicle, boxed-in feeling and still give you a good view of the garden.
Connectivity
This is something you really need to think through. Naturally, you need electricity for your work and illumination, but running extension cords outdoors is not very smart. If you have an open-concept backyard work area, grab a waterproof connectivity enclosure that will hold all your links for power, lighting, internet (if your Wi-Fi is not strong enough) and phone. If you have a full-on little backyard office shed, this is much easier, because you can even go solar with some panels on the roof.
Good flooring
No matter if you have a fully open workspace or a roof over your head, you need some quality flooring. While you might want to avoid any super smooth floors in an open office (they become slippery when wet) you still need a leveled surface for your desk, chair and other necessities. Your best choice is to pour some concrete under your workstation so you can roll your chair and prevent trips. Plus, you might think concrete is bad for the environment, but there are pretty eco-friendly mixtures!
Keep bugs out
While they are an important part of the ecosystem, when you require focus, bugs can be quite distracting. So, if you live in places like Australia or Florida which are known for their rich insect population, you might consider installing a good screen to keep the bugs away from your work. These are very practical since they can be opened and closed as needed.
Decoration
No matter how small your outdoor office is, you can always make the space feel cozy. While most of your aesthetic appeal comes from the views of nature, you might also want to add some comfort with a relaxing chair for breaks, surround yourself with motivational images and quotes and add some inspiring color to the space. However, don’t go overboard with decoration. Keep things simple and let nature take the central stage.
By investing in your private backyard office, you’ll get to enjoy the best of both worlds: have ample privacy while enjoying your gorgeous garden views. Depending on the type of office you choose to create, you will be exposed to fresh air, more natural light and a much more inspiring work environment!