Working from home provides a brilliant sense of freedom and flexibility to your career. After all, it allows you to pick any spot you like to set your tools and get to work.
So how about getting to work in the garden? It could even be the best place to create a professional home office space! There’s more room, more sunshine, and plenty of natural beauty to go around.
And if you want to set up a garden office, here’s how to get started.
Create an Outdoor Room
As far as first steps go, this is quite a hefty one! However, it’s also essential that you have a proper outdoor room you can use as a garden office.
You don’t want to be sitting just out on the patio, using books and mugs to hold down any paperwork, and trying to see your screen in spite of the overwhelming glare from the sun.
But what kind of outdoor room will work here?
You can set up an ordinary shed, if you like. As long as there’s plenty of room for a desk and chair inside, as well as another chair for a guest to sit in, and you can fit shelves and storage inside too, you’ll be good to go.
However, you also need to think about the general atmosphere you’ll be working in too. Namely, how temperate it’ll be to spend all day inside the shed.
You need to know it’ll be possible to link it up to the electricity and plug in an AC unit. You should also be aware of the insulation level of the shed you’ve converted into a garden office.
If a day’s sunshine can turn the office from a pleasant place into a would-be sauna, you need to pad out the sealing to help trap the cool temperature inside.
You can also invest in a flatpack office building
This is the kind of outbuilding you can put together in 2 to 3 days. All you need is the lawn space for it – although we do recommend setting it up on a concrete foundation to ensure it can’t sink or settle.
An outdoor room like this will also have more interior space, and is likely to come with outlet and plumbing features. You’ll need to add these in yourself, but the spaces for them will have already been thought of.
Map Out How Clients Will Get There
If you’re planning to meet people in your home, how will they get from their car (or your front door) to the office space you’ve set up in the garden?
Because it doesn’t matter how nicely you design a garden office, or how well you take care of your garden itself, if the journey from point A to point B is a bit of a mess.
That’s all they’re going to see until they’ve reached your office – and this first impression might have already put them off.
So, start by mapping out how clients will pass through your house or around your property.
Is there a side entrance they can take that allows them to get straight into the garden, where they don’t have to pass through the house at all?
Or will you need to take them through the front door and out the back door, allowing them to see rooms like your hallway and kitchen, etc.?
Once you know what this journey looks like, you can work to both keep it clean, and try to limit contact with the more personal sides of your property.
What Needs to Be Cleaned and Tidied?
It’s very much dependent on how accessible your garden office is. But we also know that’s quite a difficult question to answer when you’re not quite sure where to start with this job!
If you’d like a quick to-do list of the areas and elements that’ll need tidying up, here’s a checklist to run through before you welcome any professional business into your new garden office.
Inside
Rearrange the ‘reception’ area
This is the space immediately inside your front door. Now, any client who knows they’re going to be visiting your home will understand that your home won’t look like a traditional business.
However, you do need to keep immediate areas as tidy as possible.
So, no shoes all over the place, no coats brushing them as they try to get inside the door, and no flickering light from where you really need to change the bulb.
Keep as many doors closed as possible
If a client needs to pass by a room to get to your garden office, make sure the door to that room is closed.
That way they won’t have to see anything they don’t need to, which maintains your own privacy, and doesn’t let a messy living room or dining room have an impact on their first impression.
Outside
Wash down exterior walls
This is one of the most crucial parts of creating a professional appearance. After all, if a client arrives and you walk them through the house and garden to the office, you don’t want them seeing dirt and grime that’s accumulated.
Trust us, it collects in much more areas than you might first think! As such, once you’re done clearing up the walkway inside, make sure you invest in or rent out an electric power washer and hose down any walls exposed to the client’s view.
Namely, any side walls that run alongside garden pathways, as well as the back wall of your home that looks out onto the garden.
Keep pathways clear
You don’t want plants overgrowing and making it difficult to walk. If sharp bushes can catch someone’s legs, arms, or bag as they’re walking up the pathway, it won’t be a good look for your professionalism.
Create a Professional Office in Your Garden
It’s easier to do than you’d believe! You just need garden space, some time, and the will to give your property a bit of a clean up!