When working from home as a full-time employee of a large company or as a freelancer, your home needs to be conducive to a great working environment. It needs to be a place where productivity excels, and you can peacefully get on with the work you have been assigned to keep your reputation to its high standard. With this in mind, here are four must-know tips for creating a professional haven at home.

1.   Move Your Office Outdoors

If you feel entirely more creative when working outside, what better way to merge your love for the great outdoors and your working-from-home responsibilities than to build yourself an outdoor office?

Check out the garden buildings UK companies have to offer and discover the whole wide world of possibilities. Remember that it is entirely possible to design an outbuilding that can be used for working independently but then be suitable for video and conference calls, which is particularly important if the bosses require this regularly.

2.   Introduce Indoor Plants

Obviously, if you decide to go with the first suggestion within this article, then you will certainly not be short of trees, plants, and shrubs to frame your working space. However, there’s no reason you couldn’t add more inside! Indoor plants are an absolute must for creating a haven. There is a wide plethora of advantages of filling your office with indoor plants that thrive inside the home, including the following:

• They improve the quality of the air by heightening levels of oxygen
• They provide a fabulous aesthetic quality
• They help to reduce the levels of noise pollution
• They are known to lower stress levels
• They have been proven to increase levels of productivity and efficiency

3.   Cultivate a Sensory Landscape

You need the necessary equipment and accessories around you to do your job to the best of your ability but think beyond this. What else allows you to be peaceful and focused? For example, it could be that having your pet sleeping in the same room as you are working is something that helps you relax and concentrate. If this is the case, invest in a plush pet bed, an extra water bowl, and a selection of pet-friendly toys to encourage your furry friend to join you in the office.

Other ways to create more of a sensory experience in your home office include the addition of beautifully scented candles, ensuring you are near a window with fresh air, and keeping your desk organised and functional by limiting the volume of clutter.

4.   Set Some Ground Rules

Finally, unless you are lucky enough to live on your own and therefore have no risk of interruptions, you will also want the rest of your family to both know and understand that when you are at work, well, you are working, and there must be boundaries.

You could take an official lunch break around the same time every day, work dependent, of course, and let your family spend time with you on your lunch, then leave you alone when you return to work.