Advances in communication technology now enable more and more people to regularly work from home or run a business from their home full time. As not everyone is fortunate enough to have enough space for a separate office in their house, I thought it would be useful to highlight the main considerations when planning to incorporate a work area into a living area; be it a corner of your living room, dining room, kitchen or bedroom:

The ability to mentally switch off from work in the evenings or weekends is essential when you work from home, so it's important to consider buying furniture for your work area that blends in with the rest of the rooms' furniture and colours. This will help to stop your eyes being constantly drawn to your desk and the work you have yet to complete!

Try to select furniture for your work area that can be closed or
tidied away easily so it is unobtrusive and you can 'make space'. It also needs to be 'set up' and accessed easily so that starting work isn't a chore.

You might want to try to create a physical division between your work and living area. You can achieve this easily and cheaply by buying one of the many fabulous room dividers or decorative screens that are available from many retailers on the High Street and Online.

The choice of chair for your work area will have an affect on the wear and tear of your flooring. Pop into your local Carpetright store to get the best advice from our experienced Sales team on the right flooring solution for you!

Creating an inspiring, ordered and stimulating area to work that you actually enjoy spending time in will help you to be disciplined when working from home. Think about the tasks you will perform, your practical needs and the way you work. Then ensure that the layout is practical, everything is 'to hand' and you are comfortable.

If possible try not to set up your desk so you are facing a wall. The ideal layout is to be near a window. If this isn't possible then ensure that you aren't facing a blank wall or boring wall chart. Instead use the wall space to hang pictures, a wall hanging, wall art or an inspiring ‘mood board’ of photos, post cards & magazine cuttings etc… on a cork pin board.