How to Make Small Office Spaces More Functional

0

Real estate is more expensive than ever. In major cities all over the world, from New York to London to Hong Kong, acquiring office space requires boats load of cash. This can pose a major problem for any start-ups or small entrepreneurs. The goal is not to find a large working space but to make the space work for you. From the amenities to the location, there are many factors to consider, especially when you look for a coworking space. Your coworking office needs to be well arranged and well distributed. For example, coworking communities in Dallas are diverse and offer many advantages for your business. You will find it easy to choose the right coworking place if you know where to look. These ten tips will help you do just that.

 

Purge Unnecessary Items

Maximizing a small office space entails purging things that don’t increase your productivity or add value to your work. This is an essential first step. Look around the office, most especially the desk or cubicle, then get rid of unnecessary or redundant items and shred documents that are no longer needed. You’ll be surprised with the amount of space you have.

 

Reduce Paper Use

More companies are now adapting measures to decrease their reliance on paper, mostly for environmental reasons. But the benefits of paper reduction doesn’t end there. Less paper will make an office more agile and less cluttered with unnecessary documents that could have otherwise been digitally sent. This also means less filing cabinets and storage equipment needed in the office.

 

Have Stand-Up Meetings

Stand-up meetings can be done in almost every space of your office because they don’t require traditional meeting furniture like chairs and a big desk. They’re also much shorter. One consulting firm found that when they have stand-up meetings, collaboration between the company and its clients tend to be more innovative and creative versus a typical structured meeting.

 

Let the Light In

Work with natural light as much as possible. Recessed lighting or overhead down-lighting is also greatly preferred. This decreases the need for additional fixtures that might otherwise take up space, like floor and desk lamps. A bright office also creates the illusion that the area is bigger than it actually is.

 

Ditch Heavy Furniture

When doing interior decoration for the office, avoid choosing oversized and dark-colored furniture as they make any room look smaller than it actually is. Sometimes space is a matter of fooling the eye. Traditional desks and filing cabinets are no longer practical options since most of your files are stored in the computer or in a cloud service anyway.

 

Use Wall-to-Wall Flooring

In terms of flooring material, it’s best to choose one kind of material wall to wall instead of layering one on top of another. Rugs on carpet or hard floor, for example, seemingly partitions the space, making continuity a challenge. You’re better off with commercial carpeting or engineered wood floor all throughout. They’re also easy to maintain.

 

Move the Monitor

Thanks to technology, we now have slimmer and lighter monitors, so installing them to adjustable arms would be easier. Moving the monitor out of the way when you’re not working on it creates additional desk space. This would have been unthinkable a few decades ago. A mobile monitor is also efficient in doing video conferencing, especially if there are more than one people involved in the call.

 

Utilize Common Spaces

Picking locks is more common than you think across the corporate world—not for burglary, but because someone forgot to bring the keys. Apart from being a waste of time, it’s also a waste of space because a room cannot be used for its intended function. A quick fix is to designate areas where general work can be done as to not impede productivity.

 

Maximize Vertical Space

When you have limited space, the only way to go is up. Veer away from traditional bookshelves and invest on shelves that attach directly to the wall studs. Wall hooks are also great for hanging sweaters or coats. A desk with its own shelves is also a great investment, especially for real estate that don’t allow drilling on walls.

 

Label the Cables

Any kind of clutter can make even a large space feel small. Cables, in particular, are notorious for creating a whole mess of things, especially when you don’t know which is for what. A simple hack is to simply label them. Use cable tags or Sharpies and indicate the purpose of each cord. This gives you less time crouched under the table and more time to actually do your job.