Combining Comfort & Coziness with Productivity in My Garden Office

ad this post contains gifted items // If you’ve been following my blog for long enough, you’ll know that I’m a self employed full-time blogger and in 2020, I finally got my own office. Hurrah! After the Summer of 2020 being one of the most difficult of my career, I realized I desperately needed my own space and to stop working from my bed.

With everyone else on furlough and off work, I found I didn’t have anywhere to work that was mine. Everywhere was distraction after distraction and it was impacting my work and my mental health. It got to the point where I had to work outside, in 30-degree heat of the Summer because there literally wasn’t any other room in the house.

So finally, I got my garden office built. It took a while but we finally got there and I did track the progress, for example in these posts:

• How A Garden Office is Changing My Life
• Hosting Tradespeople in Your Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Office Renovation: Finding the Perfect Paint Colour with Lick Home

I was adamant that this was my space so I wasn’t going to listen to what anyone else had to say about the style, colours, furniture or anything else I chose to be in there. From the paint colour to my choice of flooring, everything from carpets to engineered wood flooring – it was all my choice.

I don’t even keep photos of myself and my loved ones, such as my partner or my late dog Rory because I want it to be a space for work, productivity and personal growth. Not a space for sentimentality.

And that’s really served me well so far in my office. I use it both as an office and an exercise and Yoga studio and it’s the perfect space for all of these things. I think I’ve found the perfect balance between comfort and coziness and productivity.

So in this post I wanted to go into some ways that I’ve managed to create that (almost) perfect balance between comfort and productivity:

Home comforts – like throws, rugs and pillows

Although my office is a place for productivity, I don’t want it to be a dark and dingy room with no comfort in it at all! You need a comfortable chair whilst you’re working at your desk but I also have a lounge chair with pillows and blankets as well.

These are great for when I have a break in my work day. I can grab a cuppa and a snack and sit on my ultra comfy chair with a throw over me and read a book for 20 minutes. Breaks increase productivity too!

Warm yet effective lighting

I have various lighting options in my office. I have big doors and windows, so a lot of natural light comes in which I love. I also have a main light which, granted, doesn’t come on very often and a lamp on my desk.

I use all my lighting at various different times, depending on what I’m doing, the weather and the time of day. There will always be dark and rainy days where I’m going to need to put a light on at 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

Warm lighting is a much-preferred option in my office as well, as it’s easier on my eyes (which aren’t great) and aren’t so harsh. I’ve recently been using these outdoor garden lights from Lights4Fun, which are a beautiful addition to the lighting options both inside and out of my office!

Yes, these lanterns are “outside” but as my office is a garden office, I kinda feel like I’m outside most of the time anyway, as I look out over trees and bushes and grass when I’m sitting at my desk.

These lanterns are really cute to pop on when it’s starting to get a bit dark in the office. They’re also going to look SO cute at Christmas, especially the fairy-lights.

But as they’re safe for outdoor use as well, they could also be popped by the door outside of my office, to decorate the outside a little bit or for any outdoor gathering or occasion.

Limiting clutter

This is a point that definitely relates to the productivity aspect of this post because clutter ALWAYS diminished my productivity. And I can’t imagine I’m alone in that, either!

In fact, I can’t really feel comfortable OR productive when there’s clutter around, so I guess this applied to both. My office can get messy very easily, so I ensure I keep clutter to a minimum and utilize storage space for any I do have.

Pops of colour

I would have been easy to think of an office and just go for white or cream on the walls. But that would have made it look far too clinical. Adding in the colours I have have really helped balance out comfort and productivity.

I have one white wall, with the rest of them a beautiful sage green. I also have a pink chair and a pink table, with fake plants scattered around to bring more natural and calming colours into the space.

pinteret

Having a space which caters to multiple needs is really beneficial. I can turn my office from a productive work space to a relaxing Yoga studio with the click of a finger and I love the multi-purpose aspect of my office in that regard.

I don’t think any work space should be clinical – unless of course that’s how you work best – so don’t be afraid to add colour and comfort to your office!

What do you think of the lights from Lights4Fun? Do you have your own dedicated work space and do you find it promotes productivity and comfort?