Office Spaces

One reason many office workers have been keen to embrace working from home is the opportunity to enjoy having a window while they work.

Many of Corporate America’s office spaces are internal to a building with windows reserved for upper-level management.

Yet we all know we benefit from natural light – it is good for us both spiritually and physically – after all, our bodies need sunlight to manufacture Vitamin D, essential to our physical and mental wellbeing.

So it is no surprise so many people have been willing to convert the spare room into a home office – as well as losing the commute, the joys of a window in our workday is just too big of a draw.

But if our new office space is to be truly productive for us as we grab our coffee from the kitchen and walk the few feet to our new workplace, we have to consider it as an office and not somewhere we are shoving a laptop and desk into alongside a bed and all those things we store.

As well as needing a good office chair and desk to work from, our surroundings should help us remember we are at work, even if we can hear the dog bark and the children playing.

And décor is a vital part of that – a room makeover is probably a good idea to give you the mental distance needed to separate work from the home around you.

Putting the final touches to that are suitable window treatments – not many offices have floral print curtains or lace netting.

So whether you are redoing the windows in a traditional office setting or making over the spare room into a home office as your command center, it is worth considering the best way to make use of your window.

In an office context, function is very important for window treatments – controlling light is vital to make a good working atmosphere though privacy is less of a concern than for a bedroom. Too dark and reading becomes taxing yet too light and computer monitors become difficult to use properly.

Blinds are an ideal solution, whether roller or slatted, as you can raise or lower them to the exact level you require, from fully open during the short winter days to make full advantage of the sun’s rays, or cutting out the heat and glare from the midsummer sun. As the sun makes its way from East to West across the sky, we are also able to counter those times of day when the sun sits at just the right angle to be blinding.

Shades have a similar effect to blinds, and with some materials now on the market, can offer the added bonus of increasing energy efficiency in our offices, helping regulate temperature for the ideal workplace comfort and keeping energy bills lower.

But it is not to say offices should only have function over form – windows can be finished off with drapes to offer elegance and refinement to an office space, and de to the softer and more tactile nature can be useful in hiding unattractive office equipment.

And for large traditional offices, window treatments can be fitted with motors and worked with times to give a fully automated experience which adds convenience and a layer of security, especially overnight.