A home office should be a place where you can work and study in comfort and style. But it must also be designed to enhance productivity. After all, don’t we all want to get more done?

Interior Designer Kerena Berry, co-founder and Head of Interior Design at Designbx.com, shows us how to get the aesthetic and the functionality working in harmony.

1. 1. Discover your own design style. Use Pinterest for inspiration, create a mood board by cutting up images of colours, textures, furniture, and layouts. Or you can try a free style quiz, like we have at Designbx , where you can rate different visual mood boards to calculate your personal style. This will be the foundation for your home office design, to ensure you love being the space.
2. Keep active. Make sure that you create a space that allows you to move around during the day. Everyone is different, so explore what works best for your body and mind. We recommend a fit ball and good quality office chair for desk work, a beanbag for creative thinking (or a meditation) and a high surface for working standing up.
3. Avoid clutter. Try to streamline your business or job so everything you need can fit into a stylish box, basket or bag. Avoid piles of paperwork, magazines, stationery & absolutely ban kid’s toys from your office!
4. Vary the lighting. Take care with the lighting in your home office, avoiding fluros that often cause headaches, add floor lamps, desk lights and pendants where possible. These can also add some beautiful design elements to the room with scale, colour and texture.
5. Scent of success. The senses can improve productivity and creativity, so adding a vaporiser on a timer can be a simple way to create a fresh invigorating scent in the office.
6. Project your business. If you have a big blank wall, try using a wireless projector to display beautiful images that reflect your brand.
7. Broaden your horizons. If you have a view, make sure your desk faces it! If you are not so lucky, being close to an opening window makes all the difference. Fresh air and natural light can keep you feeling motivated and happy.
8. Music for the moment. You can harness music to help creativity and move you into the right mode of thinking for different tasks. Try Spotify genres and moods for easy playlists.
9. Think Green. Indoor plants are a must in a home office for natural purification, beauty and connection with nature. A popular trend is to create a live wall, which look amazing and can be set up with self-watering systems.
10. Make the space your own. Combine homewares and furniture that are long-standing, with a signature piece that makes the space feel special to you. It could be the live wall, projector on the wall, a feature standing lamp, piece of artwork or Eames chair!