The first home office I came across was a library-cum-office at a friend’s place. It belonged to her grandfather. The walls were not visible as they were all lined with big gray steel cupboards full of fat volumes and files. The only window facing the entrance had drawn curtains so it took a while for your eyes to get adjusted to darkness after proceeding into the room.

Inside, one located the switchboard behind the door while also suppressing a shriek on coming across a lizard that whizzed past your fingers to hide itself somewhere behind the cupboards. The desk in the middle of the room was so big that there was hardly any room to walk about freely and one would rather not do that or step on those ceiling-high stacks of paper.

For a while after that if anyone mentioned working from home, I could only visualise that dungeon. But home offices don’t have to be like that. They are more of a personal sanctuary where one can escape from the millions of distractions at home and tend to the work in peace and silence.

Want to work from home? Make sure your home office is a creative oasis, not a dreary dungeon

The room you select for your home office should be the furthest one from the rest of the family rooms as you don’t want to come out every 10 minutes after hearing something or the other to join in the excitement outside. The big steel cupboards in the dungeon did block out all the noise from outside but they were also making one overwhelmingly claustrophobic. There are other far nicer ways of sound-proofing too such as carpeting, soft furnishings such as wall hangings, tapestries, sofas, cushions and heavy curtains. You can also install draft-proofing for doors and windows.

One thing you must have on your home office wall is a wall clock. They aren’t very expensive so go look for something you’ll really not mind turning to look at even when you’re rushed for time.

The desk shouldn’t be too big. The bigger the desk the more the clutter you’ll have there. If possible get fresh flowers to brighten up your surroundings, too. And a couple of indoor plants, too.

Instead of ugly cupboards to store books and paperwork, you can always play with shelving. And everything doesn’t have to be in a shelf. Maybe you can stack a few books on one side. But if you still have a lot of stuff to store, get creative with boxes you can store it in and put the boxes on the shelves. There shouldn’t be too many files or paper flying around as this is 2014 after all and most filing is done electronically and stored in computers or CDs. Still, there are filing cabinets in this world that don’t have to look boring and if they are you can always paint them to look more cheerful. Your home office doesn’t have to look like your office office!

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, October 19th, 2014