When you work in a home office, the character and quality of the lighting in your workspace can help boost your productivity. Poor office lighting can reduce your energy, darken your mood, cause eyestrain and headaches and ultimately affect your ability to work effectively.
If you don’t have much natural light, artificial lights are even more important when considering the lighting of your workspace. Many home offices are equipped with ambient lighting including ceiling lights or recessed lamps, but it’s a mistake to think that this will be enough. Existing ambient lighting is not designed for functional lighting in the home office, and additional sources need to be added.
Here are five things to consider when deciding how to light your home office space.
1. Keep desk lamps indirect
Avoid working under the direct glare of ceiling lights. Instead, look to diffuse ambient light that will illuminate your workspace. Lampshades soften and disperse light, while an upward-facing floor lamp bounces light off walls and ceilings. The aim is to illuminate the entire space without creating excessive glare and contrast, while avoiding cast shadows.
2. Create office lighting
For computer work, paperwork and other tasks that require a great deal of concentration, choose a well-defined light source dedicated to what you’re doing. An adjustable or articulating desk lamp can put light exactly where you need it and support a variety of tasks. If your home office has several workstations – for example, a desk for the computer and telephone, a filing area and a table for examining photos and models – install specific lighting for each station.
3. Eliminate reflections and shadows
Always consider where the light is coming from: a light source placed behind you while you’re working on your computer will almost certainly create an annoying glare on your screen. Similarly, watch out for unintended shadows cast by lamps installed for direct lighting. For example, if you write with your right hand, your hand and arm may cast shadows if the work lamp is also positioned on the right. Also consider the location of windows when designing your workspaces.
4. Use natural light
Don’t overlook the unique benefit of natural light from a window, skylight or other portal. Sunlight can produce a warm glow that enhances the working environment. On the other hand, you may need to consider direct sunlight which creates excessive glare at certain times of the day.
In general, it’s best to have natural light in front of or next to work surfaces and computer screens to avoid glare and maximise your outside views. You can also position your workstation facing north or south so that sunlight doesn’t cast a shadow at any time of day.
To adapt to different light levels throughout the day, solar blinds soften and reduce heat without compromising light and views. You can also try a simple blind or even a standing mosquito net, which will do a good job of diffusing the sunlight shining through a window.
5. Consider decorative office lighting
As mentioned, most home offices have ambient lighting that diffuses throughout the space and task lighting that focuses on specific workstations.
In addition to these two types of functional lighting, you can add decorative and accent lighting to enhance the visual character of your home office. Accent lighting, such as mantel or picture lamps, draws attention to objects or other elements in the room, while decorative lamps, such as wall sconces, offer direct visual appeal.